THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF CHARGED DROP FORMATION IN A UNIFORM ELECTRIC FIELD

• Published in: JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 178 - 182
• Main Authors: TAKAMATSU, TORU, HASHIMOTO, YOSHIKI, YAMAGUCHI, MANABU, KATAYAMA, TAKASHI
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo The Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan 01.01.1981; Taylor & Francis Group
• ISSN: 0021-9592; 1881-1299
• DOI: 10.1252/jcej.14.178

The formation of single charged drops in a uniform electric field is studied as a fundamental of "electrostatic liquid extraction". Theoretical equations are derived for the volume and the electric charge of the drop formed at the tip of an electrified nozzle that protrudes from one of a pair of parallel plate electrodes. The experimental measurements were performed in atmosphere by use of three nozzles (0.1, 0.15 and 0.26 cm O.D.) in an electric field range of 0-6 × 105 V•m-1. It has been clarified theoretically and experimentally that drop volume decreases remarkably with increase of electric field strength and also with increase of protrusion length (0-1.0 cm) of the nozzle. The theoretical equation gives a somewhat larger drop volume than that obtained experimentally, but it represents well the effect of protrusion length on volume. Experimental data of drop charge are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions when the nozzle protrusion length is relatively short. Although some deviations are found between the experimental and the theoretical values, the behavior of single charged drop formation is predicted by the theoretical equations presented.