Powder Technology 189 (2009) 8286

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Powder Technology
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / p ow t e c

Study of the pressure drop of dense phase gassolid ow through nozzle

Wanjie Huang, Xin Gong , Xiaolei Guo, Zhenghua Dai, Haifeng Liu, Zhuwei Cao, Chuanhong Wang
Key Laboratory of Coal Gasication of Ministry of Education, Institute of Clean Coal Technology, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, PR China

A R T I C L E

I N F O

Article history:
Received 23 June 2007
Received in revised form 27 May 2008
Accepted 13 June 2008
Available online 19 June 2008
Keywords:
Nozzle pressure drop
Dense phase pneumatic conveying
Pulverized coal
Additional pressure drop

A B S T R A C T
Pressure drops are measured on different nozzles of various pipe sizes in dense phase pulverized coal
pneumatic conveying. From the experimental results, we conclude that the effect of the gas phase nozzle
pressure drop is negligible when comparing with the solid phase pressure drop in the experimental range.
The main inuence factors contributing to the nozzle pressure drop are gas and solid mass ow rate, solids
loading ratio, and the diameters of the nozzle inlet and outlet. A new model was developed to predict the
nozzle pressure drop in dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal based on the Barth's pneumatic
conveying theory. The pressure drop predictions from the model are in good agreement with the
experimental values. The model quantied the important inuence factors of the nozzle pressure drop.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Nozzles are widely used in the area of chemical industry, metallurgy and aviation eld. The prediction of nozzle pressure drop is
crucial for safe and efcient operation. Royne [1], Tuo [2], and Brignoni
[3] analyzed the nozzle pressure drop caused by water and air through
different nozzles, respectively, and found the important factors contributing to the nozzle pressure drop such as nozzle diameter and
length as well as chamfer angle. James [4] and McNeil [5] found the
inuence of different viscous air and liquid on the nozzle pressure
drop. All of these studies have shown that uid property has a
signicant effect on the nozzle pressure drop. Previous studies on gas
solid ow through the nozzle are mainly focused on the pressure
distribution inside of gassolid injector [6,7] whose geometry is much
different from the nozzle added at the end of the pipe. Peng [8,9]
developed a model to calculate the nozzle pressure drop considering
the inuence of the particle volume fraction and distribution of particle size on the ow. Unfortunately, solids loading ratio in these
researches fell in dilute phase. Because the interaction between
particle and gas changes with the solids loading ratio, the model for
dilute phase can not be used in dense phase conveying for which the
suitable pressure drop model is rarely reported. Therefore, the
development of an appropriate pressure drop model is of great signicance for coal gasication [10], blast furnace and other applications
employing the dense phase pneumatic conveying.
This paper aims to develop a nozzle pressure drop model for dense
phase pneumatic conveying. The pressure drops of air-coal ow
through nozzles of different sizes in dense phase conveying (solids
loading ratio: 129265 kg/kg) are obtained experimentally. Based on
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 6425 2521.
E-mail address: gongxin@ecust.edu.cn (X. Gong).
0032-5910/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2008.06.007

these experiment data, the additional pressure drop calculations [11

13] are used to develop the model for the prediction of nozzle pressure
drop in dense phase pneumatic conveying.
2. Experimental set-up and procedure
The experimental set-up is illustrated in Fig. 1. It mainly consists of
feeder vessel, receiver vessel, pipe line, and nozzle. Pulverized coal ows
with air from feeder vessel to receiver vessel through stainless steel pipes
of internal diameters 15 and 39 mm. The nozzle is mounted at the end of
the horizontal pipe of the conveying installation [14]. In order to obtain
the nozzle pressure drop, a pressure cell is installed near the nozzle inlet.
The pulverized coal is used as transportation medium and its physical properties are shown in Table 1.
Geldart [15] characterized the powders into four groups (A, B, C
and D). The pulverized coal used in the experiment belongs to Geldart
A, and has a good uidity.
The nozzle has two parts, conical section and cylindrical section as
shown in Fig. 2. D0 is the nozzle inlet diameter which equals to the pipe
diameter numerically. D1 is the nozzle outlet diameter. The chamfer
angle = 5. L1 is the length of the conical section, and L2 is the length of
the cylindrical section which equals to the nozzle outlet diameter
numerically. The parameters acquired during the conveying trials such
as gas mass ow rate Mg, solid mass ow rate Ms, nozzle pressure drop
Pexp and feeder vessel pressure Phopper are detailed in Table 2.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Experiment results
The typical data from these tests is presented in Table 3. It can be
seen from the data that the nozzle pressure drop increases with the

