Post-ESP Dust Monitoring in a Coal-Fired Power Plant
Continuous dust trends for ESP optimisation and lower-maintenance process monitoring
A large power plant
Challenge: unreliable opacity monitor
Solution: Continuous post-ESP dust trend data
Continuous dust monitoring immediately after an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) gives plant operators real-time visibility into dust-removal performance and provides trend data that can be used to optimise ESP operation.
The challenge
A large power plant used electrostatic precipitators to remove dust before its emission points. The plant needed dust information immediately after the ESP as well as at the stack, and also wanted a usable process signal to help optimise the ESP rapping cycles.
The existing post-ESP solution was an opacity monitor. In the plant environment, it required substantial maintenance and was affected by frequent misalignment caused by process vibration, making reliable process trending difficult.
The solution
During a one-month trial, the plant installed a Sintrol E-SPY alongside the existing opacity monitor. The E-SPY provided a continuous relative dust trend downstream of the ESP, and its 4–20 mA output was connected to the plant control system.
This gave operators a direct process signal for adjusting the ESP rapping cycles while allowing the two monitoring approaches to be compared under the same operating conditions.
Results
From one trial unit to four E-SPY measurement points.
After the one-month trial, the plant removed the opacity system at the trial point and ordered three additional E-SPY monitors for other measurement points in the plant.
- Continuous post-ESP dust trend data for process control
- Better information for optimising ESP rapping cycles
- Lower maintenance burden than the previous opacity monitor
- No recurring optical alignment issue from process vibration
How it works
E-SPY is a probe-based dust monitor using Sintrol’s Inductive Electrification measurement principle. Its post-ESP design neutralises the electrostatic field in the outlet duct so that the monitor can provide a stable relative dust trend for continuous process monitoring and ESP optimisation.
John Korpi
Area Sales Director
Dust Monitoring Solutions
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