The paper presents the measurement and computation of the corona onset voltages, electric
field and ion current density profiles of a new “Tri-electrode system” intended for electrostatic separation
applications. Unlike the well-known “dual cylinder-wire electrode system”, the new system utilizes an
extra adjustable wire in order to provide the means for a more efficient ion charging current; necessary
for separation of different granular mixtures. An experimental setup is constructed to model the present
multi-electrode arrangement. The measurements are carried out for wire diameters between 0.3–1.0 μm
and for different geometrical parameters. Without resorting to the commonly used Deutch’s assumption,
a computational scheme is developed to solve the corona equations and to compute the associated ionized
field quantities of the system. Mapping of the ion flow field patterns demonstrates the impact of this
assumption on the solution’s accuracy. The computed results were found to be in good agreement with
experiments. The configuration offers a more efficient charging process and separation in comparison with earlier separators’ designs.