Studies on the influence of powder characteristics on the

flow properties of coal.

G.Bindhumadhavan
1
and B.Pitchumani
2

1 Ph.D. Student, Solids Processing Group, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.
2 Professor, Particle Science and Technology Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology, New Delhi 110016, India.

Summary Many existing silos include hoppers from which funnel flow takes place. The flow pattern depends on
the flow properties such as angle of internal friction, angle of wall friction and flow function of the bulk solid.
These flow properties are affected by the physical characteristics of the material. Even mass flow silos can give
flow problems due to changes in the physical properties such as moisture content, particle size, size distribution
and wall surface roughness. In this work, the influence of particle size, size distribution and moisture content on
the flow properties of the pulverised coal material were studied.
A Jenike shear tester provided by TUNRA, Australia was used for the measurement of flow properties of the
coal sample. Experiments were carried out to study the effect of physical properties on the flowability of the
pulverised coal material. The effect of moisture content was studied based on the change in the flowability
(1/FF) value. Experiments were carried out at seven different moisture levels and it was found that there exists a
critical moisture level, which affects the flow properties significantly. To investigate the influence of normal
load on the critical moisture level, experiments were carried out at three different normal loads namely 9.11 kPa,
3.92 kPa and 1.4 kPa. The bulk density of the coal sample was found to be minimum at the critical moisture
level. An attempt has been made to correlate the flowability of the coal sample as function of particle size, size
distribution and moisture content.

1 Nomenclature

B
m
Non arching diameter [m]
C Material constant [kPa]
d
p
Diameter of the particle [m]
f
c
Unconfined yield strength [kPa]
FF Flow Function [-]
K Material constant [-]
M Moisture content [wt%]
n Width of the distribution [-]
N Normal force [N]
Q
3
(x) Cumulative undersize [wt%]
S Shear force [N]
V
m
Maximum consolidation stress [kPa]
x
d
Particle size corresponding to Q
3
(x) of 63.2% [m]

m
Critical hopper inclination angle [deg.]

b
Bulk density of the material [kg/m
3
]

Angle of internal friction [deg.]

Angle of wall friction [deg.]

Normal stress [kPa]

cr
Critical consolidation stress [kPa]

Shear stress [kPa]
2 Introduction

Handling bulk solids is one of the most important areas associated with solids processing plants. Industries as
varied as chemical processing, food preparation, pharmaceuticals, power/utilities, metals and consumer products,
to name just a few, handle millions of tons of materials every year. Bins, silos and hoppers used to store these
materials vary in capacity from a few kg of material (such as a press feed hopper used in a pharmaceutical
facility) to multi thousand tons capacity vessels (such as train loading silos at a coal preparation plant). The vast
quantities of bulk solid that are handled would suggest that the area is well understood, unfortunately it is not.
In common practice, it is found that problems occurring with bulk materials handling is particularly during
discharge from silos. The silo gives rise to several operational problems such as flow blockages due to arching,
reduced capacity due to rathole formation and segregation which affect the subsequent plant operation. Powder
characterization and knowledge of the flow properties of the powder is very essential for the design of silos. The
important flow properties are the angle of internal friction, angle of wall friction, flow function (FF) and bulk
density [1]. The flow properties depend on the physical properties of the material. Even well designed silos can
give flow problems due to changes in the materials physical properties such as size distribution, moisture
content and wall material friction.
To design bins and silos, in an effective and economical way, a thorough understanding of the various factors
governing the flow characteristics of bulk solids must be obtained. The characteristics of the particles that
constitute the bulk solids are probably of major importance in influencing the characteristics of the bulk solids
both at rest and during flow. It is very difficult to characterise bulk solids, which are composed of a variety of
materials mainly because small variations in such as the size, shape, hardness, particle density and surface
roughness can result in very different behaviour. Furthermore, secondary factors such as the presence or absence
of moisture, the severity of prior compaction, the ambient temperature, etc., which are not directly associated
with the particles, can have a significant effect on the behaviour of the bulk solids. The moisture content of the
bulk solids is one of the most important factors controlling the flow properties of the bulk solid. In fact, moisture
content in bulk solids is mostly undesirable, because the surface moisture leads to the appearance of cohesive
forces between particles and of adhesive forces between particles and the walls of the hopper. Both retard the
flow of solid particles and under certain conditions may even stop the flow entirely. Since for the same weight
the total surface of solids is greater for smaller particles, the surface moisture content increases inversely as the
particle diameter. Therefore, fine particles display more cohesive and adhesive forces than the larger particles.
Furthermore, fine particles when stored for a certain time undisturbed, have a tendency to compact, that is to
reduce the total volume which creates additional resistance to the flow [2]. In general, the flow properties of
most materials can be expected to change drastically as moisture content changes, particularly for finer materials.
In the present work an attempt is made to correlate flowability (1/FF) as a function of particle size, size
distribution and %moisture. The Jenike shear tester of TUNRA, Australia is used for the measurement of flow
properties of the bulk solid. The Jenike method [1] is one of the most widely used methods for mass flow silo
design. The method involves flow property testing using the Jenike shear tester and analysis of the test results to
determine the mass flow parameter namely the non arching diameter and critical hopper inclination angle.

