Abstract

During this quarter, significant progress has been made in the following, fronts of coal log pipeline research, development and technology transfer: 1. Design of the special 300-ton coal log compaction machine was completed, Furthermore, much progress has been made in the design of the system needed to feed coal into the coal log compaction machine, and the design of the system to remove logs automatically as soon as they are compacted. 2. Coal mixtures containing different amounts of moisture were compacted into 1.91- inch-diameter coal logs rapidly (in 6 seconds). It was found that for the Mettiki coal tested, the optimum moisture is around 8%. Under the test conditions (room temperature and 3% binders), the rapidly compacted coal logs with 8% moisture had less than 4% weight loss in 350 cycles of circulation. 3. Completed evaluation of the effectiveness of using wall lubricants to enhance coal log quality. Both calcium sterarate and MoS{sub 2} were found to be effective. 4. It was found that when the interior of a mold is not cleaned after coal log has been compacted, the coal mixture film clinging to the wall hardens in time and form a hard crust which affects the quality of the next log to be produced. But, if the second log is produced immediately after the first, no hard crust is formed and the quality of the second log, is not affected. 5. Coal logs made with the coal crushed by the Gundlach Company were found to be better than coal logs made with the coal crushed by the CPRC`s hammer mill. 7. A 320-ft-long, 6-inch-diameter coal log pipeline test facility was constructed in Rolla during this period. 8. Completed the simulation of an 8-inch-diameter, 20-mile-long coal log pipeline recirculating loop driven by a pump bypass. 9. Continued improvement was accomplished in the hydraulic model of HCP and CLP to predict pressure drop and capsule velocity for both single capsules and capsule train. Also, work has started to extend the analysis to sloped pipelines. Document type: Report