Comparative coal transportation costs: an economic and engineering analysis of truck, belt, rail, barge and coal slurry and pneumatic pipelines. Volume 3. Coal slurry pipelines. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6325105· OSTI ID:6325105

Rieber, M.; Soo, S. L.

A coal slurry pipeline system requires that the coal go through a number of processing stages before it is used by the power plant. Once mined, the coal is delivered to a preparation plant where it is pulverized to sizes between 18 and 325 mesh and then suspended in about an equal weight of water. This 50-50 slurry mixture has a consistency approximating toothpaste. It is pushed through the pipeline via electric pumping stations 70 to 100 miles apart. Flow velocity through the line must be maintained within a narrow range. For example, if a 3.5 mph design is used at 5 mph, the system must be able to withstand double the horsepower, peak pressure, and wear. Minimum flowrate must be maintained to avoid particle settling and plugging. However, in general, once a pipeline system has been designed, because of economic considerations on the one hand and design limits on the other, flowrate is rather inflexible. Pipelines that have a slowly moving throughput and a water carrier may be subject to freezing in northern areas during periods of severe cold. One of the problems associated with slurry pipeline analyses is the lack of operating experience.

• Research Organization: Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA). Center for Advanced Computation
• OSTI ID: 6325105
• Report Number(s): DOE/TIC-10053(Vol.3)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
013000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Transport
Handling
& Storage
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COST
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
FOSSIL FUELS
FREEZING
FREIGHT PIPELINES
FUELS
HYDRAULIC TRANSPORT
PIPELINES
SLURRY PIPELINES
TRANSPORT
WATER REQUIREMENTS