Influence of Fines Concentration on Pneumatic Transport Capacity of Alumina

The presence of fine particles in bulk solids has been known to affect the pneumatic transport characteristics. However, there is still no tool available to predict the exact nature of the variation of transport capacity with change in fines concentration in a bulk material. This article presents experimental findings on the nature of the variation of pneumatic transport capacity for alumina for various sub-45 μm particle concentrations. It has been shown that the nature of the variation of the transport capacity depends upon the solids loading ratio and, consequently, the amount of air used for pneumatic transportation. Above a solids loading ratio of 35, alumina transport capacity first decreased with increase in fines concentration and then increased beyond a certain value of fines concentration. For a solids loading ratio less than 35, such a trend was not seen, but a trend of reaching a peak value of transport capacity at increasing fines concentration was seen.