The authors investigated and improved the filtration efficiency of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). A laboratory-scale pilot unit was developed to allow experimentation under conditions approaching those of the industrial ESPs used by the CEA at Marcoule (France). After elucidating the electrical phenomena and optically analysing the physical processes occurring inside the precipitator, a specific electrode was developed for use with a hybrid power supply. The experiments were based on analysing the variation over time of the electric charge injected into the particle separator, the particle mass collected at the ground electrode and the charges quantity measured on a grid in the airstream after the electrode unit. Photos were also taken under different electrical discharge conditions. The results show that combining a multipoint electrode and a hybrid generator (30 kV dc and 30 kV, 1 kHz) improves the process efficiency and significantly extends the time frame (more than 10 h) during which the process operates at optimum efficiency.