The analysis of particle degradation in pneumatic conveyors utilizing a pilot-sized test facility

Abstract

Pneumatic conveying systems are widely used to convey powdered and granular solid materials in industry. However, as with all transport methods, there are advantages and disadvantages to this technique. Product degradation can occur when using pneumatic transport. It is desirable to be able to predict product degradation in real pneumatic conveying systems at the design stage. At the moment this is very difficult to do from a fundamental viewpoint, due to the large number of variables involved, many of which are difficult to quantify for most systems. An empirical approach has therefore been adopted involving the development of a pilot-sized test facility. The test programme incorporated a series of tests using malted barley, granulated sugar and rice. This enabled the measurement of product degradation over a range of superficial air velocities (9-38 m/s), suspension densities and pipe bend geometries to be made for each material. This paper will present experimental results obtained from the pilot-sized rig, indicating and discussing the effects of a number of variables on degradation.