Collecting Particulate Matter and Particle-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Using a Cylindrical Thermal Precipitator
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 6
Abstract
Thermophoresis has been used to develop various thermal precipitators; however, their collection performance for ambient particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm () has been rarely reported, and the effect of the temperature gradient adopted in the precipitator on the evaporation loss of the organic fraction of collected particles has not been discussed to the authors’ knowledge. In this study, a cylindrical thermal precipitator consisting of two coaxially aligned cylinders with an annular space of 0.51 mm and a two-inlet impactor was designed for collecting . The effects of the sampling flow rate and temperature gradient on the collection efficiency were examined. The precipitator was also tested for its collection efficiency for particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). At a temperature gradient of and a flow rate of , the collection efficiency could reach 100% for PM with an electrical mobility diameter and decreased gradually to 70% as increased from 0.5 to 1.0 μm. For PM with , the collection efficiency increased due to impaction at the inlet. The collection efficiency increased with an increase in the temperature gradient or a decrease in the inlet flow rate. The semiempirical model could reasonably fit the collection efficiency curve of the precipitator. No significant evaporation loss of PAHs was found when the temperature of the cold cylinder surface was approximately 0°C. It was concluded that the thermal precipitator could be used to collect ambient fine PM with a size less than 0.5 μm, and the inlet impactor design could improve the collection efficiency for coarse particles.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41390240, 41571130010, and 41130754). The authors express their great appreciation to Dr. Arantzazu Eiguren-Fernandez and Dr. Raymond Coveney for their help in editing this article.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 6 • June 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 31, 2016
Accepted: Dec 2, 2016
Published ahead of print: Feb 21, 2017
Published online: Feb 22, 2017
Published in print: Jun 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 22, 2017
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