STORAGE AND TRANSPORT

OF SOLID
8th Topic

CHEM. ENG. PLANT DESIGN

2023
 Solids are, in general, more difficult to process than gases or
liquids.
 The equipment used for processing solids consumes more
power (usually in the form of electricity) and is more likely to
suffer mechanical failure.
 Solids-handling plants can be prone to shutdowns due to caking
or plugging of equipment, or interruptions of solids flow caused
by bridging of poorly designed hoppers and feeders.
 Solids can form dusts during processing, which cause safety,
industrial hygiene, and environmental hazards that must be
carefully controlled and mitigated
Properties
 Some processing operations are primarily affected by
individual particle properties, while others are designed based
on properties of the bulk material or distributions of
individual particle properties.
 Particle properties are affected by the intrinsic properties of
the material as well as the processes by which solid particles
are formed, shaped, sized, and handled
 Particle size and shape
 The effective particle diameter occurs in the design equations for many
types of solids-handling equipment.
 For irregular-shaped particles, there is no simple definition of the
effective diameter and different definitions may be most suitable in
different circumstances.
 The ratio L/W is called the elongation or aspect ratio (see the figure).
Particles with elongation greater than 3.0 are often classified as fibers.
 The inverse of elongation is known as the chunkiness, which is often
used in preference to elongation, as it necessarily varies between 0 and
1.0 and so is easier to use when plotting graphs.
 The ratio W/t is known as the flakiness factor. Particles with high
flakiness can be difficult to filter and flow out of hoppers due to their
tendency to stack.
 If the particle is lying flat in
a stable position, the longest
dimension is obvious and is
defined as the length, L.
 The dimension in the
direction perpendicular to the
longest axis in the plane of
stability is defined as the
width, W
 The dimension in the
direction normal to the plane
of stability is defined as the
thickness, t.
 The diameter of a circle

da = diameter of a circle with same projected area as the particle

Aps = projected area of the particle
 A circle with the same perimeter as the particle

Pps = perimeter of the particle

 the effective hydraulic diameter, dh

 The sphericity of a particle, Ψ

 Density and Porosity
 The density of particulate materials can also be difficult to
measure, due to the presence of internal pores, cracks, and
imperfections in the particles.
 The bulk density

 the particle density

 The density of a fully-wetted particle in a fluid of density ρf

where
Storage of Solids

There are two types of storage

 Outdoor storage
 Confined storage
Outdoor storage:
Coarse solid are stored outside in large piles ,when
hundred or thousand of ton of material are involved.
Out storage can be effected by environmental problem
such as dusting or leaching of soluble material from the
piles.
 Dusting is control by covering the piles
 Leaching can be control by covering or by locating it in
a shallow basin .
Outdoor storage:

Coal storage Gravel storage

 Confined storage.
 Solids that are valuable and can be effected by the
environment in out door piles are stored in Bin’s, Hopper
and Silo’s

Silo’s Bin
 Silos

 Silo is a storage structure for

storing bulk materials like
storage of grain, coal, cement,
food products etc
 Silo is tall and relatively small
in diameter which is used for
bin storage.
TYPES OF SILO
 Cement storage silos
 Tower silo
 Low-oxygen tower silos
 Bag silos
 Cement storage silos

There are different types of cement silos such as the

low-level mobile silo and the static upright cement silo.
The low-level silos are fully mobile with capacities
from 10 to 75 tons.
The static upright silos have capacities from 20 to 80
tons.
These are considered a low-maintenance option
Low level mobile Static upright
silo’s cement silo’s
 Tower silo

 Tower silos are cylindrical

structures, typically 10 to 90 ft in
diameter and 30 to 275 ft in
height.
 Silos can be loaded and unloaded by
using rail cars or conveyors.
 Silos storing grain, cement and
woodchips.
 Bag silos

 Bag silos are heavy plastic tubes, usually around 8 to 12 ft in

diameter, and of variable length as required for the amount
of material to be stored.
 They can be used as a temporary measure when growth or
harvest conditions require more space
Low-oxygen tower silos

 Low-oxygen silos are designed to keep

the contents in a low-oxygen
atmosphere at all times, to keep the
fermented contents in a high quality
state, and to prevent mold and decay.
 Low-oxygen silos are only opened
directly to the atmosphere during the
loading.
Bin Storage:
 A bin is typically much shorter than a silo, and is typically
used for holding dry matter such as concrete or grain.
 Bins may be round or square,
 Round bins tend to empty more easily due to lake of
corners,
 The stored material may be powdered, as seed kernels, or
as cob corn.
Square Bins.

