Improving the power consumption in pneumatic conveying systems by a daptive control of the flow regime

The pneumatic conveying of solids in a gas stream is a recurrent process in petrochemical industries. However, due to practical limitations the majority of existing systems have capacities ranging from 1 to 400 tones per hour over distances less than 1000 m, mainly because of a high power consumption per transported unit mass. More specifically, to avoid the formation of dense structures such as dunes and plugs, which, depending on the characteristics of the material and on the availability of a pressure head from the carrier phase may cause a violent pressure surge or a possible line blockage...