Numerical Simulation of Pneumatic Transport: Optimization of Dilute Phase Transport

Pneumatic conveying is a technique that is widely used in many industrial mechanical and chemical applications. In the case of cement manufacturing pneumatic conveying is a large scale operation moving several kilograms of material per second which consumes electrical energy (operation of fans) and money (replacement of filters to remove particles from the air). This work examines the optimization of a dilute phase pneumatic conveying system. The pressure drop across the system is analyzed along with the effectiveness of the particle removal. Using commercial CFD software the geometry for multiple components in the transport line are studied.