3 Description of Jenike shear tester used for the study:

The direct shear tester developed by Jenike is used for the study. The Jenike shear tester is usually equipped with
a shear cell, a piezoelectric shearing force applicator, a weight hanger for vertical load application and a chart
recorder. Here the recorder has been replaced by a PC by interfacing the tester with an A/D converter and a
software program written in Visual Basic to analyze the data.
The main component of the Jenike shear tester is the shear cell. The shear cell consists of a shear ring, base ring
and shear cover attached with a bracket as shown in Fig 1. The shearing device consists of a piezoelectric load
cell with a stem, an electric gear motor and an overload clutch. The gear advances and retracts the stem and it is
operated by a rotating knob as shown in Fig 2. The shearing force device has a constant strain rate of 2.7
mm/min. The force necessary to maintain this strain rate (i.e.) the thrust applied to the stem of the shear unit is
continuously recorded with acquisition software developed in Visual Basic. The weight bracket was used to
apply vertical load during consolidation and shear. For this, sufficient numbers of 50, 100, 200 and 500g and 1, 2
and 5 kg weights are provided with 1 cm wide slot to enable stacking in the weight bracket. Fig. 3 shows the
Jenike shear tester interfaced to the PC.



Fig 1: Schematic diagram of Jenike shear cell


Fig 2: Jenike shear tester supplied by TUNRA, Australia.


Fig 3: Jenike shear tester interfaced with computer

4 Testing procedure:

The standard shear testing technique [3] prescribed by EFCE working party on the Mechanics of Particulate
solids was used for this study. The standard test involves three steps, consolidation, pre-shear and shear. In the
first step the powder was consolidated to a certain void ratio. In the second step, the powder was sheared at the
normal stress corresponding to the end point to which the powder was consolidated. Shearing at pre-shear
normal results in steady state shear stress conditions.
Once steady state conditions were achieved, the third (shear) step was carried out. The purpose of the shear step
is to determine a point on the yield locus. At least four points of the yield locus have to be determined for the
estimation of the full locus. In this step the shear initially reaches a maximum and then falls off to a lower steady
state as shown in Fig 4.



Fig 4: Shear / preshear step for yield locus analysis.

The peak in the shear curve represents one point on the yield locus. Once a point on the yield locus is
determined, the sample is discarded and a fresh sample is prepared for determining the next point on the yield
locus. From the knowledge of yield locus other useful information like the effective angle of internal friction, the
unconfined yield strength and the major consolidation stress can be determined. Yield loci for three or more void
ratios determines the Flow Function. The test requires about 20-30 careful sample preparations.

