The International Maintenance Seminar 2002 MIDTH Institute” Upgrading of Existing Precipitators by Morten R. Schigth Lecture 10-02UPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS by Morten Schioth, FLS Milje 1. Introduction During the last ten years the field of air pollution has gained increasing public interest. its impact on nature and on the human health has been widely discussed, and the air pollution control regulations have been and are being tightened all aver the word. The result of this is that many electrostatic precipitator installations must be upgraded in the future. Upgrading a precipitator can be an economically attractive possibility if: © the mechanical or electrical equipment are worn out © the production is increased, © the emission requirements are made more rigorous, * there has been a change to ancther type of fuel or raw material. | When evaluating an existing electrostatic precipitator installation it is necessary to check not only its performance, but also its general mechanical, electrical, and operating condition, in order to ascertain a qualified conclusion of the degree of upgrading needed. FLS milje ais Page Rarssingeve| 0, DK-2200 Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark “Telephone =46-35181 100, Tetstax ~45°91174898. Telex 19053 flsom okUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 2. Chosing the correct upgrading The procedure deserined in the following is only to be taken as a guidance. it may be changed, shortened, or extended, according to special conditions at the plant, intermediate results, or specific ams of the investigation There are 4 main areas to be investigated Precipitator design and operating cata de [t ‘ Flue gas characteristics Dust characteristics Rone Qperating Conditions 2.1 Precipitator design and operating data Collecting systems: ‘The dust layer on the plates gives indications as to the efficiency of the rapping system and the uniformity of the gas fow. \Wharping of the plates results in decreased voltage distance. It is very important that the misalignment is kept at a minimum. The daviation of discharge electrodes should not be more than +/- 5 mm in a 250 mm gas passage. One misaligned discharge electrode (20 mm off) will cause flash-overs in the section at reduced voltage. ‘A dust layer of high resistivity cust can cause back corona. Also the high resistive dust tends to have higher cohesive forces, holding the particies together on the plates and therefore make rapping more diffcut. Discharge systems: The dust layer on the sharge electrode tells about the efficiency of the rapping system. Wharped systems result in decreased voltage distance lie broken or unproperly cut off electrodes. Broken insulators definitely have to be changed. FLS milj Vs Page2 RRamsingsve| 0, 0%: 2500 Valby, Copenhagen, Derma. “Telephone 14536181100, Telefax =a5S1174296, Telex 18053 floor ok.UPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS A dust layer of a few mm on the electrodes can be accepted If, however, a heavier buildup of fine particles coats the electrode so that it simulates a wire of larger diameter, a high voltage may be Fequired to intiate corona current. This may lead to an excessive flash-over rate. Isolated failures of discharge electrodes may occur during the first months of operation. If continuous failures take place an attemst should be made to determine the cause. Patterns and locations of failures should be noted, The type of break will indicate whether it is caused by metal fatigue or electrical erosion. Rapping systems: The rapping systems are the only moving parts in an electrostatic preciptator and as such susceptible to woar. Impact points on hammers and rapping bars have to be correct in order to maximise rapping energy transferred to the systems and minimise wear. Hammers must be fixed on the shaft, and shaft bearings have to have the correct spell. Insulator shafts have to be resonably clean and in good condition. Improvements may be obtained by adjusting the intensity and the frequency of the raoping. The last field in a procipitator may not need to be cleaned so often as the first field. One of the most important maintenance points in a pracipitator is to keep the rapping system in good working order. Various rapper designs incide pneumatic shaking, pneumatic impact hammers, electrical vibration, mechanical/electrical impact hammers or tumbling hammers. Gasdistribution screens: An uneven gas cistribution over the cross section results in an inefficient utilization of the precipitator. Observations of dust deposits on distribution sereens or clean patches on side wall, indicating high velocities can tell if there are possibilities forimprovement. The screens shall be checked for clogging, which can deterirate the gas distribution. If the gas distribution in the electrostatic precioitator is Suspected to be bad, it could be advantageous to check it by an anemometer in order to have the information needed for a future rebuilding of the gas distribution screens, Baffle plates: The position and number of the baffle plates on the top and the sides of the systems and in the hoppers must be correct, as sneakage around systems is unacceptable by today's standards calling for 96.5%e collecting efficiency. FLS miljs ais Page 3 ‘Ramsingsve 30, DK: 2500 Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark “Tolophone +46-96181 100, Teetat +45:31174599. Telok. 