Experimental study on the horizontal dense-phase pneumatic conveying of sawdust

Abstract

In some specific situations, solid particles are pneumatically conveyed, requiring a relatively high accuracy for the pipeline pressure drop, the mass flow rate of the solid particles, and the superficial velocity of the carrier gas. At present, sawdust is conveyed in a steel pipeline. To determine the flow characteristics in the pneumatic conveying of sawdust, the influence of the Froude number (Fr) on the solid friction factors (λs, λz), the change in the solid mass (W) over time (T), and the variation tendency of the carrier gas mass flow rate (Q) with the solid mass flow rate (w) are analyzed. For different solid–gas ratios (μ), as Fr increases, λs decreases, and the influence of Fr on λs is greater than that of μ. As Fr increases, μ decreases. The superficial velocity (ua) increases with a more obvious change in the solid mass over time. When the superficial velocity is 5 m/s, the experimental data agree well with the numerical fitting data. While the mass flow rate of the solid is 0.333 kg/s, the required mass flow rate of the carrier gas is minimal, at 0.00269 kg/s, with a minimum pickup velocity of 4.26 m/s.