5 Results and discussions

5.1 Effect of moisture content on flow properties

The effect of moisture content is studied based on the change in the flowability (1/FF) value. Jenike [1] defined
flow function, FF as the ratio of major consolidation stress (V
m
) and unconfined yield strength (f
c
). The slope of
the plot f
c
vs V
m
gives the value of 1/FF, which is a relative quantification of the ratio of unconfined yield
strength to the major consolidation stress acting on the material. The low value of 1/FF indicates material is free
flowing. The effect of moisture content on the flowability, unconfined yield strength, bulk density and non-
arching diameter required is studied. The flowability depends on the moisture content, by controlling the
moisture level desired flowability can be obtained.
Experiments were carried out with a pulverised coal sample. The characteristics of the coal sample used for the
study are given in appendix A. The initial moisture level was found to be 2.02% by weight.
The Jenike shear test was then carried out at different moisture levels. The moisture level taken for the study
were 2.02%, 3.4%, 8%, 10%, 15%, 18% and 25% by weight. A typical set of Jenike shear test results obtained
for the pulverised coal at the initial conditions is shown in appendix B.
Table 1 shows the Jenike shear results for the pulverised coal sample at different moisture level. Rusted mild
steel was taken as the wall material for the wall friction test. It can be seen from Table 1, the flowability (1/FF)
increases with increase in moisture content upto 18% moisture by weight and then starts decreasing.

The results obtained for the different moisture content will be discussed as
1) Estimation of critical moisture level.
2) Effect of normal load applied on the critical moisture level.
3) Variation of Bulk density with % Moisture.

S.No Moisture level Bulk density Flowability Normal load [kPa]
[% by weight] [kg/m
3
] [-] 9.11 kPa 3.924 kPa 1.4 kPa
1 2.02 866.14 0.053 3.973 3.386 3.155
2 3.4 835.61 0.058 4.357 3.679 3.485
3 8.0 799.92 0.092 5.129 4.437 3.611
4 10 779.31 0.141 5.946 4.594 3.801
5 15 765.56 0.291 8.368 5.356 4.023
6 18 749.41 0.399 9.958 5.872 4.16
7 25 772.84 0.322 8.319 5.166 3.876

Table 1: Jenike shear tester results for coal sample at different moisture level.

5.1.1 Estimation of critical moisture level:

The percentage of moisture in the sample is defined as,

% Moisture =
Weight of free moisture
Weight of dry coal

* 100. ---------------- (1)

The flowability (1/FF) corresponding to each moisture level is shown in Fig 4. It can be seen from the plot that
the % moisture has strong influence on the flowability. If 1/FF is near zero it indicates the material is free
flowing and if 1/FF is near one, it indicates material is cohesive.
The increase in flowability (1/FF) with increasing moisture level is due to the increase in cohesion. Initially the
friction is only due to cohesion between the particles. By increasing the moisture content the friction due to the
water in the pores adds up with the particle- particle friction exhibiting increase in the angle of internal friction.
At a critical moisture level, the point is reached at which the pores are completely filled with water and the
particles are surrounded with a layer of water molecules reducing particle- particle friction. The point at which
the maximum friction occurs is the critical moisture level. Moisture levels above the critical value exhibit an
improvement in flowability (1/FF). The critical moisture level was found to be 18% by weight.

Fig 4 : Effect of % moisture on flowability
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Moisture [weight%]
F
l
o
w
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

[
-
]


6.1.2 Effect of Normal load applied on the critical moisture level

To study the effect of normal load applied on the critical moisture level, experiments were conducted at three
different normal loads 9.11 kPa, 3.92 kPa and 1.4 kPa respectively. This study is done to check the dependence
of the critical moisture level on the normal load applied. For each normal load at different moisture levels, the
unconfined yield strength (f
c
) for the pulverized coal material was noted down. Table 1 shows the unconfined
yield strength (f
c
) for different moisture levels for the three weight levels.
The unconfined yield strength (f
c
) is directly related to the flow function (FF) of the material. So, the critical
moisture level will also affect the (f
c
) values. Fig. 5 shows the plot between the unconfined yield strength (f
c
)
and % moisture for the three normal loads.

Fig 5 : Effect of Normal load applied on critical moisture
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Moisture [weight%]
U
n
c
o
n
f
i
n
e
d

y
i
e
l
d

s
t
r
e
n
g
t
h
,

f
c

[
k
P
a
]
9.11 KPa
3.924 KPa
1.4 KPa


The trend is similar to the plot between 1/FF and %moisture. The yield strength first increases and then
decreases with the increase in moisture level. The moisture content at which the maximum strength occurs was
the critical moisture level. It is found that, the critical moisture was 18% for all the three normal loads. Liu et al
[4] found that critical moisture level is independent of normal load applied for higher consolidation weight levels
and dependent of normal load applied for low consolidation weight levels. For the present study, the critical
moisture level was found to be independent of the normal load applied.

