In May 2012, construction work started on a new filter-type electrostatic precipitator (ESF) at Taiheiyo Cement Corp’s Fujiwara cement plant in Japan. The latest upgrade would improve the work’s environmental performance due to its superior dust collection efficiency compared to conventional electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). Suitable for treating higher-temperature gas, the ESF was commissioned in June and has been steadily operating since. Taiheiyo Engineering Corporation, Japan, takes us through the project.
In recent years, increasing environmental awareness and the need to improve dust emission control led to Taiheiyo’s plan to enhance the performance of its ESP at the company’s Fujiwara plant, west of Nagoya, Japan. Variations in operational conditions at the works effected changes in the electric resistance of dust which in turn led to variations in dust collection efficiency. By attaching a dust collection electrode with a filtering function to the existing ESP, the resultant ESF can offset the weak point of the equipment and improve its performance. In a bid to establish ESF technology, Taiheiyo Engineering Corp and Furukawa Industrial Machinery Systems Co Ltd of Japan joined forces and introduced the ESF technology to the Fujiwara plant.