17

Innovatory Conveying Systems

1 INTRODUCTION

The motivation to use dense phase conveying technology arises generally from a
desire to convey at low velocity in order to avoid a range of operational problems;
in particular, the problems of erosive wear of pipelines and fittings or the attrition
of the conveyed material. However, the ability or otherwise of a material to be
conveyed in a dense phase flow regime depends on the particle and bulk properties
of the material to be conveyed.
For materials that have natural dense phase performance in either of the
major modes of dense phase flow, no special equipment is required. For these ma-
terials a standard pipeline and feeder may be used. In general, dense phase systems
tend to use a blow tank to feed the conveying line since this device can operate
over a very wide range of pressure conditions. For materials which do not exhibit
natural dense phase capability, there is often a need to use specialized techniques
and equipment to encourage the material to convey reliably in a dense phase mode
of flow.
Three basic approaches are used in order to condition the material in the
conveying system. The first method involves a form of plug creating device at the
feed point which aims to control the plug or slug formation in order to limit the
size of plug which is initially fed into the conveying line. The second approach is
to use an air addition system, commonly known as boosters, to inject additional

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

486 Chapter 17

conveying air at various points along the pipeline in an attempt to ensure that the
material in the pipeline is maintained in a fluidized condition. The third approach
is to use an internal or external bypass line which aims to limit the maximum size
of plug that will form in the conveying line.
The exact design of these systems vary considerably, depending on the par-
ticular manufacturer, but they have all been used with varying degrees of success.
There is, however, a distinct lack of detailed technical literature underpinning
these systems, and hence the aim of this chapter is to approach these systems in a
generic manner and to explain their operation as far as is possible from a technical
point of view, rather than to review the systems of specific manufacturers.

2 PLUG CREATION SYSTEMS

In general, plug creation systems involve the use of a blow tank as a feeder in
which the supplementary air supply is controlled in order to artificially create
plugs of material of a given length. Typically, the supplementary air injection
point is located in the conveying pipeline just downstream of the blow tank dis-
charge valve. The exact positioning is important since if the injection point is lo-
cated too far downstream, the pressure drop across the extruded flow in the dis-
charge pipe will lead to unacceptably high pressure drops across the discharge
pipe.
This type of system was first developed following research undertaken by
the Warren Spring Laboratory in the UK [ I ] in the early 1970's. A sketch of a
typical system, as originally developed, with a bottom discharge blow tank feeding
device, is shown in Figure 17.1.

2.1 Principle of Operation

The pulse-phase system consists of a pressure vessel feeding a conventional pipe-
line. The air supply to the blow tank is supplied both to the top of the vessel and to
an aeration ring located around the conical section. The aeration ring provides
fluidizing air which ensures that the material remains in a fluid-like state. This
ensures that, for powdered products, the material flows in a reliable manner into
the pipeline.
The aerated state of the material also ensures that the material can be more
easily split-up into plugs. At the start of the conveying line, an 'air knife' device is
located. The air knife is essentially an annular device with a ring of small holes
equally spaced around the pipeline. The air supply to the air knife is controlled to
be either on or off using a timer and a solenoid valve. When the air knife is operat-
ing, a series of air cushions are created between the material plugs. The frequency
of the solenoid switching will provide a degree of control over the plug length.
Although this concept was originally created to handle fine powdered materials,
the device has been used successfully for a wider range of materials including
granular materials.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Innovatory Systems 487

Air

110/240 v

Solenoid Valve Air Knife

Figure 17.1 Schematic of the 'Pulse-Phase' System.

This technology has been licensed to a number of vendor companies around

the world who have also developed and refined the basic concept. Many systems
have been operating around the world with solids loading ratios exceeding 300 in
very short systems. Operating velocities have been reduced to values between
about 300 and 600 ft/mm.

