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Energy consumption and simulation of pneumatic conveying lateritic mineral in dense and fluid phase

Abstract:

The mineral pneumatic conveying efficiency depends of different equipment that makes considerable impact on energy saving. The systems are frequently operated in the dilute-phase regime or in the high air velocity region and cause higher power consumption, pipe erosion and particle degradation. Therefore even small reductions in pressure drop and conveying velocity can obtain improvements in energy-saving, pipe wear and particle degradation. The pneumatic conveying should keep the pressure drop and conveying velocity as low as possible. In order to reach this purpose, some energy-saving techniques have been developed. To observe the relationship between the parameters involved in the pneumatic transport of lateritic mineral and obtain the necessary information about the behavior of the variables, it is necessary to simulate the transport characteristics, for which was used the mathematical model in horizontal and vertical pipes, and the losses in elbows. The simulation of pneumatic conveying systems is developed with the use of experimental - theoretical models to pbkp_redict areas of lower energy consumption and make the correct selection of the systems. It plays the important role in the research of fluid and dense-phase gas solid flow. This article gave the numerical simulation conclusions based on the experimental and theoretical research. The behavior of the specific energy consumption in function of concentration show the tendency to reduced energy consumption with increased concentration of the mixture and therefore the amount of material transported. This increased concentration is limited by the conveying characteristics depending on the system parameters and air feeder. The consumption values range from 4.23 MJ/t to 14.55 MJ/t, the latter values corresponds with the lower values of gas-solid concentration (10 to 20 kg/kg).