Efficient Corona Discharge Fog Collector: Multiple Mesh Electrodes with Electric Field Enhances Fog Harvesting

Collecting fog water from the atmosphere or industrial waste gas can not only replenish water resources, but also improve the atmospheric environment. However, the efficiency of the traditional fog mesh collector is not satisfactory. Different to inefficient fog meshes, collecting droplets by corona discharge is a potential method that can effectively improve the collection efficiency of fog. This research proposes an electrostatic fog collector using multiple mesh droplet collecting electrodes with an electric field, which realizes the efficient collection of fog. The electrostatic fog collector consists of three parts: charged electrode, multiple mesh collecting electrodes and resistor divider. The influence of mesh size, the number of the mesh electrodes, and the electric field on the collecting rate are all studied experimentally. The experimental results show that the collection efficiency of the electrostatic fog collector using 5 collecting electrodes with electric field is as high as 82%. Under the action of the electric field, the power consumption of the electrostatic fog collector is only increased by 1.06 times, but the collection efficiency of each mesh droplet collecting electrode is increased by 4 ~ 5 times. In addition, the mesh size selection strategy is studied, and the optimal mesh size scheme is also discussed.