Considering electrical control of electrostatic precipitation, this paper discusses particle collection in terms of corona ionic wind, gas flow pattern and high-voltage power sources. Experiments and simulations were conducted with lab-scale and industrial electrostatic precipitators. In general, a larger electrostatic precipitator (ESP) index value leads to better ESP performance. To maintain the voltage, simulation results show that a three-phase power source could operate at a lower ripple factor of 0.8% and a shorter recovery time of 5 ms after spark-over than single-phase or high frequency transformer rectifiers. For an industrial ESP with several electric fields, optimal voltage or electric field strength drops from its inlet to outlet fields. It is normally around 3.3 kV cm −1 with a large corona input power for the inlet field, and it drops to about 2.3 kV cm −1 with a small input power to limit ionic wind induced reentrainment for the last field. For a typical Chinese 660 MW coal-fired boiler with a fourfield colder-side ESP, its outlet ash concentration and its PM 10 and PM 2.5 are usually around 15 mg m −3 , 12 mg m −3 and 2 mg m −3 , respectively. According to particle image velocimetry observation and particle collection measurements, we found that the corona wind generated vortex can result in not only enhancement of collection but also particle reentrainment and/ or the so-called 'bypass flow'. An optimum electric field inside the ESP exists to save energy and collect particles. For present ESPs, a higher electric field (>3.5 kV cm −1 ) generates strong electrohydrodynamic flow, which consequently undermines the collection due to turbulent flow. Advanced industrial automatic voltage controllers for three-phase transformer rectifier and double-wire ESPs have been developed according to those experimental results for both reducing emission and corona energy consumption.

Cold atmospheric plasma jet is widely used in many fields due to the reactive oxygen species and low temperature for heat-sensitive products. This paper presents the inactivation of bacteria via a pulsed plasma jet with He/O 2 mixed gas. To evaluate the disinfection performance, Staphylococcus aureus was used as an indicator bacteria for experiments. When the plasma jet dealt with agar plates spraying bacteria, it was found that mixed gas has a better performance than pure inert gas, indicated by the disinfection area. The increment of oxygen gas addition was beneficial to the disinfection ability of the plasma jet, while the gas had an opposite effect on the length of jet production. The experiments showed the efficacy of Staphylococcus aureus disinfection could reach up to 99.47% via a helium/oxygen (2%) plasma jet.

This paper presents plasma-induced blood coagulation and its pilot application in rat hepatectomy by using a home-made pulsed cold plasma jet. Experiments were conducted on blood coagulation in vitro, the influence of plasma on tissue in vivo, and the pilot application of rat hepatectomy. Experimental results show that the cold plasma can lead to rapid blood coagulation. Compared with the control sample, the plasma-induced agglomerated layer of blood is thicker and denser, and is mostly composed of broken platelets. When the surface of the liver was treated by plasma, the influence of the plasma can penetrate into the liver to a depth of about 500 μm. During the rat hepatectomy, cold plasma was proved to be effective for stanching bleeding on incision. No obvious bleeding was found in the abdominal cavities of all six rats 48 h after the hepatectomy. This implies that cold plasma can be an effective modality to control bleeding during surgical operation.

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