2.2 Stress State in Slugs During Feeding

Despite the use of 'pulse-phase' type systems, there is much evidence to suggest
that the plug formation for many granular materials occurs quite naturally and that
for coarse granular materials, with a high degree of permeability, no such condi-
tioning is necessary. Hitt [2] found that for most free-flowing materials, no special
conditioning was required at all, and that material plugs formed spontaneously and
settled to a steady conveying condition during the steady state period of the blow
tank cycle.
Considerable discussion has also taken place regarding the stress state exist-
ing in the plug at the beginning of the pipeline and whether this is influenced by
the method of feeding and/or any conditioning of the material that takes place at
the feed point. Research undertaken by Li et al [3] suggests that when a full bore
plug of material is formed at the feed point, the condition of the material during
the plug formation does, in fact, influence the stress state in the slug and hence

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

488 Chapter 17

may influence the subsequent behavior of the material in the conveying line. Fur-
ther work is required in this area to fully understand the operation of such systems.

3 AIR ADDITION SYSTEMS

Air addition along the length of the conveying pipeline is a method of condition-
ing the gas-solid mixture during conveying. Two approaches are generally used.
The first involves the continuous addition of small quantities of air at regular in-
tervals along the length of the pipeline. The second approach aims to prevent a
pipeline blockage from occurring by injecting air into the pipeline at the point
where a blockage is about to occur.
The principle behind the first approach is to ensure that the material remains
in a fluidized condition and hence can be conveyed in the fluidized mode of dense
phase along the entire pipeline. In the second approach, air is only injected at the
time and position it is required in order to prevent or clear a blockage. Usually, the
control of this type of operation is based on a pressure signal.

3.1 Continuous Air Addition

The motivation to provide continuous air addition along the pipeline is generally
an attempt to keep the material in the pipeline in an aerated state. In practice, this
is very difficult to achieve and in general leads to velocities which are significantly
higher than necessary.
The most critical velocity in pneumatic conveying is the pick-up velocity or
the velocity at the point where the material is fed into the pipeline. In most cases,
and certainly for single bore pipelines, the velocity at the feed-point will be the
lowest throughout the pipeline. Therefore, it is essential that the required mini-
mum transport velocity is maintained at this point. In conventional systems, the air
flow rate required for conveying is based on the m i n i m u m transport velocity for
the material concerned.
As the air expands along the pipeline, with the fall in static pressure, a natu-
ral consequence is for the air velocity to increase in proportion to the ratio of the
static absolute pressures. Clearly the addition of air at various points along the
conveying line will lead to a further increase in air velocity beyond that due to the
expansion of the air. Clearly, this is not desirable with the potential for increased
erosion and/or attrition, in addition to the higher specific energy requirements for
conveying.
Figure 17.2 shows the relationship between air velocity and pipeline length,
both with and without air addition. The graph is based on a 4 inch single bore
pipeline and an air supply to the start of the conveying pipeline of 216 fV/min of
free air (scfrn). In both cases the air velocity at the pick-up point is 1500 ft/min
and the conveying line pressure drop is 10 Ibf/irr. At this low velocity, it is clear
that the mode of flow would be dense phase. In the case of no air addition, the air
expands to an air velocity of 2500 ft/min at the end of the pipeline.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Innovatory Systems 489

Pressure Drop = 101bf/in 2

10,000
With Air Addition
8,000
No Air Addition

I 6,000
£
I

'g 4,000

2,000

100 200 300

Length - feet

Figure 17.2 Air velocity versus pipeline length with and without air addition.

