Generation of static electricity during fluidisation of polyethylene and its elimination by air ionisation

Static electricity is the cause of many problems in the process industries, in particular, when handling powders and granules. The methods usually used to reduce static electricity involve the addition of antistatic agents, the increase of relative humidity or ionisation. But these solutions can give rise to other problems. The purpose of this paper is, first, to study the kinetics of electrostatic charging of polyethylene granules and powders in a fluidised bed and, second, to study the elimination of the static electricity using the same particles with a special supersonic injector producing a neutral cloud of positive and negative ions. The experiments involve taking samples of particles at various times and various locations in the bed and measuring the charge-to-mass ratio by means of a Faraday pail connected to an electrometer. It is found that the electrostatic charge increases during fluidisation up to a limiting value. Concerning the charges elimination, it is shown that ions ejected from the eliminator cannot penetrate into the bulk of particles. Only the particles on the upper surface of the bed are discharged. Thus, the efficiency of the supersonic injector for overall charge neutralisation depends on the movement of the particles in the bed and, in particular, the rate of renewal of the upper surface of the fluidised bed.