Some Problems in the Application of the Deutsch Equation to Industrial Electrostatic Precipitation

Abstract

The Deutsch equation assumes that all particles are identical and that there is complete mixing of the gas at any point along the gas path. In industrial precipitators complete mixing is probably a good approximation but the diversity of sizes and kinds of particles results in an efficiency curve which increases less rapidly with precipitator length than would be predicted by the Deutsch equation. By choosing a different drift velocity for each condition, the Deutsch equation can be effectively used by an expert but this procedure can be very confusing to the engineer with limited experience.