In the air addition case, boosters are located every 10 feet along the entire
length of the conveying pipeline and the air flow rate to each booster is 20 scfm. In
this case, the air velocity reaches 9500 ft/min by the end of the pipeline. An impor-
tant point to note is that in the case of a booster system of this type, the velocity at
all points in the pipeline will be higher than in the case where the boosters are not
used.
It is clear that the use of continuously operating boosters makes velocity
control in the pipeline very difficult. In the case illustrated above, it can be seen
that even if the system operates in dense phase initially, the velocity at the end of
the pipeline indicates that the system will be operating in dilute phase by that
stage.
Even if the air flow rates to each booster are halved, the exit velocity will
still reach 6000 ft/min. A degree of control over the air velocity could be achieved
by careful stepping of the pipeline at appropriate positions along the pipeline
length. This is always a useful technique for controlling the air velocity, as
considered in Chapter 9.
A further consideration for continuous air injection systems is the level of
gas flow rate required at each injection point to ensure reliable conveying. Clearly,
the quantity of air will depend on the material being conveyed. Very little
information is available in the literature to provide guidance on this point with
most manufacturers of systems treating any information they have on this point as
commercially confidential.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

490 Chapter 17

3.2 Non-continuous air addition systems

Many of the disadvantages of continuous air-addition systems can be overcome by
using non-continuous systems. In general, these systems are aimed at either
preventing a blockage from occurring, or breaking up a blockage that is in the
process of forming. These systems generally consist of a main conveying pipeline
and a parallel air only pipeline with a series of connections at some predetermined
spacing.
Associated with each of these 'boosters' is some form of pressure
measurement. In general, the pressure measurement is aimed at determining when
a significant pressure drop is detected between two boosters, which is assumed to
indicate the location of a blockage, or a potential blockage. Once detected, the
boosters inject air into the pipeline. The quantity of air injected, the injection
period and the overall control of the injection vary from manufacturer to
manufacturer and, once again, this information is generally considered to be
commercially confidential.
The action of the air injection under these circumstances has many
similarities to the action of the bypass system which is considered in the next
section. However, a critical difference between the two generic systems is that, in
the case of the air addition systems, the air injected is additional to the air supply
provided at the feed point to the system.

4 AIR BYPASS SYSTEMS

The air bypass system consists of two pipes; a main conveying pipeline and a sec-
ond small bore pipeline which may be internal or external to the main pipeline.
The small bore pipeline has openings into the main conveying pipeline at prede-
termined intervals which allow the conveying air to move between the two pipe-
lines. A schematic of an internal bypass arrangement is given in Figure 17.3. Fig-
ure 17.4 shows a schematic of an external bypass arrangement.

Figure 17.3 Schematic of internal bypass arrangement.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Innovatory Systems 491

Figure 17.4 Schematic of external bypass arrangement.

The work of Barton [4] is probably the most recent work dealing specifi-
cally with bypass systems. The work was predominantly a global approach to the
problem which involved a direct comparison between two pipelines of the same
geometry; one containing an internal bypass pipeline and the other without. A
range of bypass lines were used, including copper pipelines with varying flute (or
hole) spacing, as well as a totally porous pipeline constructed from a permeable
polymer. The conveyed material was alumina, and various grades were used in the
test program.
The test pipeline was 160 ft long with 6 x 90° bends each having a bend
diameter to pipe bore ratio of 6:1. The pipeline was two inch nominal bore and the
majority of the pipeline was in the horizontal plane, with only 12 ft being vertical.
This pipeline could be operated as a conventional pipeline with no bypass line.
Alternatively, an internal bypass pipeline could be inserted. Various designs of
bypass pipeline were tested during the course of this work.
To establish the effect of the bypass pipeline, Barton used a macro approach
to pipeline testing, whereby the performance of various bypass systems were
compared directly with a conventional pipeline of the same geometry. The general
effect of the internal bypass was two-fold; firstly, conveying at lower minimum
conveying velocities was achieved when the bypass line was fitted; and secondly,
the stability of the material flow was significantly enhanced.
However, as expected, the conveying rate for a given air flow rate and pres-
sure drop was reduced, largely due to the reduction in flow channel cross-sectional
area due to the presence of the internal bypass pipeline. In the case of the sandy
grade of Alumina, the m i n i m u m superficial gas conveying velocity in the conven-
tional pipeline was about 2000 ft/min. In the case where a bypass line was in-
stalled, minimum conveying velocities were as low as 220 ft/min.
However, whereas maximum conveying rates of about 37,000 Ib/h were
achieved with a conveying line pressure drop of 45 lbf/in 2 in the conventional
pipeline, maximum rates of about 28,000 Ib/h were achieved under similar con-
veying conditions where the bypass line was installed. This is due to the reduction

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

492 Chapter 17

in cross-sectional area of the main pipeline when the internal bypass line is in-
stalled.

