Designing and Upgrading Air Pollution Control Equipment Using

Modern Analytical Tools

Joseph Riley, Managing Director

Maurizio Archetti, Technical Director
BoldEco Environment, Skillman NJ, USA

Introduction
To those in the market for process equipment, a performance guarantee is probably as
important as price. In the case of standardized equipment, it is usually enough to rely on
the supplier’s experience in order to be satisfied with his ability to achieve a particular
level of performance. In the case of a custom engineered system, and especially in more
demanding applications, not only must the supplier have had previous experience in a
similar application, but he must be able to evaluate the critical design conditions of the
particular application in order to properly modify his basic design. In the case of air
pollution control systems, it is imperative that not only the company responsible for
executing the order have the experience, but that the it also have the experienced staff
who can make distinctions about the very important and often overlooked differences
between the reference projects and the one at hand. Only with this knowledge can he
properly modify his design to achieve the guaranteed level of performance.
As pollution regulations become more stringent, the ability to modify a particular base
design to meet the stricter levels of emissions becomes harder and harder to do with
experience and traditional methods of calculation alone. It is therefore advantageous to
implement the latest prediction and calculation tools available in order to achieve a
higher degree of certainty of meeting the desired emissions levels and operational
requirements.

Application of modern analytical tools

The use of modern analytical tools such as Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) or
physical modeling for the design of gas collection equipment is not new. Air pollution
control companies have used physical modeling for large electrostatic precipitator dust
collectors, especially when the pollution control apparatus has to be integrated into the
network of ducting as specified by the engineer.
The state-of-the-art of flow modeling is such that most gas flow analysis companies that
once only offered physical modeling, now offer CFD as an option. This came about as a
result of many years of CFD implementation, not only in the high tech industries, such as
aerospace and biomedical, but also in the basic industries, such as cement, steel, power,
etc. This general acceptance by even the harshest critics means that CFD has become the
de-facto standard for modeling gas flows, as well as chemical reactions, capture
efficiency, droplet evaporation, gas mixing and other modeling tasks due to its lower
cost, speed of results, and ease of model modification.
 The implementation of CFD technology in many of the components used in air pollution
control systems has traditionally been relegated to the simpler modeling tasks, such as
spray tower and EP flow distribution, cyclone collection efficiency, gas-gas interaction
(such as reactions, and cooling) and fan design. These exercises have traditionally been
applied after the installation of the systems when problems have arisen that are at least
potentially attributable to problems with a particular flow field. It is rare, with the
exception of research and development efforts or the design of standard series equipment,
that CFD be used habitually in the design of new, custom engineered electrostatic
precipitators, fabric filters, spray towers, scrubbers, and other gas flow treatment
apparatus used in air pollution control systems.

BoldEco Environment philosophy

BoldEco Environment made the decision that it would acquire in-house CFD capabilities
in order to aid in the design of its own equipment, as well as to improve the operation of
competing or related systems, and as part of the consulting services offered to its
customer base. BoldEco Environment has invested in the tools required to apply CFD
technology to the study of its custom engineered and standard air pollution control
equipment. We believe that this capability will provide BoldEco Environment with a
decided advantage over its competition, as well as advance the state-of-the-art of various
air pollution control technologies. By bringing these advanced tools in-house, we can
provide our designers and engineers with the latest technological advancements, thereby
ensuring the highest probability of a job well done while maintaining our competitive
edge.

Equipment design
BoldEco Environment uses CFD to optimize the design of various standard and custom
equipment designs:
• Scrubbers
• Fabric filters
• EPs
• Spray towers
• Heat Exchangers
The principle of operation of each component is analyzed in depth by our fluid
mechanics, and each finding is used to refine the base design. For each project or to
solve a particular problem with an existing system, CFD is employed to determine what
the flow might look like and is any flow-based corrections are warranted. These
solutions are then; either incorporated into the design of the new equipment, or are
presented to the client for implementation.
Examples
Some of the more recent cases of implementation of CFD to determine a solution to poor
flow field distribution are listed below.

Case 1 – Spray Tower

This example shows a spray tower before and after modifications. The flow field before
modifications is shown to hug one side of the tower, with the other side experiencing a
large amount of recirculation. This recirculation is the cause of impingement of water on
walls of the spray tower, resulting in incomplete or inconsistent cooling of the gases.

Figure 1a – Side view of gas conditioning tower before modification

Figure 1b - Velocity through modified design showing stabilized flow
Case 2 – Fabric Filter
This example shows a fabric filter hopper before and after modifications. The flow field
before modifications is biased toward the side opposite the inlet. The installation of
ladder vanes shows an optimized flow field, resulting in much better wear and pressure
drop characteristics.

Figure 2a - Velocity through existing Figure 2b - Velocity through modified

hopper design showing uneven flow hopper design showing stabilized flow
Case 3 – Duct Cooling
This example shows a model of an emergency in-duct cooling system in front of a fabric
filter. The model was run to determine the droplet size distribution that would be able to
be carried by the gas stream long enough to cause a given temperature drop at the inlet of
the collector.

Figure 3a – Velocity profile enabled us to calculate droplet transport velocity

Figure 3b – Emergency sprays are modeled to show cooling effect

Case 4 – Heat Exchanger
This example shows a heat exchanger tube where a modification was made to the basic
design in order to improve heat exchanger characteristics. Though not shown here, the
model shows not only heat transfer, but also pressure drop.

Figure 4a - Velocity contour through the HE tube

Figure 4b – The new temperature profile is much improved due to modification

Case 5 – Wet Scrubber
This example shows a wet scrubber that was modeled in order to determine whether the
flow was well distributed throughout.

Figure 5 a/b – Scrubber element layout and velocity through collection elements

Figure 5 c/d – Flow through scrubber elements and into separator tank
Conclusion
Implementation of modern analytical tools, such as CFD technology, not only in research
and development or the design of standard equipment, but as an integral part of a
system’s design, will result in the optimal operation and efficiency of custom engineered
air pollution control systems. Not only will the resultant system be better designed, it
will be better understood by both the customer and the engineer, and will make any future
modifications easier and more efficacious.