Effect of coal beneficiation process on rheology/atomization of coal water slurries. Quarterly progress report, November 1, 1994--January 31, 1995

The overall objective of this project is to perform experiments to understand the effect of coal beneficiation processes and high shear rheological properties on the atomization of coal-water slurries (CWS). In the atomization studies, the mean drop size of the CWS sprays will be determined at various air to CWS. A correlation between the high shear rheological properties, particle size distributions and the atomization will be made in order to determine the influence of these parameters on the atomization of CWS. During this past quarter, the atomization data obtained from the previous quarters were analyzed using a model equation that had previously been developed during the course of this work. The analysis demonstrates that there are two possible mechanisms for the breakup of the CWS. The first term of the equation is due to competition between surface tension forces and aerodynamic shearing force and the second term is due the competition between viscosity forces and surface tension force