4.1 Analysis of the Operation of a Bypass Line

The primary function of the bypass pipeline is to prevent blockages of the main
conveying pipeline from occurring. The bypass line achieves this in two ways.
Firstly, the bypass line provides an alternative route for the air to flow when a
blockage occurs. Secondly, the provision of an alternative route for the air to flow
prevents a build up of pressure behind the blockage, which reduces further com-
paction.
The total air (or conveying gas) flow rate in the system is the sum of the gas
flows in the main pipeline and in the bypass line. The ratio of these flow rates will
depend on the comparative resistance in each of the two flow channels. Under
steady state conditions, the pressure profiles in each of the two flow channels will
be the same.
Clearly, if an increase in the flow resistance occurs in the main pipeline, a
greater flow rate will occur in the bypass line in order to balance the pressures. It
is clear, therefore, that the design of such a system must be based largely on the
resistance of the bypass pipeline.
The most likely reason for an increase in pressure in the main pipeline will
be due to the formation of a plug or slug of material. Hence, the pressure required
to move a plug of material in the main pipeline is of critical importance to the de-
sign of bypass systems. Barton [4] approached the problem by first attempting to
establish the relationship between the length of the material plug and the pressure
required to move the slug. An example of the results reported in Barton's thesis is
given in Figure 17.5 for alumina.
Knowing the relationship between slug length and the pressure required to
move the slug, Barton chose a critical slug length which corresponded to the
maximum pressure available to move the slug. The bypass pipe diameter and the
flute spacing was then selected to balance the resistance across a slug of critical
length. To establish the relationship between the slug length and the pressure re-
quired to move the slug, Barton carried out experimental trials and compared the
results with the relationship developed by Konrad [5] given in equation I :

Ap
L D D ' "° '"' D

- - - - - - ( 1 )

A comparison between the calculated values and the measured values of

pressure drop against plug length for sand are also given in Figure 17.5.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Innovatory Systems 493

uu -

Is /
t;
•g /
Sp 40- / T 30-

/
OB
D /

CL

essure to Move I
o
o /

0
to
5
^c
o
"QJ 20-
•*->-< m
3
/ Konrad Konrad
//

0
—
LO
[/]
<L> Model Model
^
L-
Cu
/ • Barton's OH
/
/
" Barton's

0 -
/ Test Data
II
/" Test Data

0 10 20 3( 10 20 30
/a\ Plug Length - ft Plug Length - ft
(b)
Figure 17.5 Pressure drop versus plug

Once the relationship between the plug length and the pressure required to
move the plug is determined, a decision can be made regarding the maximum de-
sired plug length that will be allowed to occur in the pipeline. This decision would
be made based on the system pressure available with some margin of safety.
Barton's analysis focuses on determining the diameter of bypass pipeline
required to ensure that a plug never exceeds the critical plug length. The analysis
is based on a constant mass flow rate of gas supplied to the pipeline system such
that:

(2)

or
m m
<atal (3)

Assuming a plug of critical length is created and the critical pressure is ap-
plied across the plug, then the gas velocity through the plug can be determined
using the Ergun Equation [6]:

(4)
L
T
7^"T
In quadratic form, this equation becomes:

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

494 Chapter 17

•75- 150- (5)

A,

This quadratic can be solved for the mean gas velocity, Ugm. The mass flow
rate of gas passing through the bed is obtained as follows:

(6)

where A is the cross-sectional area of the plug and the mean gas density is given
by:
'"
~RT - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ( (1\
I)

