Capsule Pipeline Research Center reports (MU)
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Item Proceedings of the first international symposium on underground freight transportation by capsule pipelines & other tube/tunnel systems(Capsule Pipeline Research Center, 2000) Liu, Henry; Lih, Marshal Dr.; Wilson, J. W.; Zhao, Y. J.; Lundgren, Thomas S.; Vance, Larry; Tomita, Yuji; Magata-Yanaida, Katsuya; Kosugi, Sanai; Montgomery, D. Bruce; Fairfax, Stephen; Beals, Dexter; Smith, Bradford; Whitley, John; O'Connell, Robert; Plodpradista, W. (Chai); York, Kevin; Foster, Alan; Proverbs, Jeffrey; Roop, Stephen; Jerko, Christine; Visser, Johan; Pielage, Ben-Jaap A.; Weaver, P. Brink; Round, George F.; Stein, Dietrich; Stein, Robert Prof. Dr.; Weller, Wolfgang; Schoesser, Britta; James, Arthur; Ingersoll, William; Shih, Rocky C.; Arroyo, G. Alberto; Binsbergen, Arjan van; Tomita, Yuji; Kaneda, Kimimasa; Cohen, Robert A.; Capsule Pipeline Research Center; Liu, Henry| |Roberts, CarlaThe purpose of this symposium is to bring the key players and stakeholders of capsule pipelines together from around the world not only to share experiences and research findings, but also to plan the future of capsule pipelines, in order to accelerate commercial use of various types of capsule pipelines. The five specific objectives of this Symposium are: 1. Review state-of-the-art and recent developments in the field of capsule pipelines. 2. Share research findings among researchers. 3. Bring stakeholders together to plan for the future of capsule pipelines. 4. Bring attention to the capability of capsule pipelines as an environmentally friendly, new mode of freight transport for the future. 5. Organize a worldwide network (coalition) to promote and accelerate commercial use of capsule pipelines.Item A proposed EPRI tailored collaboration project(Capsule Pipeline Research Center, 1996) Liu, Henry, 1936-; Marrero, Thomas R.; Lin, Yuyi; Capsule Pipeline Research CenterAfter five years of extensive R&D sponsored by government and industry, the coal log pipeline (CLP) technology for transportation of coal has been sufficiently developed through laboratory tests to warrant large-scale pre-commercial demonstration and testing. Meanwhile, a national survey of electric utilities and coal companies has produced fourteen potential CLP demonstration sites. A preliminary evaluation of the sites determined that at least seven of the fourteen sites are economically promising. The purpose of this EPRI-TC proposal is to conduct a large-scale pre-commercial test/demo of CLP to pave the way for commercial demonstration. Completion of this pre-commercial test/demo project in two years will enable construction of the first commercial CLP with minimum risk involved and with maximum success. The CLP technology involves compaction of coal into logs (large circular coal cylinders), and the transportation of such logs by an underground pipeline to the user--a power generation station. It is an innovative new coal pipeline system that can effectively compete with railroads and truck transportation. The economics of CLP has been thoroughly examined in 1995. It was found that the CLP is economically competitive with train for distances greater than about 100 miles, and competitive with truck for distances greater than about 30 miles. As compared to coal slurry pipeline, the CLP has the following advantages: (1) CLP transports twice as much coal than a coal slurry pipeline of the same diameter can. The cost of coal transportation by CLP is substantially lower than by slurry pipeline. (2) Dewatering coal logs is much simpler than dewatering slurry. (3) CLP can be restarted readily after lengthy shutdown. It has no restart problem. (4) CLP uses less energy than slurry pipeline for transporting the same amount of coal. (5) Coal log fuel is most versatile. Upon crushing it can be burned in any type of combustors--pulverized-coal, cyclone, fluidized-bed, or stoker. (6) Storage of coal logs is much simpler than storage of coal slurry. (7) CLP uses only 1/3 to 1/4 of the water used by slurry pipeline. This makes CLP more feasible than slurry pipeline in regions of water shortage. Development of the CLP technology will benefit electric utilities by reducing coal transportation cost--not only through use of CLP, but also due to the competition fostered which will cause rail rates and truck rates to keep within bounds. The pre-commercial test/demo project proposed herein contains four major components or tasks: (1) construction of