Environmental implications of acoustic aerosol agglomeration

An overview is presented of acoustically induced agglomeration of fine particulates, potential industrial applications of the technology, and its environmental implications in terms of fine particle pollutants. Adverse health effects due to exposure to fine aerosols are discussed as well as recent legislation to reduce the output of such emissions. Based on this, the need for new, more efficient particle filtration technologies is demonstrated. It is shown that acoustic aerosol preconditioning meets all the requirements to reduce the fine particle output of conventional filter systems. The results of laboratory scale experiments are presented to illustrate the underlying mechanisms of the acoustic agglomeration process, while data from pilot scale testing are shown to prove the effectiveness of acoustic agglomeration systems in reducing the fine particle content of aerosols. Other filtration technologies are compared with acoustic agglomeration equipment. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.