Pollutant Control Electro Precipitator (ESP)

Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) is a system of equipment installed in Coal fire power plant, to reduce particulate emission in a flue gas before the gas being release to the atmosphere. An ESP is a type of filtration device that charges and sequentially precipitates particles to the flat metallic dust collectors by using strong electric field.

ESP is one of the most important equipment in the coal fired power plant. The main purpose of the ESP is to reduce the particulate matter (PM) emission. PM stands for particulate matter (also called particle pollution): the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope.

Particle pollution includes:

  • PM10 : inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 10 micrometers and smaller
  • PM5: fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller

Particulate matter contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. Some particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can get deep into your lungs and some may even get into your bloodstream. Of these, particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, also known as fine particles or PM2.5, pose the greatest risk to health.

Fine particles are also the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the Indonesia.

ESP principal is to use high Voltage electricity to discharge the particulate. After the particulate become anion. After the particulate being discharged, the collecting plate energize by positive current to become cation, then the particulate will sticky to the collecting plate. The dust that collected by collecting plate furthermore will be rapped by tumbling hammer.  the hammer will knock down the collecting plate and the particulate will fall to the hover for further collection.