Aerosol Filtration by Sorbent Beds

Fixed beds of sorbent media are used for the evaluation of poiynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) present in air. Twostage sampling and separate extraction and analyses of PAH associated with aerosol particles and those present in the vapor state are usually performed. The ability of commonly used sorbents to retain particulate matter introduces a potential for reducing the time and cost of PAH evaluation procedures.

The filtration efficiency of three sorbent media, Florisil, XAD-2, and polyurethanefoam (PUF), for particles in 0.1 to 1 µm size range was studied using airflow rates from 4 to 2501 /mm through a PS 1 sorbent cartridge. Theoretical considerations were used to identify the principal filtration mechanisms and to assess the predictability of the aerosol filtration performance of sorbent filters. The results of this study indicate XAD-2 to be an efficient filtration medium owing to the electrostatic enhancement of capturing and retaining aerosol particles.

As a result of theoretical considerations, Brownian diffusion and inertial deposition were found to be major filtration mechanisms accompanied by electrostatic effects. While the efficiency of the diffusional deposition mechanism was reasonably well predicted with available theories, modeling of submicron particle impaction at higher fluid velocities appeared to be inadequate. Further developments are suggested to improve our understanding of filtration phenomena in sorbent beds under high flow rate conditions.     

Electrostatic Stimulation of Fabric Filtration

The concept of electrostatic stimulation of fabric filtration (ESFF) has been investigated at pilot scale. The pilot unit consisted of a conventional baghouse in parallel with an ESFF baghouse, allowing direct comparison. All results reported in this paper are for pulse-cleaned bags in which the electric field was maintained parallel to the fabric surface. The performance of the ESFF baghouse has been superior to the parallel conventional baghouse by several measures. The ESFF baghouse demonstrated: (1) a reduced rate of pressure drop increase during a filtration cycle, (2) lower residual pressure drop, (3) stable operation at higher face velocities, and (4) improved particle removal efficiency. These benefits can be obtained with only minor modifications to conventional pulse-jet hardware and at low electrical power consumption. The indicated ability to operate at increased face velocities with only modest expenditure for electrical hardware leads to very favorable economic projections.     

Biotrickling Filtration of Nitric Oxide

ABSTRACT

A biotrickling filter with blast-furnace slag packings (sizes = 20-40 mm and specific surface area = 120 m²/m³) was utilized to treat NO in an air stream. The operational stability, as well as the effects of gas empty-bed retention time (EBRT) and nutrient addition on the removal ability of NO, were tested. Approximately six weeks were required for the development of a biofilm for NO degradation, and a two-week organic carbon deficiency resulted in the detachment of biofilms from the packing surfaces. A steady removal rate of 80% was attained at specified influent NO concentrations of 892 to 1237 ppm and an EBRT of 118 sec. The effluent NO concentration diminished exponentially with enlarging EBRT, with influent NO concentrations of 203-898 ppm, and EBRTs of 25 to 118 sec. Nutrient addition is essential for efficient removal of the influent NO. Mass ratios of C: P: N = 7: 1: 30 and NaHCO₃: NO-N = 6.3 could be used for practical applications.     

Advanced Electrostatic Stimulation of Fabric Filtration

In advanced electrostatic stimulation of fabric filtration (AESFF), a high voltage electrode is placed coaxially inside a filter bag to establish an electric field between the electrode and the bag surface. The electric field alters the dust deposition pattern within the bag, yielding a much lower pressure drop than that found in a conventional bag. Pilot plant results show that AESFF bags can operate with a rate of pressure loss that is 70 percent below that for conventional bags. The presence of the electric field also affects the aging characteristics of the AESFF bags. On the average, the AESFF bags had residual drags that were 10 percent below those of conventional bags. The results show that AESFF baghouses can yield the same pressure drop performance as conventional baghouses while operating at much higher air-to-cloth ratios. An economic analysis evaluated the capital, operating, and maintenance costs for electric utility plants ranging from 200 to 1,000 MW. For AESFF baghouses the capital cost was found to be 25 to 48 percent below that of a conventional baghouse. A lifetime cost analysis predicts a net present value for an AESFF baghouse that is 10 to 30 percent below that of a conventional baghouse.     

Fabric Filtration for Fly Ash Control

Economic projections and the growing experience with more diverse baghouse applications indicate that fabric filtration will become an even more popular type of control technology. While the fabric filter market shows signs of great promise now, an especially significant upturn is predicted within the next half dozen years when dry scrubbing becomes the primary process for combined S0₂ and par-ticulate control. In the interim, with more and more utility and industrial boilers gaining experience with baghouses, this control method can be expected to develop as an even more acceptable technique, especially on low S coal burning units. Nevertheless, the users stress the need for conservative planning and designing, giving extra care to start-up and maintenance procedures.     