Knowing the mass flow rate of gas passing through the plug and the total
gas mass flow rate supplied to the system, equation 3 will give the mass flow rate
of gas passing through the bypass line. Barton then determines the diameter of
bypass line required to provide the same pressure drop across the bypass line using
a differential form of the Darcy equation:

dp 4f 32fm2KRT
P (8)
dL D p 7T2 d5

Integrating between points 1 and 2 gives:

64fm2gRTL
P\ ~ Pi (9)

Re-arranging for bypass line diameter as the subject:

64/ m-RTL
d = (10)

The Darcy equation is for isothermal, incompressible flow, however, but

provided the Mach number does not exceed about 0-2, and mean density and ve-
locity conditions are used, a reasonable approximation can be obtained.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Innovatory Systems 495

Barton suggests that if equation 1 is evaluated using the maximum desired

plug length (which corresponds to the plug length used to calculate the mass flow
rate of gas through the plug) this will yield the minimum bypass pipe diameter
required to ensure that a plug or blockage will not exceed the critical plug length.
That is, the resistance of the bypass pipeline balances the resistance through the
plug of maximum desired length for the specified value of total gas mass flow
rate. The effect of using a larger bypass pipe diameter would be to balance the
resistances between the plug and the bypass line at a shorter plug length.
Figure 17.6 shows the air only pressure drop for different diameters of by-
pass line compared to the pressure required to move a plug of material of various
plug lengths for a gas mass flow rate of 0-009 Ib/s. The diagram shows that, in this
case, a bypass line diameter of 0-31 in (5/16" approx) or smaller is required in
order to ensure movement of the slugs of length up to about 30ft. To prevent slugs
forming in excess of about 13 feet in length, a larger bypass line diameter of 0-35
in (3/8" approx) would be required.
The work carried out by Barton provides a guide to the sizing of bypass
pipelines. However, it does not quantify the effects of the flute (or hole) spacing,
but Barton states that "The spacing between holes is important since spacing of the
flutes 20 in apart gives better results than 40 in spacing." He goes on to say that "It
is unlikely, however, that this is the ideal distance between holes."
Although the plug lengths tested, and hence pressures generated, are greater
than those encountered in commercial systems, the experimental work undertaken
and modeling employed has helped to provide a better understanding of the flow
mechanisms involved.
200 r

0-23 in
160
D.
O

120

80
0-31 in
0-35 in
%
cx
40 0-39 in

10 15 20 25 30 35

Plug Length - ft

Figure 17.6 Air only pressure drop for different bypass line diameters against the plug
length for a gas mass flow rate of 0-009 Ib/s.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

496 Chapter 17

The work also shows that the system has the potential of being modeled so
that engineers should be able to evaluate pipeline sizes and air flow rates for a
given material in due course.
Work carried out by Jones and Soloman [7,8] argued that the bypass pipe-
line has more of a transient effect whereby blockages are broken as they form. The
mechanism behind this theory is that there will always be a residual pressure in the
bypass line when a blockage is beginning to form. It is argued that this residual
pressure will destroy blockages as they form.
The immediate effect will be to significantly reduce the air flow rate in the
main conveying pipeline, as this will now be governed by the permeability of the
material plug. This will lead to a very rapid change in the pressure profile in the
main conveying line. However, the pressure profile in the bypass line will change
more gradually and will depend on how easily the gas can flow into the bypass
line upstream of the blockage. This will be governed by the hole or flute diame-
ters, their spacing or pitch and the diameter of the bypass pipeline. This situation is
illustrated in Figures 17.7 and 8. Note that the exact shape of the pressure curve in
the main pipe is very dependent on the properties of the material being conveyed.

Bypass Pipe Pressure

— Main Pipe Pressure

Distance

Figure 17.7 Steady state flow conditions.

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Innovatory Systems 497

Distance

Figure 17.8 Instantaneous blockage conditions.

