Method to monitor the function of electrostatic precipitators in biomass combustion plants by capturing the operation parameters

Electrostatic precipitators are secondary equipment often used for reducing particle emissions in biomass combustion plants to achieve legislative limits of dust emissions as dictated by the government. The EU-directive 2015/2193 demands for a continuous verification of the effective operation of medium combustion plants (MCP), which has to adhere to the national guidelines of every European country. In addition, this will also be necessary and beneficial for small scale plants used for domestic or isolated supply applications in the near future. State of the art online dust particle measurement techniques, using optical signals, have to withstand harsh measurement conditions like high temperature, electrostatic charge and corrosive particles. Therefore, they are too expensive to be used in this context. However, using the operational parameters such as current and voltage, the precipitator itself can predict the emitted dust concentration directly through a mathematical method. This eliminates the need for higher investments and offers a simple and continuous verification of the plant as to whether it reaches the emission goals or not.