How to check the variability of mass

flow in a pneumatic conveying system

Pyroprocessing

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Introduction

This procedure concerns the measurement of mass flow and its variability in any pneumatic conveying
system.

It is particularly useful when the consistency of material feeding is critical, e.g. fuel and raw meal
feeding to a kiln or fly ash to a mill, etc.

Safety aspects

In the case that local site measurements need to be taken from conveying lines, extra care must be
taken when opening measurement points. The pressure can turn a loose screw-plug into a dangerous
projectile that could result in serious injury to anyone in the area. Therefore it is recommended to have
any screw plugs secured to the pipeline with a short wire or chain (or better still to install a small valve
and hose connection avoiding the need for a screw plug for pressure measurements). The size of any
plugs, if used, should be limited to 12mm, since any larger ones are difficult to replace against the
pressure of the line.

Best solution is to have pressure measurement into the plant control system, which will limit the need
for manual measurements.

Wear the appropriate PPE suitable for noise, heat and dust.

Prerequisite

It is recommended to fit a pressure measurement connected to the plant control system for all dosing
systems feeding into pneumatic conveying systems, however, often this not available and a
measurement using portable test equipment is made instead. In any case it is necessary to cross check
the control room indication by local site measurement on occasions.

Measuring point fitted in pipeline between the transport blower and dosing system
Drawings of conveying pipeline size and configuration
Design and operating data for blower volume, pressure, speed and motor power
Measurement of the pipeline pressure with no material feeding, i.e. empty line pressure.
Calibration check of dosing system
Cross check CCR accuracy for pressure at discharge end of pipeline, e.g. for kiln feed system at the
preheater riser where the feed enters.

Tools

Excel spreadsheet for making pneumatic conveying calculations

Electronic manometer with a range of up to 100 kPa (normally this is normally sufficient for most dosing
systems with pneumatic conveying)

Digital thermometer with thermocouple

1 See Appendix 1

Data logger, if pressure measurement not available in plant control system

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Procedure Template developed by

How to check the variability of mass

flow in a pneumatic conveying system
Pyroprocessing

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Action Steps
1.

System check
Check for any obvious causes of fluctuations, so a walk through the system should be made to look for any
anomalies, including :

2.

Leakage of conveying air from the system e.g. opening of the pressure relief value on the blower
Check that the actual pipeline is the same as shown on the drawing
Sections of downward or inclined conveying pipe
Excessive number of bends
Bends with a sharp turns (with a radius < 10 x pipe diameter

Confirm pneumatic conveying system design

Confirm that the pneumatic conveying system design is correct, to be sure that this does not give rise to
fluctuations itself.

Confirm blower flowrate by measuring inlet volume with an anemometer, outlet pressure and
temperature to compare with the datasheet.

Measure the pipeline pressure and temperature at the blower exit

Calculate total pipeline pressure loss using pneumatic conveying spreadsheet compare with plant data

In the case that velocities do not meet these requirements, expect that fluctuations will occur due to the
conveying system. This may require an increase in blower capacity which can sometimes be achieved by
speeding up the blower, consult the supplier to see if this is possible.

High pipeline pressures, tend towards a high leakage of conveying air, can result in excessive variation of
material flowrate.

Lafarge standard for coal dosing is to design conveying line pressure below 35 kPa.

Measure the pipeline pressure and temperature immediately before the dosing system.
Measure the pressure at the discharge end of the pipeline, e.g. if a kiln feed system measure the
pressure in the riser where the feed enters.
Check conveying velocities are high enough to avoid duning of the solid material along the bottom of
the pipeline. Generally conveying velocity needs to be at least 20 m/s. For the case of pulverised fuel
feeding the Lafarge standard is at least 25 m/s.

How to check the variability of mass

flow in a pneumatic conveying system
Pyroprocessing

3.

4.

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Measure the variation of the pipeline pressure between the blower and
dosing device

Once the design of the pipeline has been confirmed all that remains is to measure the pressure
fluctuation, which provides a good indication of the variation of the material flowrate.

If the pipeline pressure signal is available in the CCR / plant historian collect data for the desired period

In the CCR simultaneously record the trace for the material dosing tph and the pressure at the discharge
end of the pipeline. Where the dosing is linked to a control loop it is best to put the control loop into
manual, if the process conditions allow.

In the case of a manual measurement - Measure the pipeline pressure immediately before the dosing
system with an electronic manometer and datalogger. Collect data from the pipeline for at least 5
minutes with a high sampling frequency (every 1 or 2 seconds).

Evaluation of results

The flow rate of material is proportional to the measured pipeline pressure loss less the empty line
pressure loss. To express the variability of material in tph pro-rata individual pressure differences to the
ratio of the average material tph over the average pressure difference.

P1

M=

P1

P0

M average

P0 )
average

Where :
M = mass flowrate of material
P= Pressure at pipeline inlet less pressure at pipeline outlet where ;
suffix: 0 measured without material
suffix: 1 measured with material in the pipeline.

For a kiln system : Lafarge variability targets for fuel and raw meal dosing are +/- 1%.

In the case that the variation is high and the conveying system design and operation is satisfactory then
the material flow and control will need to be investigated to determine the cause and to lead to the
possible solutions.

How to check the variability of mass

flow in a pneumatic conveying system
Pyroprocessing

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Appendices
1.

Pneumatic Conveying Calculation

Use the following excel tool

1 PR PYR T09-06 Pneumatic Conveying Calculation

Make sure you use the latest version available from the Cement Portal's Pyroprocessing domain / Job aids
section.

2.

Example measurement checking calibration of kiln feed system

1 Example of variability measurement

3.

Plant References
1 Plant Experience (Les Cas) 081.10 Determining Mass Flow in a Pneumatic Transport
System with Line Pressure