6.1.3 Variation of Bulk density with % Moisture

The bulk density of the coal sample at various moisture levels was determined and Table 1 shows the calculated
value. The bulk density was measured by dividing the weight of material in a cylindrical ring by its volume.
Fig 6 shows a plot between the bulk density and % moisture. The bulk density at different moisture levels is
computed for determining the non-arching diameter. It can be seen from the plot, the bulk density decreases with
increasing moisture level up to the critical moisture level and then started increasing. The bulk density was found
to be minimum at critical moisture level i.e. 18%.
Several authors have examined the relationship between coal bulk density and moisture content. Hall [5] found
that for all coal samples tested the bulk density versus moisture content exhibited a U- shaped curve. The
minimum bulk density was found to occur in the critical moisture range. Liu et al [4] also found that for three
coal samples at the critical moisture level the bulk density was a minimum and observed similar curve shape.
Thus the critical moisture level can be established by studying the bulk density for different moisture level
instead of trying trial and error methods.

Fig 6 : Variation of Bulk density with moisture content
740
760
780
800
820
840
860
880
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Moisture [weight%]
B
u
l
k

D
e
n
s
i
t
y

[
K
g
/
c
u
.
m
]


6.2 Effect of Size distribution on the flow properties

Schonlebe and Seewald [6] studied the effect of particle size distribution on the flow properties of fine coal.
They found that in order to determine the effect of a narrow size fraction on the flow properties of particulate
media with a wide size distribution, the first requirement was to determine the flow properties of the particle size
fraction itself. At the same time it was established that the FF of the individual materials depended on the
particle diameter (d
p
). The FF can be described by an exponential function which, depending on the test material,
results in different exponents and does not lead to any uniform law. It was postulated as;

1/FF = K.d
p
C
(2)

Where K and C are material constants which need investigation. The study of the flow function and surface area
as a function of particle size revealed similar curves. The article further investigates the effect of addition of a
size fraction to a material on its flow properties.

Singh [7] modified equation 2 by replacing d
p
with the Rosin Rammler parameter (x
d
) to give equation 3,

1/FF = K.x
d
C
(3)

Where x
d
is the particle size corresponding to Q
3
(x) of 63.2%.

Equation 3 was found to predict 1/FF with low accuracy. Later Ramanan [8] attempted to correlate 1/FF as a
function of the average particle size (x
d
) and the width of the distribution (n) as,

1/FF = 1.56 - 0.7 x
d
+ 13.24 x
d
2
- 20.97 n
2
+ 0.6 x
d
. n (4)

The equation predicts 1/FF with an error of 35%. It was found that the flowability depends on the width of the
distribution. The equation does not consider the moisture effect.

Effect of x
d
, n and %moisture on flowability

Experiments were conducted with the Jenike shear tester for pulverized coal samples with different size
distribution and moisture content. Table 2 shows the results of Jenike shear tester for the bulk solids studied.
The flowability is measured from the flow function plot.

Material Average particle
size, x
d
[m]
Width of
distribution, n[-]
Moisture [wt%] 1/FF
[-]
Coal1 60.5 1.2 3.8 0.233
Coal2 53.1 1.1 2.8 0.185
Coal3 38.7 1.3 2.4 0.222
Coal4 50.4 1.2 2.4 0.248
Coal5 51.7 1.3 2.4 0.252
Coal6 84.5 1.5 2.0 0.053
Coal7 84.5 1.5 3.4 0.058
Coal8 84.5 1.5 8.0 0.092
Coal9 84.5 1.5 10 0.141
Coal10 84.5 1.5 15 0.291
Coal11 84.5 1.5 18 0.399
Coal12 84.5 1.5 25 0.322

Table 2: Values of x
d
, n, %moisture and 1/FF for pulverized coal sample.

