Prediction of Pressure Drop in Vertical Pneumatic Conveyors

This paper presents a steady state one-dimensional two-fluid model for gas-solid two-phase flow in a vertical riser. The model is solved using conservative variable approach for the gas phase, and fourth order Runge-Kutta method is used for the solid phase. The model predictions for pressure drop are compared with available experimental data and with Eulerian-Lagrangian predictions, and a good agreement is obtained. The results indicate that the pressure drop increases as the solid mass flow rate, particle size, and particles density increase. In addition, the model predictions for minimum pressure drop velocity are compared with experimental data from literature and the mean percentage error. MPE for minimum pressure drop velocity is -9.89%. It is found that the minimum pressure drop velocity increases as the solid mass flow, particle size and particle density increase, and decreases as the system total pressure increases.