a 6-inch-diameter, 3,000-ft-long coal pipeline for testing coal logs under conditions similar to those of future commercial CLP; (2) construction and testing of a coal log machine that can rapidly manufacture coal logs to supply coal log pipelines; (3) conducting a site-specific application study for each participating utilities; and (4) conducting an economic analysis of future commercial CLP systems using information gained in this study, and following EPRI cost guidelines. The project is for two years at a total cost of $825,960 of which $500,000 is requested from EPRI and participating utilities. As an EPRI Tailored Collaboration project, each participating utility is asked to contribute a total of $60,000 over two years (with equal matching from EPRI) to support this project. The targeted amount from utilities and EPRI for this project is $600,000 of which $100,000 is indirect cost to be used by EPRI to administer this project. This targeted amount can be achieved with five electric utilities participating. The project will also be cost-shared with $325,960 of the existing funds of the Capsule Pipeline Research Center (CPRC). Currently, the CPRC has insufficient funds to carry out this project without support from EPRI and some additional utility companies.Item Final summary report for 1991-1999 : and year - 8 report for 9/1/98-8/31/99(Capsule Pipeline Research Center, 1999) Capsule Pipeline Research CenterThe mission of Capsule Pipeline Research Center of the last eight years (1991-99) has been focused on the coal log pipeline (CLP) technology. Year 8 saw the construction of a testbed (pilot plant) to test both CLP and other hydraulic capsule pipeline applications. Built with equipment, materials and services valued at over $400,000 donated by nineteen companies, the plant will ready the CLP technology for commercial use in two years. During year 8, a rotary press was designed for compacting coal and biomass fuel, a coal log sensor was invented, and the U.S. Department of Energy sponsored a project which will develop a new biomass fuel for coal-fed power plants, using the compaction technology developed from coal logs research. In addition, significant advancements were made in the study of pneumatic capsule pipeline powered by linear induction motors including the construction of a laboratory test facility. Also, during year 8, the Center hosted an international symposium and short course on underground transportation of freight by capsule pipelines. National and international experts on pipeline freight transportation attended this symposium and presented papers here. Over the last eight years, the Center has greatly advanced various technologies related to capsule pipelines, readying them for commercial use. Future plans revolve around testing the CLP technology in the pilot plant in order to ready it for commercial use. The Center will also develop a new biofuel for use by power plants, and engage in further research in underground shipment of freight by pneumatic capsule pipelines.Item Coal log pipeline research at the University of Missouri : 1st quarterly report for 1997(Capsule Pipeline Research Center, 1997) Liu, Henry, 1936-; Capsule Pipeline Research CenterDuring this 1st quarter of 1997 (1/1/97 to 3/31/97), significant progress was made in many fronts of coal log pipeline research, development and technology transfer including the following: 1. A set of revised (final) drawings on certain parts of the coal log compaction machine (250-ton press) was sent to the Gundlach Company in January. (Dr. Yuyi Lin and Kang Xue) 2. The coal log machine (250-ton press) is under construction at the Gundlach Machine Company. The machine is expected to be completed in May or June. (Gundlach Machine Company/Floproducts). 3. Design of the metal building to house the coal log machine (250-ton press), other compaction related equipment and the pipeline inlet/outlet has been completed, and bid specifications for this building are being prepared. (Burkett/Campus Facilities). 4. A preliminary set of equations for mathematical and computer modeling of the coal log compaction process has been derived. Plans to verify the equations through experiments have been made. Instrumentation for the tests have been prepared. (Dr. Yuyi Lin and Guoping Wen). 5. It was found that water temperature has a significant effect on coal log wear in pipe. More wear occurs when the water temperature is higher. This is good news because the water temperature in an underground pipe is expected to be relatively low. (Wei Li under Dr. Brett Gunnink. 