New Kinds of Fabric Filtration Devices

New kinds of fabric filtration devices are reviewed in this paper. The industry is on the threshold of a period of innovation and development in this field which should see the advancement of new concepts of the way filters function.     

Filtration of Radioactive Aerosols By Glass Fibers

Abstract

An ozone (O₃) exposure assessment study was conducted in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the winter and summer of 1992. A new passive O₃ sampler developed by Harvard was used to measure indoor, outdoor, and personal O₃ concentrations. Measurements were taken weekly and daily during the winter and summer, respectively. Indoor samples were collected at a total of 50 homes and workplaces of study participants. Outdoor O₃ concentrations were measured both at home sites using the passive sampler and at 20 ambient monitoring sites with continuous monitors. Personal O₃ measurements were collected from 123 participants, who also completed detailed time-activity diaries. A total of 2,274 O₃ samples were collected. In addition, weekly air exchange rates of homes were measured.

This study demonstrates the performance of our O₃ sampler for exposure assessment. The data obtained are further used to examine the relationships between personal, indoor (home and workplace), and outdoor O₃ concentrations, and to investigate outdoor and indoor spatial variations in O₃ concentrations. Based on home outdoor and indoor, workplace, and ambient O₃ concentrations measured at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) sites, the traditional microenvironmental model predicts 72% of the variability in measured personal exposures. An alternative personal O₃ exposure model based on outdoor measurements and time-activity information is able to predict the mean personal exposures in a large population, with the highest R² value of 0.41.     

Engineering and Economic Considerations In Fabric Filtration

The basic engineering and economic factors relative to fabric filtration systems are reviewed. Fabrication and erection costs, and maintenance costs are then discussed in greater depth.     

The Role of Viscosity in Fabric Filtration

Abstract

An approach for measuring point-source emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), acidic vapors, and other species is presented. The amount emitted is determined by directly measuring the actual weight gain of an adsorbent bed over a period of time, which is a cumulative rather than a grabbed sample. As a result, wide fluctuations of concentration and erratic flow behavior during sampling are accommodated with no apparent effect on the accuracy of the measured emission rate. The emission rate is determined by a mass balance including the mass change of the sorbent, as well as the influent and effluent humidities.

Validation tests used a known mass flow rate of vapor in a carrier gas, which was compared with the amount measured. The vapor was a single VOC, a mixture of VOCs, or a mixture of a VOC with water. Conditions studied were the compound or mixture of compounds, concentration, carrier gas, flow rate, and adsorbent. In some tests the VOC was admitted intermittently. The VOCs included n-hexane, acetone, toluene, vinyl acetate, and 1,1,1 trichloroethane. For 105 tests, the average absolute discrepancy of the delivered and measured emission rates was 6.8% and the standard deviation was 3.4%.     

Fine Dust Filtration Using a Metal Fiber Bed

Abstract

A bed-type filter composed of thin metal alloy fiber was closely examined with dust capturing in cold and hot runs. The investigation of an individual mechanism across the filter bed indicated that the aerated dust could be initially collected by depth filtration, and after a while, surface filtration dominated the overall dust collection. The present metal fiber bed was comparable to the conventional ceramic filters because of its good collection efficiency with low pressure drop. It also showed potential to be used as a prefilter in a diesel exhaust trapping system.     

Filtration of fly ash using a fluidized-bed filter

This study focuses on the control of particulates with a fluidized-bed filter in exhaust gas stream. The fluidized-bed filter classified in the granular bed filtration technology was employed to demonstrate the performance for removal of fly ash at indicated operating velocities, fixed bed heights, and bed temperatures; then the collecting mechanisms of particulates by fluidized-bed filter were studied. The size distribution of fly ash passing through the fluidized-bed filter was also analyzed. The results indicate that at higher operating velocities and fixed bed heights, the removal of fly ash is more efficient and inertial impaction is the main mechanism when the fluidized-bed is operated at room temperature (25 degrees C). While operating at higher temperatures (200 degrees C), efficiency of 93.2% to 99.4% can be achieved for submicron particles. It is supposed to be the diffusion mechanism that is responsible for collecting such small particles, and high temperature is a favorable condition because of diffusion.     