The dotted lines show the extremes of the possible pressure states in the
main pipe. The upper limit of the pressure relationship is the situation where the
pressure in the blockage decays linearly as indicated by the upper dotted line. This
would occur for materials that are highly permeable. The lower limit of the pres-
sure relationship would be where the pressure in the blockage drops off rapidly as
indicated in the lower dotted line. This would occur in materials that have a low
permeability. Most materials would display a pressure relationship in the blockage
somewhere between the upper and lower limits as indicated by the solid line.
It is argued that the pressure before the blockage in the main pipe will be-
come constant as indicated by the flat line in Figure 17.8. This pressure will in-
crease and rise to the limit of the air supply. The pressure after the blockage in the
main pipe will also become constant and is indicated by a flat line. This pressure
will decay to atmospheric pressure.
Clearly, air will flow from regions of higher pressure to regions of lower
pressure. In this case, air will flow from the main pipeline into the bypass pipeline
upstream of the blockage and will flow from the bypass line into the main convey-
ing pipeline at some point along the length of the blockage depending on the posi-

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

498 Chapter 17

tion of the cross-over of the pressure curves. The position of the pressure profiles
and the magnitudes of the air flow rates into and out of the bypass line will depend
on the diameter of the bypass line and the diameter and spacing of the flutes.

5 CONVEYING CHARACTERISTICS

It was mentioned earlier that when a sandy grade of alumina was tested in the 160
ft long pipeline of two inch bore, a maximum flow rate of 37,000 Ib/h was
achieved and that 28,000 Ib/h was achieved when a fluted pipe was inserted in the
same pipeline. These two flow rates were obtained with a conveying line pressure
drop of 45 Ibf/in 2 in each case and the difference was attributed to the reduction in
pipeline material flow cross section area due to the presence of the internal pipe-
line, since this should only transfer air.
It was mentioned above that in the conventional pipeline the minimum con-
veying air velocity for the alumina was about 2000 ft/min and that with the fluted
pipe it was as low as 220 ft/min. In terms of overall performance, however, con-
veying characteristics are required. Those for the conventional pipeline were pre-
sented in Chapter 12 on 'Aluminum Industry Materials' with Figure 12.Ib and are
typical of materials that can only be conveyed in dilute phase suspension flow.
They are shown alongside those of a floury alumina in Figure 12.la to illustrate
the differences between dilute phase and sliding bed dense phase modes of con-
veying. Floury alumina naturally has very good air retention properties.
Conveying data for the alumina conveyed through the fluted pipeline was
published in Reference 9 and this shows that the conveying characteristics are very
similar to those for the polyethylene pellets presented in Figure 4.12b. This means
that as the air flow rate is reduced, in the dense phase flow region, the material
flow rate reduces. Polyethylene pellets are naturally conveyed in plugs, and the
purpose of the fluted pipeline is to convey materials with no natural dense phase
capability in plugs, and so perhaps it is not to be unexpected that the conveying
characteristics should be very similar.
This does mean, of course, that at low velocity a very much reduced mate-
rial flow rate will be achieved. Thus a larger bore pipeline will be required to con-
vey a material at a given flow rate in the fluted pipeline system at low velocity,
than will be required to convey the material in dilute phase at high velocity in a
conventional open pipeline. Many of the materials that are conveyed with fluted
pipeline systems are highly abrasive and so the choice is possibly a decision in
which the problems of pipeline wear and conveyed material contamination are
taken into account.
In the systems in which air is added to the material along the length of the
pipeline, such as with 'boosters', it is often considered that this is an artificial
means of giving a material a degree of air retention [10]. Air retentive materials,
such as the floury alumina in Figure 12.la, suffer little or no reduction in convey-
ing performance with reduction in air flow rate. It is not known, however, whether

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 Innovatory Systems 499

the conveying characteristics for air addition systems are similar to those for mate-
rials that are capable of being conveyed in dense phase in the sliding bed mode of
flow. The constant addition of air, as mentioned above, may have an over-riding
effect. It is hoped that an answer to this question will be provided soon.

