Characterization of pneumatic transportation of pulverised coal in a horizontal pipeline through measurement and computational modelling

Pneumatic conveyors which feed the burners at coal fired power plants are not designed for the injection of an increasingly wide variety of modern fuels. The objective of this study is to understand and predict the stable delivery of fuel to the burners. The pneumatic transportation of pulverised coal in a horizontal pipeline has been investigated using a classic dual approach: measuring a set of characteristic parameters of the dispersed flow as well as its computational modelling. The Large Eddy Simulation approach is used for the modelling of the air/fuel two-phase flow. A particular treatment for the solid phase has been designed in order to cope with gravity effects. A good qualitative agreement between the modelling results and the experimental data has been found. The importance of gravity effects compared to inter-particle collisions is addressed.