Energy & Fuels, Vol.34, No.8, 10019-10029, 2020
Promoting the Removal of Coal-Fired Fine Particles by the Coupling of Different Vortex Sheets in Chemical-Turbulent Agglomeration
Chemical-turbulent agglomeration is an effective pretreatment technology for improving the removal efficiency of fine particles, and the turbulent flow field strongly affects the collision and growth of them. In this work, the coupling of vortex sheets with different structures in chemical-turbulent agglomeration was proposed to generate a more disordered flow field for better particle agglomeration and removal effect. Three turbulent agglomerators containing different vortex sheets were designed and manufactured, and the particle number concentration, size distribution, and particle removal efficiency after chemical-turbulent agglomeration with different turbulent agglomerators were investigated by experiments. The results showed that the turbulent agglomerator with the coupling of different vortex sheets can effectively promote the agglomeration and removal effect of fine particles, the number of fine particles below 0.1 mu m decreased significantly, and the number and mass concentration of fine particles after the electrostatic precipitator also decreased. In addition, the flow field distribution, motion, and residence time of fine particles in different turbulent agglomerators were simulated using the computational fluid dynamics method to explore the promotion mechanism by different vortex sheets. The results proved that the coupling of vortex sheets with different structures in chemical-turbulent agglomeration can make the turbulent flow field more disordered, enhance the relative movement of fine particles, and extend their residence time in the flow field, to promote the agglomeration and removal effect.