From the table 2, it can be seen that 1/FF varies with x
d
, n and % moisture. The flowability (1/FF) depends on
the particle size distribution and moisture content. The flowability is correlated with x
d
, n and %moisture (M) by
multivariable regression analysis as,

1/FF = - 0.0313 * x
d
- 0.0007 * x
d
2
+ 10.0000 * n - 2.7188 * n
2
+ 0.2500 * M
- 0.0005 * M
2
- 0.0020 * x
d
* M + 0.0625 * n * M (5)

Hence the error is reduced by 20% by including the moisture content effect. Fig 7 shows the comparison
between the experimental and predicted values. In order to reduce the error, an attempt was made to relate the
flowability with the complete size distribution by replacing x
d
and n value by the weight fraction in different size
range [9].

Fig 7 : Comparison of experimental and calculated
flowability 1/FF value using xd, n and %moisture
0.053
0.103
0.153
0.203
0.253
0.303
0.353
0.053 0.103 0.153 0.203 0.253 0.303 0.353
1/FF [Experimental]
1
/
F
F
[
P
r
e
d
i
c
t
e
d
l
]


6 Conclusions:
From the present work it is concluded that:
1) The critical moisture level, which affects the flowability significantly, was found to be 18% by weight and it
is independent of normal load applied.
2) The critical moisture level can be established by studying the bulk density at different moisture levels.
3) The flowability (1/FF) is a function of moisture content and size distribution of the bulk material. It can be
related as
1/FF = - 0.0313 * x
d
- 0.0007 * x
d
2
+ 10.0000 * n - 2.7188 * n
2
+ 0.2500 * M
- 0.0005 * M
2
- 0.0020 * x
d
* M + 0.0625 * n * M


7 Acknowledgements

The first author express his sincere thanks to Prof. J.P.K. Seville and Dr. R.W. Greenwood for reviewing the
manuscript and approving to present the paper as a member of solids processing group, School of Chemical
Engineering, The University of Birmingham.

8 References:

[1] Jenike A.W., Storage and Flow of solids, Bulletin 123, University of Utah, 1979.
[2] Massoudi, M, On the flow of granular materials with variable material properties, International Journal of
Non-linear mechanics, vol 36, 2001, pp 25-37.
[3] Akers. R.J., The certification of a limestone powder for Jenike shear testing, CRM 116 report, 1981.
[4] Liu. Y., Chambers A.J. and Roberts A.W., Physical Properties and Strength of Coal, Paper presented at 6
th

Int. Conf. on Bulk Materials, Storage, Handling and Conveying, The Institute of Engineers, Australia, Sept 1998.
[5] Hall. D.A. and Curtress. J.O., The effect of fines content, moisture and added oil on the handling of small
coal, Journal of Fuel Institute, vol.33, 1960, 63-72.
[6] Schonlebe K. and Seewald H., The effect of particle size and particle size distribution on flow properties of
fine coal, Aufbereitungs- Technik (Mineral Processing), vol.35, no.11, 1994, 573-581.
[7] Singh. A. and Pitchumani. B., Effect of particle size distribution on flow properties of solids, Int. Conf. on
Bulk Solids handling, Singapore, 1995.
[8] Ramanan. P., Srinivasa Rao. P., Babu. S. C. and Pitchumani. B., The effect of size distribution and fines on
the flow properties of raw mix in a cement plant, Bulk solids Handling, vol.17, no.2, April 1997, 253-256.
[9] Bindhumadhavan. G, Studies on retrofitting funnel flow silos with flow properties of bulk solids, M.S Thesis,
I.I.T. Delhi, January 2000.




Appendix A
Physical properties of pulverised coal sample

Particle size
[m]
Cumulative undersize
[Q
3
(x)]
300 100
212 99.25
150 94.00
90 61.27
63 32.53
40 21.44
20 8.75
10 4.81
Rosin Rammler parameter : x
d
= 84.5 m, n = 1.49
Particle density : 1.463 g/cc
Angle of Repose : 65
Ash content : 18.5 %.

Appendix B
Typical Jenike shear test result for pulverised coal at 2.02 % moisture level.
f
c
, kPa : 3.973
V
m
, kPa : 19.804
: 34.7
: 27.3

f
c
, kPa : 3.386
V
m
, kPa : 8.824
: 38.4
: 27.6

Fig B1 & B2 : Yield locus for weight level 1 and 2.

f
c
, kPa : 3.155
V
m
, kPa : 4.36
: 56.1
: 32.6

Fig B3 & B4 : Yield locus for weight level 3 and the flow function plot.