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
There is little doubt that the innovatory systems discussed in this chapter have a
part to play for those materials that do not have natural dense phase capability.
However, it is essential to ensure that the material to be conveyed is suitable for
the class of system under consideration. At present this is still an empirical process
and the only way to adequately determine the suitability of a material for a particu-
lar class of system is by pilot scale testing.
It should be noted that the air only pressure drop curves for the various by-
pass line diameters are theoretical and based on the Darcy equation. The curve
representing the pressure required to move a plug of material of various lengths is
based on experimental data. Barton's experimental work involved plug lengths of
up to about 22 feet and pressures up to approximately 90 Ibf/in 2 .
It should also be noted that those materials that have natural dense phase
capability do not require the additional complexity and expense associated with
the innovatory systems described. However, commercial pressures in the market
place can lead to these systems being offered for applications where they are really
not required. It is clearly important for the user to ensure that, if these systems are
being offered by vendors, they really are necessary for reliable operation.

NOMENCLATURE SI

A Plug section area in 2 m2

c Inter-particle cohesion lb/in 2 kg/ms 2
d Bypass line diameter in m
dp Particle diameter in m
D Pipe bore in m
/ Friction coefficient
F Frontal Stress Ibf/in 2 N/m 2
g Gravitational acceleration ft/s2 m/s2
= 32-2 ft/s 2 = 9-81 m/s2
KH. radial stress/axial stress
L Pipeline length ft m
m Mass flow rate Ib/min kg/s
p Pressure Ibf/in 2 N/m 2 , kN/m 2 , bar
(1 bar= 100 kN/m 2 )
R Characteristic gas constant Btu/lb R kJ/kg K
T Absolute temperature R K
= t + 460 = t + 273

Copyright  2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

500 Chapter 17

U Velocity ft/min m/s

Greek
t] Viscosity Ib/ft h kg/m s
s Voidage
(/> Angle of Internal Friction degrees degrees
</>„. Angle of Wall Friction degrees degrees
u Included angle on Mohr's Stress Diagram
p Density Ib/ft3 kg/m 3
Subscripts
b Bulk value

m Mean value
p Particle
w Wall
1, 2 Reference points along pipeline

REFERENCES

1. J.H. Aspcy. The pneumatic pulse phase powder conveyor. Proc Joint Symposium on
Pneumatic Transport of Solids, SAIMechE, SA Institute of Materials Handling. 1975.
2. R.J. Hitt, A.R. Reed, and J.S. Mason. The effect of spontaneous plug formation in
dense phase pneumatic conveying. Proc 7 th Powder & Bulk Solids Conf Chicago.
1982.
3. J.Li and M.G. Jones. Towards the control of slug formation in low-velocity pneumatic
conveying. Powder Handling & Processing. Vol 14. No 3. 2002.
4. S. Barton. The effect of pipeline flow conditioning on dense phase pneumatic convey-
ing performance. PhD Thesis. Glasgow Caledonian University. Scotland. 1997.
5. K. Konrad, D. Harrison, R.M. Nedderman, and J.F. Davidson. Prediction of the pres-
sure drop for horizontal dense phase pneumatic conveying of particles. Proc 5 th Int
Conf on the Pneumatic Transport of Solids in Pipes. BHRA Fluid Engineering Centre.
Paper No El, pp 225-244. 1980.
6. S. Ergun. Fluid flow through packed columns. Chemical Engineering Progress. Vol
48. No 2. pp 89-94. 1952.
7. M.G. Jones, X. Zhang, T. Krull, and R. Pan. Bypass systems in pneumatic conveying.
Proc 15th Hydrotransport. BHR Group Conf. Banff Canada. June 2002.
8. M. Solomon. Bypass pneumatic conveying systems. Final project report. School of
Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Australia. 2002.
9. D. Mason and S. Barton. The use of air-bypass pipelines to enable low velocity gas-
solids flow in pneumatic conveying systems. Proc 8 lh Int Freight Pipeline Soc Symp.
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