Method of enhancing the effectiveness of electrostatic precipitators

Abstract

The effectiveness of electrostatic precipitators, and particularly existing electrostatic precipitator installations, is enhanced by introducing into the gas stream in advance of the precipitator a spark-inhibiting additive, and then increasing the voltage applied to the precipitator over that which otherwise could be applied. The spark-inhibiting additive is preferably an ammonium salt introduced into the gas stream at a relatively low temperature and preferably in combination with the introduction into the gas stream at a relatively higher temperature of known conditioning additives from the group consisting of sodium bisulphate, ammonium bisulphate, ammonium sulphate and mixtures thereof. An existing installation in which, typically, a single power source energizes a plurality of precipitator cells because of the limiting nature of the sparking characteristics then operative, through the use of this method can be converted to an installation having a marked increase in precipitator efficiency without any additional capital investment other than providing an increased number of power sources so that all or a substantial number of the precipitator cells are provided with individual power sources.