超细无碱玻纤复合滤料的过滤性能

袋式除尘是一种高效的除尘技术,对PM2.5具有较高的过滤效率,但是其运行阻力较大,因此,研发高效、低阻过滤材料是解决大气污染问题的关键所在。以耐高温的PPS纤维针刺布为上下层,超细无碱玻纤为中间层,经过超声波粘合或线缝合技术制备了多层复合过滤材料,研究了滤料在容尘状态下的过滤效率、过滤阻力,以及孔径变化。结果表明,该复合滤料的初始阻力低于150 Pa,容尘后对0.2~2 μm的颗粒物的过滤效率达80%以上;随着粉尘的沉积,滤料的过滤效率有了较大提高,对1 μm以上颗粒物的过滤效率可达99.99%以上,对最易透过粒径（MPPS）的过滤效率达95%以上;过滤前后,滤料的孔径分布发生了变化,过滤后滤料出现了1~5 μm的孔径分布。该复合滤料在工业高温粉尘过滤中将会有较好的应用前景。     

Some Effects of Electrostatic Charges In Fabric Filtration

In filtration operations, electrostatic charges may have both good and bad effects. The good features that result in outstanding collection efficiency are believed to be attributable to particle-to-fabric attractions and agglomeration. On the bad side, static charges and their forces of attraction don’t necessarily stop at the end of the collection cycle and, therefore, they often restrict cleanability. But, this too, is sometimes desirable.     

纤维膜过滤特性的数值模拟

一个高性能过滤膜除了与纤维自身结构参数有关联外,过滤时的操作条件对其也有重要影响.为研究纤维膜过滤效率、过滤压降与过滤速度、孔隙率以及过滤膜厚度之间的关系,以更好地对实际过滤进行优化,本研究从纤维膜的过滤机理进行出发,采用FLUENT多孔介质离散相模型对纤维过滤器的流场进行模拟.结果表明,膜前后压降会随着过滤速度和膜厚度的增大而增大;一定范围内纤维膜孔隙率适度增加,截留率变化不大,但是膜压差会逐渐减小;同时过滤速度对颗粒截留率有影响,速度增大时,粒子轨迹发生偏移,导致过滤膜一部分过早发生堵死,而一部分作用减弱,影响了过滤效果.     

Electrofluidized Beds in the Filtration Of a Submicron Aerosol

A plug-flow model is developed showing the way in which efficiency depends on unfluidized bed height, bed particle size, participate mobility, gas flow rate and applied electric field intensity. This model is successfully correlated with tests in which flow rate, bed particle size, and unfluidized bed height are varied. It is shown that efficiencies better than 90% can be achieved in collecting 0.4 µm DOP with a gas residence time less than 50 msec and a pressure drop of about 10 cm of water.     

Filtration Properties of Fly Ash from Fluidized Bed Combustion

Some of the features of the fluidized-bed combustion (FBC) process have a direct bearing on the particulate properties that most strongly influence filtering pressure drop. A laboratory program was conducted to experimentally determine the relative pressure drop characteristics of ashes from the TVA-EPRI 20-MW bubbling bed, atmospheric pressure FBC (AFBC) pilot plant and six pulverized-coal combustion (PC) units. The combined influences of measured particle and dust cake properties on filtering pressure drop were estimated with existing filtration theories. These theories predict a higher pressure drop for a dust cake produced with the AFBC ash than for one consisting of any of the PC ashes. Laboratory measurements were made of the flow resistance of idealized, simulated dust cakes to confirm these predictions. Field operating data from the fabric filters collecting some of the tested ashes were available to validate the laboratory results. The laboratory and field data show relatively good agreement. The AFBC ash must be treated as a special case for fabric filters, and careful selection of cleaning method and fabric must be made to minimize the inherently high pressure drop characteristics of this ash.     

新型电袋复合除尘器性能研究

为了提高布袋除尘器对细微粒子的捕集效率,同时降低压力损失,提出了一种新型的电袋复合除尘器,并利用这种新型的除尘器对2 500目的超细滑石粉进行了实验研究。通过普通布袋过滤、电袋复合过滤的对比实验研究,得到了电场强度、气布比、压损、清灰周期和除尘效率等参数的变化规律。实验结果表明,使用新型的复合除尘器过滤粉尘时,粉尘在进入袋室之前就被荷电,通过在滤料表面施加较强的静电场,使得被处理粉尘在滤料的表面有序堆积和排列,能有效地降低压力损失,提高过滤风速,除尘效率均达到97%以上。Vf=3.5 m/min,U=12.3 kV时,新型复合除尘器与普通布袋过滤相比压力损失降低了90 Pa;PM2.5的捕集效率提高了5.9%;清灰周期从10 min延长至36 min。     

Analysis of Respirable Fractions in Atmospheric Particulates via Sequential Filtration

It has long been recognized that information on particle size distributions in atmospheric aerosals is necessary for meaningful evaluations of potential health hazards. Such information is also important in establishing particulate sources, transport, transformations, and sinks, especially in combination with elemental and chemical data. While instruments exist to collect size segregated samples of particulates, they are too complex and expensive to encourage use of multiple units in field situations.