1905S sam ckUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS Corresion: ‘The casing has to be checked for signs of corrosion which usually siaits on the root and around inspection doors and other protrusions. The degree of corrosion is important for estimating the remaining lfetime of an electrostatic procipitator. ‘Some processes with low temperature and high dew point may cause corrosion in a preciptator. ‘Thermal insulation must be kept in good order and air leakage at inspection doors and similar places should be avoided. Electrical system and transformer/rectifiers: ‘The general condition shall be checked as t is common to find broken heating elements and Luncorrectly adjusted rectifier controllers and the like. Further, it must be said that during the recent years energisation systems have developed much, and it is likely that an upgrading of the existing system will prove to be proftable. Dust removal system: This is not actually a part of the electrostatic precipitator, but the transfer should be checked for the risk of blow back of dust or intrusion of false air into the hoppers. Corent voltage curves: During normal operation of the electrostatic precipitator V/I curves. showing the relation between precibitator voltage and current should be recorded for all electrical sections. From the position and ihe form of the V/l curves an experienced precipitator engineer can conclude much on the precipitator, 2.9, setious misalignments of electrode systems and signs of back corona, ESP efficiency /performance: Measurements of the outlet and if possible the inlet concentration give, of course, the most important information on the actual performance of the precipitator. It is, however, not possible to make any sound decisions on which measures to be taken in retrofiting the installation, knowing those results only. For such a purpose it is a must to carry through the other investigations described in this section in order to have a base of reference. FLS miljs als Page 4 RRamsingsre| 0, DK-2500 Valo, Copenhagen, Dena “olopnore +45:96181 190, Telex ~45-51174598, Telox 12059 fisom ckUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 2.2 Flue gas characteristics Ts : formation needed on the flue gas ‘or precipitator evaluation purpose comprises (in whole or in part): © Dust emission * Gas volume © Temperature * Water content = 002% ingas * 02% ingas © Process conditions 2.3. Dust characteristics ‘The information needed on the dust for preciptator evaluation purpose comprises: © Resistivity © Chemical analysis + Carbon content * and in special cases * Panicle size distribution The dust data will usually be established in two ways. Site measurements of instu resistivity (and Particle size distribution). Laboratory analysis on a collested sample for chemical composition, carbon content and resistivity measured in laboratory. A rough estimate of the size distribution can also be gained trom a laboratory screening of a sample. Having collected the information mentioned in this section and knowing the future operating conditions, the precipitator spacialist wil be able to make a complete evaluation of the existing precipttator and determine whether it is advisable to count on it for the revised installation and, in the affirmative, which upgradings should be made. FLS mile als PageS Rameingave 30, DK:2600 Valby. Copenhagen, Denmatk TTolophone 85-8518 160, Tolefax «4531174599, Talex 19052 som okUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 24 Operating Conditions Improvements of the precipitator performance can often be obtained by minor adjustments of the ‘operating conditions of the machine to be dedusted. (One of the most essential things to ask for is steady run of the machine. Temperature changes or dew point changes may attect the precipitator performance for several hours. Starting-up periods cannot be avoided, but changing-over periods - when for instance a raw mill in farallel with a condktioning tower starts or stops - should be controlled in ¢ special way. ‘The intrusion of false air into the system should be avoided. Is i possible to ater the operating parameters to improve the preciptator conditions? ‘A concitioning tower can typically lower the temperature from 300°C to 150°C increase the dew point ‘and a reduction of the cust omission by a factor of 10-20 will often be the result ‘A moderate water injection will reduce the temperature and increase the dew point and a certain ettect wil be seen. If the water cooling roplaces an air ccoling the elfect is even greater. With high resistivity dust a chemical conditioning with alkalies can reduce the resistivity and thereby improve precipitator performance. wrde Eng M FLS miljs a/s Page 6 ‘Ramuingove] 20, OK:2500 Vay. Copaghagen, Denmark “Telephone nao 98181100, Tole +48-2174590 Tolex 19059 sem ckUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 3. Upgrading The precipiator size in form of volume and plate area may be judged to be * Adequate to give the desired dust emission * Too smalito give the desired dust emission, In the first case there is no need to change the physical dimensions. Depending on the age and condition of the precipftator improvements may be achieved by: 1 Replacement of internal mechanical parts, 2 Splitting up large fields into smaller separate fields. 