Troubleshooting a pneumatic conveying capacity problem
This month's column addresses how I worked on solving a client's pneumatic conveying system problem. The information here can be applied to a range of pneumatic conveying applications.
The client, who operates a plastics converter plant, described the problem this way: "We have a pressure pneumatic conveying system operating in dilute phase that was originally designed to move 30,000 lb/h of plastic pellets to a day bin, from which we feed our extruders. The pellets have a bulk density of 35 pounds per cubic feet. Now, because we've made some production improvements to our process equipment, we can actually feed 35,000 lb/h of the pellets to our process. However, our existing conveying system is having difficulty keeping up with the higher rate. We've been told we need a whole new conveying system, but can we just make changes to the current system to increase its capacity?"