W. Huang et al. / Powder Technology 189 (2009) 8286

83

Fig. 2. Nozzle used in the experiment.

P is approximate to Ps because Pg has been proved to be neglected

compared with Ps in the experiment range. Ps can be expressed by
Fanning equation [17]:
Ps ms

Fig. 1. Scheme of apparatus. 1: Air compressor; 2: drier; 3: gas distributor; 4: gas meter;
5: feeder vessel; 6: nozzle; 7: weigh cell; 8: receiver vessel, 9: dust remover; 10: pressure cell.

increasing gas mass ow rate for the same nozzle. Decrease of the nozzle
outlet diameter can also cause the increase of the nozzle pressure drop.
This is an indication that both the nozzle dimension and ow parameters are important factors inuencing the nozzle pressure drop.
3.2. Nozzle pressure drop analysis
Barth [16] divided the pressure drop of gassolid ow into two
terms, gas phase pressure drop and solid phase pressure drop, due
separately to gas alone and solid particles. Hence, the nozzle pressure
drop caused by air alone should be measured rst. Table 4 shows the
comparison of the nozzle pressure drops caused by air alone and gas
solid. un is the supercial gas velocity at the nozzle outlet.
When pure air ows through the nozzle, the nozzle pressure drop
increases with the increasing supercial gas velocity. The gas phase
pressure drop is much lower than the gassolid phase pressure drop at
the similar supercial gas velocity. This indicates that the nozzle
pressure drop is mainly caused by the solid phase, while the gas phase
pressure drop can be neglected. Therefore, a model for nozzle pressure
drop in dense phase conveying can be simplied by considering the
effect of the solid phase pressure drop only.

g u2g L

where s is additional pressure drop coefcient, g is gas density, ug is

supercial gas velocity, m is solids loading ratio, D is pipe diameter, L
is pipe length.
The additional pressure drop coefcient can be calculated by many
methods. Though Eq. (3) is usually used in pipe pressure drop model, it

Table 2
Experiment parameters
D0/mm

D1/mm

Mg/kgs 1

Ms/kgs 1

Pexp/kPa

Phopper/MPa

39
39
39
15

20
17
14
7.1

0.00830.0143
0.00660.0106
0.00430.0115
0.00190.0028

2.0412.999
1.4462.214
0.9871.485
0.4390.514

70.24179.59
88.27297.50
91.42303.87
232.66343.06

0.0840.210
0.1010.310
0.0930.312
0.2620.379

Table 3
Typical data of the experiment
D0/mm

D1/mm

Mg/kgs 1

Ms/kgs 1

Phopper/MPa

Pexp/kPa

39

20

39

17

39

14

15

7.1

0.0087
0.0091
0.0128
0.0139
0.0143
0.0066
0.0087
0.0100
0.0128
0.0160
0.0043
0.0064
0.0083
0.0103
0.0115
0.0019
0.0020
0.0022
0.0025
0.0028

2.041
2.259
2.634
2.999
2.683
1.449
1.489
1.586
2.035
2.214
0.987
1.169
1.338
1.428
1.485
0.439
0.447
0.458
0.500
0.514