3 Replacement of high voltage equipment. 4 Replacement of automatic control system. 5 _ Installation of pulse generators. & Water conditioning or upgrading ot existing conditioning tower. 7 Flue-gas conditioning, In the second case there is a need to change the physical dimensions of the installation, involving one ‘or more of the folowing solutions: 1. Extending the existing precipitator. 2 New precipitator in series wth the existing one 3. New precipitator parallel to the existing one. In the folowing a short description of the reasons for choosing the different solutions is given 3.1 Size adequate to give the desired dust emission 3.1.1. Replacement of internal mechanical parts, The precipitator is damaged, the electrodes are not sultable for the type of dust to be precipitated or the rapping gears may be inefficient. FLS miljs als Page 7 ‘Ramsingsve30, DK.2500 Velby, Copenhagen, Denman “elophone 156181100, Tolelax 4531174595. Teles, 19059 fisom dkUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 3.1.2 Splitting up large fields into smaller separate fields. The gas flow or gas temperature is not evenly distributed in the inlet and/or the precipitator was originally designee with very large fields. 3.1.3. Replacement of high voltage equipment. ‘The existing high voltage equipment is based on old selenium rectifiers and/or the max. voliage is not sufficient iar the new operating conditions. 8.1.4 Replacement of automatic control system. The precipitator energisation has a very strong influence on precipitator collection eifciency. As a result of this recognition, the microprocessor-based controller for precipitator high vottage power supplies have in recant years become the general standard. These programmable, fast reacting, digital controllers can implement sophisticated control strategies, including cifferentiation of reactons according to type of arc or spark in the precipitator, arc quenching, fast voltage recovery after arcing without reigntion of the arc, and operation at a preciptator current level just below the onset of "back corona”. They continuously control flash-over rate and power input to the precipitator for optimum periormance. An inexpensive method for reduction of pretipitator power consumption, and in some instances also improvement of precipitator performance, is intermittent energisation, also known under various trade names, such as semi-pulse and energy-control ‘Amicroprocessor based automatic controller includes features such as: * Energy control operation providing intermittent energization * Energy management control system controling the energy consumption from a central unit by a signal from an optical dust monitor installed in the stack. © Fast power restoration after a sparkover. '* Back-corona detection, allowing the precipitator current to be set automatically to an optimal level during operating conditions with high resistivity dust, © High resistivity mode operation allowing selection between settings of relevant parameters (current limit, current set back. spark rate). '® Rapping with a reduced (or increased) current level in the corresponding precipitator field FLS miljo als Pages Ramsingeve| 20, DK-2500 Valy, Copenhagen, Denmark Telophone -45-26181100, Toot o45.51174599, Takx 19058 fsam dkUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS ‘Tho following tesis have been made by FLS mil at various plants, and they show how an optimisation of the installation, pertormed by FLS miljo specialists and combined with PIACS-DC may drastically reduce both emission level and energy consumption.uce beth emission level and energy consumption, Power pant | Powerplant | Powerplant | Papermil) Steam Eoier | Cement | Cement Process CoalFited |Coal Fred Boller! CoalFied | me | Stkarwitr | piartkin | pant cli Boler | Retumira | Line sone ‘in creoce Denmark| Denmark | Poruga | Swaden | Srain_| Spain ESP ype Wather | FUSmije | FLSmije | FLSijo | FLSmijo | FLSmije | FLS mie Resisiviy val Hoh Madu Nedum | low | _Hoh Hoh High Energy saving 0% | St%. 64%. um | Tem 7o% | 68% Emission reduction | 25% | 2306 Th. 0%. 55%, 57% ar 3.1.5 Installation of pulse generators. The new developments in the electrostatic previpitator technology have shown that it is possible to make smaller and cheaper precipitators with same performance as with the traditional design. One of these features is pulse energization, which can be installed in connection with existing precipitators. The pulse energization may net require any mechanical alterations. it will be described a litle more detailed in the following ‘The precipitator hancles difficult dust with high resistivity andlor itis desirad to use diferent types of fuel, but the dust emission must be kept constant, even when changing between coals being respectively easy or difficult to preciptate It has for many years been known that the performance of a presipitator collecting