A Wet-Wall Electroinertial Precipitator: A Highly Efficient Air Cleaner for Cotton Dust

A wet-wall electroinertial air cleaner has been developed to control and remove dust generated during the processing of cotton textile fibers. The combination of electrostatic and inertial forces provides for high-efficiency collection of fine cotton dust, and the wet wall is used to continuously flush out the precipitated dust, thus avoiding problems of dust reentrainment or fire hazard. The air-cleaner design consists of a vertical tube equipped with a coaxial charging wire and an air entrance tangential to the periphery of the tube so as to inpart internal rotational flow. Dust entering the tube is charged by corona from the coaxial wire and is attracted to the tube wall by a combination of both the electrical and the centrifugal forces. A film of water introduced at the upper end of the tube flows down the inner wall and washes collected dust down the tube wall to a discharge sump. Data is presented on the efficiencies of a 4-in and an 8-in diameter precipitator operating at upper limits of about 200 ft3/min and 800 ft3/min, respectively, with artificially produced cotton dusts.