0.084
0.120
0.186
0.210
0.189
0.103
0.122
0.153
0.232
0.310
0.093
0.150
0.224
0.265
0.312
0.262
0.283
0.301
0.360
0.379

70.24
85.70
138.90
179.59
148.74
88.53
107.42
131.36
211.65
297.50
91.42
136.79
211.97
259.07
303.87
232.66
257.27
271.35
323.98
343.06

3.3. Nozzle pressure drop model

According to Barth's additional pressure drop [16], the total pressure drop P can be split into two parts
P Pg Ps

where the Pg is gas friction, usually calculated under single phase

ow conditions and Ps is the resistance of the particulate material.

2D

Table 4
Comparison of the nozzle pressure drops caused by air alone and gassolid (D0 = 39 mm,
D1 = 20 mm)
Air alone

Table 1
Physical properties of the pulverized coal
Mean particle
diameter/m

Particle density/ Bulk density/

kgm 3
kgm 3

Moisture
content/wt.%

Angle of
repose/

41

1400

2.4

54

540

Gassolid

un/ms 1

Pexp/kPa

un/ms 1

Pexp/kPa

m/kg/kg 1

36.10
55.76
74.75
92.07
107.01

1.14
2.37
3.89
5.39
7.09

23.00
24.04
33.93
36.86
37.96

70.24
85.70
138.90
179.59
148.74

236
249
206
216
188

84

W. Huang et al. / Powder Technology 189 (2009) 8286

Fig. 3. Geometry of the nozzle.

is not suitable for nozzle pressure drop calculation without considering the effect of gas density because the pressure changes sharply in
the conical section of the nozzle. Therefore, Eq. (3) should be modied
into Eq. (4):
!b
ug
p

s aFr a
gD
b

!b  
 c
g
g c
ug
s aFr
a p
s
s
gD
b

where Fr is Froude number, s is particle density, a, b, c are constants.

As to dL in Fig. 3, Fanning equation can be written as
dP ms

g u2g
2D

dL:

1 c b b2 b1 c1
a g 2 mug D 2 g dL:
2 s

because only one kind of coal is used in the experiment. Introduction

of = 5, L2 = D1 and Eqs. (8), (9)
A

 
1 c b 4 b2
as g 2
2

5
B b4
2

2B25

Eq. (6) can be integrated to give:

"
#
 b2
 5

1
1
1
2b4
52b4
52b5
2b 4
b2


D
P ac
g
mM
D
L

D
2 : 7
g
0
1
1
2 s

2 tan 52 b4

8
9

where A, B are constants, yields:

P AmMg 5

Substitute Eq. (4) into Eq. (5) gives

dP

Fig. 5. Plot of nozzle pressure drop versus gas mass ow rate (D0 = 39 mm, D1 = 0.017 mm).

5:715  B B 
D0 D1 DB1 :
B

10

Introduction of the experiment data yields Eq. (11) which is suitable

for the coal used in this experiment.


P 0:476mMg1:91 2:51D3:78
1:51D3:78
R2 0:98 :
1
0

11

Eq. (7) is the nozzle pressure drop model, a, b, c can be obtained after
introducing the experiment data. s can be treated as a constant

The nozzle pressure drop Pcal calculated by Eq. (11) is in good

agreement with the experiment data Pexp. The error is less than 9%
for all the data except three points for which the error is less than 15%
(Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Calculation of nozzle pressure drop.

Fig. 6. Plot of nozzle pressure drop versus solids loading ratio (D0 = 39 mm, D1 = 0.017 mm).

W. Huang et al. / Powder Technology 189 (2009) 8286

Fig. 7. Effect of nozzle outlet on nozzle pressure drop (D0 = 39 mm, m = 160 kg/kg).