Round Bins
 Hoppers
 Hopper is small vessel with a sloping bottom for a temporary
storage before feeding solids to a process.
 It is filled at the top and Discharge is from the base,
 Hopper can be vibrated externally to encourage flow
 Angle of sloping sides  angle of repose.

Pile of bulk
solids


 Mass and Core Flow From A Hopper

 Core flow All the

occurs when powder in the
only material hopper is in
in the centre motion with
flows from the Mass flow
hopper
 Intermediate Bulk Container
 An IBC is a mobile hopper moved by
pallet/fork truck
 Volume usually about 1m3, stainless steel
 Can store material that is waiting for
further processing
 Filled at top and placed on an IBC
discharge station for emptying.
 Pressure in bins & silos:
 The pressure of solid exerted on the wall at any point is less than predicted
from head of material above that point.
 The effect of friction force.
 The actual pressure of the solid depends: on value of solid density
coefficient of friction
way the solid are placed in the vessel.
 Effect of height of solid
 Arch breaker
Flow out of Bins:
 Flow through a side
 Flow through a bottom
Factor affecting the flow:
 Steepness of the wall
 Coefficient friction between solid and wall.
 Discharge opening
 Property of solid
 Flow Modes
 Mass Flow: All the material is in motion, but not
necessarily at the same velocity
 Tunnel Flow : Centrally moving core, dead or non-
moving annular region
 Mass Flow

Does not imply

plug flow with
equal velocity

Advantages
Flow is more consistent
Material in
motion Stress field is more predictable
along the walls
Full bin capacity is utilized
First in/first out principle
Mass flow disadvantages:
wall wear is higher (esp. for abrasives)
Higher stresses on walls
More height is required
Tunnel Flow
Disadvantage of Tunnel Flow
-. Speed of Flow
-. Flushing
“Dead” or non-
flowing region -. Inadequate Emptying
-. Time Consolidation - Caking

Flushing: Uncontrolled flow

from a hopper due to powder
being in an aerated state. Occurs
only in fine solids.
 Inadequate emptying
Inadequate emptying
Usually occurs in funnel flow where the
cone angle is insufficient to allow self
draining of the bulk solid.

Remaining bulk solid

Many powders will tend to cake as a function of time, humidity, pressure,

temperature.

 Particularly a problem for funnel flow which are infrequently emptied

completely.
What about angle of repose?

Pile of bulk solids




 Do not use angle of repose to design the

angle on a hopper
General problem in Tunnel Flow
 Volumetric and Gravimetric Feeders

 Belt Feeder
 Screw Feeder
 Table Feeder
 Vibratory Feeder
 Rotary Feeder
Transport of Solids
 The best equipment to use to move solids will depend on a
number of factors:
1. The throughput
2. Length of travel
3. Change in elevation
4. Nature of the solids: size, bulk density, angle of repose, angle of
wall friction, abrasiveness, corrosiveness, wet, or dry
 Belt Conveyor
They can carry a wide range of materials economically over long and short
distances, either horizontally or at an appreciable angle, depending on the
angle of repose and angle of wall (belt) friction of the solids
 Screw Conveyor
Screw conveyors, also called worm conveyors, are used for materials that are
free flowing
The screw conveyor power consumption can be calculated with the following
equation:

where
p = power consumption, hp
m = mass flow, tons/h
Lc = conveying distance, ft
Pneumatic and Hydraulic Conveying

 Pneumatic conveying is used for movement of solids over

relatively short distances.
It is generally suitable only for free-flowing particles in the range

20 μm to 50 mm, as finer dusts tend to stick to the pipes, while

larger particles are hard to entrain.
In pneumatic conveying, the solids are transported in suspension

in a gas.
Hydraulic conveying is similar to pneumatic conveying, but uses a

liquid rather than a gas as the carrier fluid.

Because pumps are less susceptible to damage by solids than

compressors, hydraulic conveying systems usually mix the solid

and liquid upstream of the pump and then pump the resulting slurry
Pipe Conveyor

 A pipe conveyor is similar to a belt conveyor in that solids are

dropped onto a flexible belt.
 After loading the solids, the belt passes through rollers that
fold the sides over to cover the solid
 The rolled-up tube containing the solids then passes through
idlers that keep the tube rolled until the destination, where the
tube is unrolled and the solids are discharged.
Bucket Elevator

 The most widely used equipment where a vertical lift is

required is the bucket elevator.
 This consists of buckets fitted to an endless chain or belt,
which passes over a driven roller or sprocket at the top
end.
 Bucket elevators can handle a wide range of solids, from
heavy lumps to fine powders, and are suitable for use
with wet solids and slurries.