high resistivity dust can be improved by pulse energization. This new technology offers several advantages. Having two electrostatic precipitators designed for identical tasks, one DC energized in the conventional manner and the other pulse energized, and assuming that the resistivity of the dust to be precipitated at a given cticiency is 10% chm em or higher, the effective volume (collecting area) of the pulse energized precipitator is reduced by 20-50% ‘compared with the DC energized precipitator. This results in a saving in the inttal installation costs of 25-30%. Apart from this capital saving the use of the FLS energy conserving pulse generator system ‘wil cut the power consumption with about 60-65% and thus subsiantially reduce the operating costs. Pulse energization of electrostatic precipitators is @ technology whereby short duration high vottage pulses repetitively are elther superimposed upon an operating DC base voltage, or ted directly to the procipitator. For certain applications, particularly such wth high resistivity dusts, this technology is Capable of improving precipitator performance over that possible wth conventicnal DC energization. FLS mille a's Pages Ramsingsve| 30, DK-2500 Vay, Copentagen, Denmark “Teophone 445-6181 100, Telelax +45-31174599. Telex 19053 lem akUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS Pulse energization represents the only really new method of precipitator energization introduced since the beginning of industrial electrostatic preciptation around the turn of the century. Pulse energization should not be confused with intermittent energization which sometimes is termed "semipulsing’ or "poor man's pulsing’. intermittent eneraization is practiced with conventional DC high voltage power supplies by suppressing of one or mate hal cycles of the transformer supply vokage by means of the thyristor controller. intermittent energization primarily saves power but may also produce some improvement of precipitator performance with medium and high resistivity dusts. Pulse energization is used with precipitators having conventional two electrode arrangements, therefore, it can be used easily to improve performance on existing precipitators. No modifcations. within the precipitator are needed when changing from DC to pulse energization. installation of the FLS energy conserving pulse energization system can usually be carried out during normally scheduled ‘maintenance stops, thus avoiding production loss. In the cement industry it is expected that gas conditioning towers will be rendered superfiuous when pulse energized precipitators are used. Where fabnc titers were formerly necessary due to high resistivity dust, and/or lack of cooling water for conditioning purpases. pulse energized precipitators can now be applied with advantage, both technically and economically. 3.1.6 Water conditioning. The operating temperature is too high and it may therefore be necessary to inject water into the system, partly to raise the dew point and partly to lower the gas temperature, which again results in a lower resistivity of the dust or the existing cooling tower is not working sufficient, which means that the existing spray system must b= modified 3.1.7. Flue-gas conditioning. If the resistivily of the dust is high and none of the above mentioned solutions are economically atiractive, SO,conditioning may be a possibility FLS miljo a/s Page 10 Flamsingzvoj 20, DK:2600 Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark “Tolephane +45 96101100, Talefax +45-91174590, Tolex 10052 cor ceUPGRADING OF EXISTING PRECIPITATORS 3.2 Size is too small to give the desired dust emission. {t will be natural to increase the precipitator size either by adding a new casing in series with the existing one or in parallel. it may also be possible to enlarge the existing casing by adding an extra electrical field in series. 2.21 Extending the existing precipitator. ‘The precipitator is in a good mechanical condition and the gas flow is as originally designed, but the emission requirements have become more rigorous. As a consequent the precipitator has to be extended. There may, however, not be space available for such enlargements. The previously mentioned changes in operating parameters may be considered but may, for some reasons, not be possible. 3.22 New precipitator parallel to the existing one. ‘The precipitaior is in good mechenical condition, but the gas flow is greater than originally designed and the emission requirements may have become more rigorous. To maintain a reasonable gas velocity in the precipitator it is necessary to build a praciptator chamber parallel to the existing pPrecipitator. 3.2.3 New precipitator in series with the existing one. ‘The precipitator is in good mechanical condition and the gas flow is as originally designed, but the emission requirements have become more rigorous. Consequently the precipitator has to be extended. Due to the available space or based on the wish for short outage time during erection, a new precipitator is built in series with the existing one, instead of extending the existing one. FLS milo as Page 11 Rameingvs 0, DK-7500 Yaby. 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