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 00:00:00 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
COAL
HYDRAULIC TRANSPORT
SLURRY PIPELINES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
COST
ENGINEERING
FREEZING
WATER REQUIREMENTS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
ECONOMICS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FREIGHT PIPELINES
FUELS
PIPELINES
TRANSPORT
013000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Transport
Handling
& Storage