6. The standard coal log compaction test has been conducted for a second time with improved results (supervised by Bill Burkett). 7. Tests were conducted to determine the effects of compaction pressure, binder concentration, binder-coal sample mixing time, compaction peak load time and coal log curing time. It was found that variation of pressure had the strongest effect on the tensile strength of the coal logs (Wilson/Zhao). 8. Practical experience has been gained in analyzing CLP effluent water, and dealing with regulatory officials on CLP effluent water discharge (Wilson/Paano). 9. Costs of many items of the CLP Pilot Plant (6-inch-diameter pipeline 3,000 ft long recirculating loop) have been determined; pumps and pump seals have been selected; a clarifier for treating CLP effluent water has been selected; a sand bed has been designed to clean up the sludge discharged from the clarifier; detailed design of the diverters has been completed (Dr. Charles Lenau). 10. Much progress has been made in the preparation of the experimental set-up for testing Polyox drag reduction in CLP in the 8-inch-diameter test loop. The Polyox dissolution/injection tank has been built and tested. Test procedures for injecting and measuring Polyox concentration have been developed. Fluorescent dye (Rhodamine B) are being tested for possible use to determine Polyox concentration in water (Gangwei Wu under Dr. John Miles). 11. Hydrodynamic equations have been derived to determine the behavior of capsule trains entering and leaving a slope. A commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program (FLUENT) was used to determine the pressure field around a capsule in the turbulent regime (Xiang Gao under Dr. Henry Liu). 12. Five different biomass materials (sawdust, wood chips, alfalfa, soy bean hulls and cottonseeds) were compacted successfully into logs (1. 94-inch-diameter solid cylinders) at room temperature without use of binder. Compaction ratios of these materials range from 2 to 8. The result looks promising (Chris Yates under Dr. Tom Marrero. Future Research (Plan for Next Quarter): 1. Complete construction of the coal log machine by Gundlach Company, installation of the machine in Columbia, and preliminary testing--debugging (Gundlach Company). 2. Completion of the metal building to house the coal log machine (Campus Facilities.3. Complete preliminary tests to check the equations for predicting coal log compaction, and revising of equations if needed (Dr. Liu/Gao). 4. Conduct a set of more detailed tests on the effect of water temperature on coal log wear and breakage in pipe (Dr. Liuffao). 5. Conduct rapid compaction test (3-second compaction time) by using the new 1.9-inch mold and the new alignment fixture (Dr. Gunnink/Li). 6. Compare small log wear (in Columbia) with large log wear (in Rolla) using logs made under similar conditions except for the size of the mold (Dr. Wilson/Zhao) 7. Complete design of the Pilot Plant pipeline system (Dr. Lenau). 8. Complete design and selection of the sensors and automatic control system for operating the pilot plant pipeline system automatically (Dr. Nair/Du). 9. Make resin logs for drag reduction study in 8-inch-diameter pipeline. Conduct drag reduction tests with Polyox, capsules but without fiber (Dr. Miles/Wu).10. Complete CFD study of stationary capsule (comparing FLUENT results with Liu and Graze's 1980 measurements) (Dr. Liu/Dr. Miles/Gao). 11. Continue biomass with an estimate of the compaction cost (Dr.Marrero/Yates).Item Standard and testing procedures in laboratory for coal log fabrication(Capsule Pipeline Research Center, 1996) Li, Yin; Capsule Pipeline Research CenterThe quality of coal logs for transportation by CLP (Coal Log Pipeline) is determined mainly by the water resistance and wear resistance of the coal logs under conditions similar to those encountered in future commercial CLP. There are many factors that affect the quality of coal logs. They must be clearly specified and controlled in order to insure that good quality coal logs and consistent results are produced. The purpose of this document is to specify the procedures used in manufacturing and testing coal logs at the Capsule Pipeline Research Center (CPRC), University of Missouri--Columbia and Rolla campuses. All researchers on the two campuses must follow these procedures so that test data are reproducible on different days by different experimenters, and test results can be properly compared between researchers.