Improving Precipitator Performance at Pulp and Paper Mills

Paper mills face some unique challenges when it comes to optimizing the performance of electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). Resistivity, for example, is a key issue for power boilers fired by wood waste (bark burners) because often the ash is high in calcium. For recovery boilers, collection is made difficult because the recovered chemical compounds tend to consist of very fine particles and the dust loading can also be relatively high, leading to significant suppression of inlet field current levels.

Proper operating temperature, good gas-flow distribution, good mechanical alignment and optimized rapping are needed to comply with emission limits on a consistent basis.