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High-temperature electrostatic precipitators for removing dust from fuel or flue gases were proposed to improve energy efficiency or to avoid damaging downstream equipment. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive understanding of negative DC corona discharges and find ways to increase corona stability at high temperatures. The characteristics of corona discharges were studied in a wire–plate discharge configuration under different discharge gaps and electrode geometries at temperatures ranging from 293 K to 1173 K. The V – I characteristics were analyzed, including corona onset/spark voltages, operating voltage ranges, and corona current compositions. The discharge current density increases as the temperature increases, and the electron-carried current becomes significant at high temperatures. For example, the electron-carried current makes up ∼40% of the total discharge current at 1073 K under an applied voltage of 10 kV. The applied voltage range decreases as the temperature increases. The corona discharges become unstable, and localized breakdowns occur frequently when the temperature exceeds 1073 K and the discharge gap is less than 50 mm, because the ionization coefficient and the number of electrons greatly increase. The operating voltage range increases from 8.2 kV to 13.6 kV at 1073 K when the discharge gap increases from 30 mm to 70 mm. Compared with the wire and spiral electrodes, the ribbon electrodes produce sparks more easily. The wire diameter has little influence on the spark voltage and corona stability at high temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental-scale electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was built to investigate the characteristics of corona discharge, particle migration, and particle collection at various temperatures ranging from 300 K to 900 K. The variations in particle collection efficiencies and migration velocities with temperature, applied voltage, current density, energy consumption density, particle concentration, and flue gas velocity were obtained. Both onset and spark voltages decreased with an increase in temperature and resulted in a decrease in particle collection efficiency and particle migration velocity. At the same voltage, a large current was generated at high temperature; particle charging was enhanced, and high particle collection efficiencies and particle migration velocities were obtained. At the same current and energy consumption densities, the particle collection efficiencies decreased because of the low electric field intensity. The increase in particle concentration was favorable to particle collection and improved the particle migration velocities. The increase in flue gas velocity reduced the particle collection efficiencies and had minimal influence on the particle migration velocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]