Eq. (11) shows that the gas mass ow rate, the solids loading ratio
and the nozzle dimension play the denitive role on nozzle pressure
drop. Figs. 5 and 6 show the contributions of the gas mass ow rate
and the solids loading ratio to the nozzle pressure drop respectively.
The nozzle pressure drop has an exponential increase with the
increasing gas mass ow rate, and has a linear increase with the
increasing solids loading ratio. The gas mass ow rate affects the
nozzle pressure drop through the solid phase, because the solid mass
ow rate will be increased with the increase of the gas mass ow rate
for the same solids loading ratio. Peng [8] thought the solids loading
ratio has no effect on the nozzle pressure drop in subsonic range. The
reason why this conclusion is different from our experiment data is
that this conveying system falls into the range of dilute phase
conveying in which solid concentration is too low to affect the gas
solid ow condition. In our experiment, the solids loading ratio has
been up to 120 kg/kg. In this case, the solids loading ratio has become
an important factor to nozzle pressure drop.
The nozzle pressure drop increases with the nozzle outlet diameter
when other parameters are set. Fig. 7. validates it. The reason is that
when the nozzle outlet diameter decreases, the nozzle will be
lengthened since the chamfer angle is constant. The increase of the
nozzle inlet diameter results in the increase of the nozzle pressure drop
for the same reason.

85

Fig. 9. Plot of nozzle pressure drop versus cylindrical section length/nozzle outlet
diameter (D0 = 39 mm, D1 = 0.017 mm, Mg = 0.01 kg/s).

In order to discuss the effect of the solid mass ow rate on the

nozzle pressure drop, Eq. (11) is rewritten after introducing m = Ms/Mg:


1:51D3:78
:
P 0:476Ms Mg0:912 2:51D3:78
1
0

12

It can be seen from the exponent of the solid and the gas mass ow
rate that the solid mass ow rate has a little more effect on the nozzle
pressure drop than the gas mass ow rate. The nozzle pressure drop
increases with the increase of the solid mass ow rate, Fig. 8. We
conjecture that increasing of the solid mass ow rate enhances the
collision of the granules and the friction between granule and wall.
The nozzle consists of conical section and cylindrical section.
Though properly lengthening the cylindrical section can improve the
mixing effect of solid and gas at the nozzle outlet, and the nozzle
pressure drop advances as well, which will result in the increase of the
total pressure drop and higher power consumption unfortunately. As
seen in Fig. 9, the nozzle pressure drop grows by 1.4 times when the
ratio of cylindrical section length and nozzle outlet diameter, L2/D1,
changes from 1 to 2. Therefore, the increase of power consumption
should be considered when the cylindrical section is lengthened to
improve the mixing.
4. Conclusions
In dense phase conveying, solid phase plays such a dominant role
that the effect of gas phase can be neglected. Based on the additional
pressure drop, a model for the nozzle pressure drop in dense phase
gassolid ow is developed. The pressure drop calculated by the
model agrees with the experiment data very well, which provides a
new simpler way to predict the nozzle pressure drop.
The contribution of the solids loading ratio to nozzle pressure drop
is more dominant in dense phase than in dilute phase. Lengthening
the cylindrical section improves the mixing of solid and gas. This,
however, causes higher power consumption.

Fig. 8. Plot of nozzle pressure drop versus solid mass ow rate (D0 =39 mm, D1 = 0.017 mm).

Nomenclature
A, B
Constant
a, b, c
Constant
D
Pipe diameter (m)
D0
Nozzle inlet diameter (m)
D1
Nozzle outlet diameter (m)
Fr
Froude number
L
Total nozzle length (m)
L1
Length of the conical section (m)
L2
Length of the cylindrical section (m)

86

M
Mg
Ms
Phopper
un
ug

W. Huang et al. / Powder Technology 189 (2009) 8286

Solids loading ratio (Ms/Mg)

Gas mass ow rate (kg/s)
Solid mass ow rate (kg/s)
Feeder vessel pressure (MPa)
Supercial gas velocity at cross-section of nozzle outlet (m/s)
Supercial gas velocity (m/s)

