Revisited electric decontamination of liquid dielectrics

The article gives the general formulation of the one-dimensional unsteady problem of mass transfer under the action of an external electrostatic field. In the process, the electric forces are in conformity with Coulomb’s law, and the disperse particles are charged due to the “corona” discharge in the dielectric liquid. The discharge formation, as is also the case for gases, is the result of the dramatic inhomogeneity of the external electric field. In turn, this inhomogeneity is due to the punching of the enamel insulation of the high-voltage electrode. As a result, phenomena similar to those in gases appear (among them is a convective stream); that is, they are electrohydrodynamic. In a thus volume-charged liquid, impurity particles also become charged and, under the action of the forces mentioned above, move towards the opposite electrode, which acts as a collector of impurities. The movement of particles is due to the electric convection transfer. The problem is formulated for unsteady conditions; however, this paper deals with solving it for a steady diffusion state. It is demonstrated that, because of the low diffusion coefficient, the diffusion flux does not account for the phenomenon observed in reality, that is, the distribution of the concentration in the area between the electrodes. The authors of this paper propose the notion of an “electrical” diffusion flux, which can account for the observed regularity both qualitatively and quantitatively. The obtained results are discussed in the paper.