Power consumption and profit margins - less is more

The effects of material properties, pipeline bore, routing and mode of flow used on the power consumption of pneumatic conveying systems are studied. An equation is developed to give an estimation of the power consumption in a conveying pipeline. Two modes of flow are used to convey the materials: lean phase and dense phase. It was observed that different materials require different power consumption and dependency curves for power consumption in lean and dense phase have unique characteristics and retain them in different pipeline configuration. Power consumption in lean phase is influenced by the number of bends while in the dense phase, it is influenced by length of run of the pipe