Greek letters
Particle density (kg/m3)
s
g
Gas density (kg/m3)
s
Additional pressure drop coefcient

Chamfer angle ()
L
Pipe length (m)
Pexp
Experimental nozzle pressure drop (kPa)
Pcal
Nozzle pressure drop calculated by the model (kPa)
Pg
Pressure drop due to gas only (kPa)
Ps
Pressure drop due to solid only (kPa)

Acknowledgements
This work was supported nancially by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No.20576038), and the National Key Program of
Basic Research in China (2004CB217700).
References
[1] A. Royne, C.J. Dey, Effect of nozzle geometry on pressure drop and heat transfer in
submerged jet arrays, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 49 (2006)
800804.
[2] Y.F. Tuo, L.H. Yang, T. Guo, L.J. Zhang, A calculative formula and experimental study
on loss-of-head of taper nozzle, Water Saving Irrigation 4 (2005) 1416.

[3] L.A. Brignoni, S.V. Garimella, Effects of nozzle-inlet chamfering on pressure drop
and heat transfer in conned air jet impingement, International Journal of Heat
and Mass Transfer 43 (2000) 11331139.
[4] C. James, M. Ware, J. Grant, A. Thorpe, A. Michael, F. Senftle, S. Smith, Flow equation
for an ideal or viscous gas through a nozzle: application to cascade impactors,
Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 421427.
[5] D.A. McNeil, A.D. Stuart, Vertically upward two-phase ow with a highly viscous
liquid-phase in a nozzle and orice plate, International Journal of Heat and Fluid
Flow 25 (2004) 5873.
[6] Y.Q. Xiong, M.Y. Zhang, Experimental study on static pressure distribution
properties of gassolid injector under pressure, Journal of Combustion Science
and Technology 10 (2004) 130134.
[7] A. Kmiec, K. Leschonski, Numerical calculation methods for solids injectors, Powder
Technology 95 (1998) 7578.
[8] A.I. Kolomentsev, Y.C. Peng, Theoretical study on the gas-particle ow passing
through convergent-divergent nozzle,, Journal of northeast university of technology 82 (1993) 7983.
[9] Y.C. Peng, B.C. Wen, A.I. Kolomentsev, A mathematical model for gas-particle ow
passing through De Laval nozzle, Journal of northeast university of technology 88
(1994) 4651.
[10] X.L. Guo, Z.H. Dai, X. Gong, X.L. Chen, H.F. Liu, F.C. Wang, Z.H. Yu, Performance of an
entrained-ow gasication technology of pulverized coal in pilot-scale plant, Fuel
Processing Technology 88 (2007) 451459.
[11] S. Ravisankar, T.N. Smith, Slip velocities in pneumatic transport, part II, Powder
Technology 47 (1986) 179194.
[12] O. Molerus, A. Burschka, Pneumatic transport of coarse-grained materials,
Chemical Engineering and Processing 34 (1995) 173184.
[13] G.E. Klinzing, C.A. Myler, A. Zaltash, S. Dhodapkar, A simplied correlation for
solids friction factor in horizontal systems based on Yang's unied theory, Powder
Technology 58 (1989) 187193.
[14] X. Gong, X.L. Guo, Z.H. Dai, J.H. Feng, J.F. Chen, Y.H. Zheng, F. Chen, L. Xiong, Z.H. Yu,
High solids loading pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal, Journal of Chemical
Industry and Engineering(China) 57 (3) (2006) 640644.
[15] L. Sanchez, N. Vasquez, G.E. Klinzing, S. Dhodapkar, Characterization of bulk solids to
assess dense phase pneumatic conveying, Powder Technology 138 (2003) 93117.
[16] O. Molerus, Overview: pneumatic transport of solids, Powder Technology 88
(1996) 309321.
[17] W.C. Yang, Pneumatic transport in a 10-cm pipe horizontal loop, Powder Technology
49 (1987) 207216.