Splitting techniques in vertical pneumatic conveying

Roberts, Jacob Thomas (2007) Splitting techniques in vertical pneumatic conveying. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

The following work details an investigation into improving efficiency in pulverised-fuel- fired power stations. The particular area of focus is the splitter box; this is located in the pneumatic conveying pipeline within the power station. The conveying pipelines take the pulverised fuel from the mill to the burner face, at some point the air/fuel mixture has to be split to feed the individual burners. It is at these points that the splitter boxes occur, dividing the pipe into multiple legs.

It is common for some of these splits to produce poor fuel balance between legs, leading to excess air being required for their combustion at the burner wall. The increased supply of air increases the chance of the formation of NOx gases as well as reducing the overall efficiency of the plant. The poor fuel balance is caused by a particle rope, a dense area of particle stratification that creates an area of high fuel density that is not easily divided by the splitter boxes.

The objective of this work is to develop devices to improve the fuel balance at splitter boxes. The work involves an investigation into existing devices and station geometries to see why existing devices have not become commonplace in coal-fired power stations. It also involves conceptual design of devices and then their testing, both computationally and experimentally. Finally, the devices are assessed for their suitability for full-scale power station implementation.

This thesis used both experimental and computational techniques to develop devices to overcome the problems at splitter boxes and successfully produced several devices that could be developed and deployed in full scale testing.

Item Type: Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Keywords: Pneumatic-tube transportation, Splitter boxes, Fuel balance, Pipelines in coal-fired power stations
Subjects: T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Faculties/Schools: UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering > Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering
Item ID: 13593
Depositing User: EP, Services
Date Deposited: 17 Sep 2013 08:39
Last Modified: 15 Dec 2017 05:24
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/13593

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