Question

Name the most widely used device for removing particulate pollutants from the air. Explain how the device is used?

Answer 1

Hint: Particle pollutant or particulate matter, is a mixture of a solid and liquid droplet which is temporarily found in the air. It can be made up of different components – like organic, inorganic, biological material and including acid. Particle pollutants may come from many types of sources. It can cause serious health issues.

Complete step by step answer: There are various types of device or method to avoid these types of problems. The first one of them is electrostatic precipitator. It is mostly used in the Thermal or Steamed power plant. It collects dust, ashes particles from the air, and also known as the dust collector. It is the most effective method which is used for the removal of fine pollutant particles from the air.
In the electrostatic precipitator method, firstly there is a pre-filter, which is used to filter dust parts from the air. Then there are two sets of electrodes fitted in against the inner walls of smokestacks. The positive electrodes are in the plate form and the negative electrodes are in wire mesh form. which is charged negatively by the DC supplier. When high voltage is put in, an electric discharge takes place across the smokestack and the result is, the air in the stack is ionized. Air consists of ions and releases the electron. The released electron gets attached to the gaseous particles moving up the stack. The particles get negatively charged and attracted to the positive electrode located on the inner wall of the stack and settle down there.
These can be shifted from the electrodes by the vibration of the electrodes and collected in the collecting surface. In this process, about 99% of the particulate matter gets removed from the air.

Note: For the removal of pollutant particulates from the air, there are some other devices or methods which are used for the separation, are Scrubbers and Arresters.
Scrubbers control acid gases and arresters used to separate particulate pollutants such as dust, smoke, pollen, and liquid droplets.