Effects of Multi-factors on Stability of Bubble Petroleum Coke Water Slurry

Abstract

Abstract To improve the stability of petroleum coke water slurry (PCWS), bubble-PCWS has been researched in this paper. The presence of bubble-particle complexes in the slurry helps to strengthen three-dimensional network structures of slurry and enhance the stability. In order to make sure the integratedly optimal levels of multi-factors for stability of bubble-PCWS and distinguish the primary and secondary influential factors on the stability, orthogonal experiments and range analysis have been done. The results showed that the operation conditions while preparing bubble-PCWS could greatly impact the slurry stability with the biggest difference between pour rates being about 80 percentage points under different operation conditions. The optimal operation condition for stability was the combination of aeration time of 30 min, solid concentration of 65 wt%, frother dosage of 0.030 wt% of the air-dried pulverized petroleum coke, aperture size of air distribution plate of 2∼5 μm and frother type of AOS, on which the bubble-PCWS possessed a perfect stability with the pour rate of more than 96%. The major factors affecting the stability of bubble-PCWS in sequence were aeration time, solid concentration and dosage of frothers. Effects of aperture size of air distribution plate and type of frothers on the stability were relatively slight within the experimental range.