Abstract
Measurements were made to determine the viscosity of slurries of fine coal in water for a range of concentrations, temperatures, and particle sizes, with the ultimate objective of predicting pipeline energy requirements. The experimental work was carried out on rotational viscometers. By means of simulated rheograms and actural shear rate-shear stress rheograms, it was determined that the slurries were Newtonian in nature in the low-volume (<15%) range, pseudoplastic up to a volume concentration of 30 percent, yield pseudoplastic above 30 percent, and apparently Bingham Plastic above 40 percent. Slurries were transported through a 1-inch-diameter acrylic pipe, and conditions prevailing in the pipeline were related to the rheology data obtained from the viscometers to check predicted pipeline energy requirements. This task was accomplished by means of a scale-up procedure normally considered to be applicable only to Bingham Plastics. Correlation was found to be satisfactory for all the data, which ranged from 11.3 to 46.3 percent concentration by volume.
