Pneumatic transport of heavy minerals in a horizontal pipe: An Eulerian-Eulerian approach

This article presents a computational study based on the Eulerian-Eulerian model for computing the pressure drop and hydrodynamics of the gas-solid two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe. The solid particles considered in the analysis are the heavy minerals with a density of 7860 and 11,350 kg/m³. The flow situation corresponds to the upper limit of the dilute phase flow, where the inter-particle and the wall-particle collisions play a significant role. The numerical procedure agrees well with the experimental data and ensures good accuracy of the computed results. The analysis outcomes show that the gas-solid two-phase flow pressure drop increases with an increase in the inlet concentration and the density of the solid-phase. The radial distribution of the velocity and volume fraction profiles of both phases are asymmetric. The gas-phase possesses a relatively high velocity than the solid-phase. The gas-phase velocity reduces with an increase in the inlet concentration and the density of the solid-phase. The heavier particles have a slightly greater tendency to settle. With an increase in the inlet solid-phase volume fraction, the solid-phase concentration increases both at the top and the bottom portion of the pipe.