Analysis and characterization of pneumatic conveying of non-conventional solids – PHOBARS

The PHOBARS project (Pneumatic Handling Of Bio And Recycled Solids) aims at studying the pneumatic transport of non-conventional powders resulting from plastic wastes or second-generation biomasses. The scientific objective of the project is to understand the mechanisms and phenomena involved in the pneumatic transport of non-conventional powders of different types in order to control, describe, optimize, and ideally, predict their behaviour during pneumatic transport. Emphasis is put on the study of both system hydrodynamics and electrostatic phenomena during the “dense phase” transport corresponding to the emerging generation of industrial transport systems. The two main axis of investigation are:
- Determination of the relevant descriptors (e.g., physical properties of particles, behavioural properties of the powder, characteristic velocities, etc.) to characterize the hydrodynamics of pneumatic transport (e.g., pressure drop, flowrate, concentration and circulation of solids, etc.)
- Multi-scale modelling of the results according to different approaches such as Euler-Euler (CFD and Multi-Phase-Particle in Cell, MP-PIC), Euler-Lagrange (DEM-CFD), to take into account gas/particle and particle/particle interactions.
The main scientific and technical barriers to be addressed concern the establishment of relationships between the physical and physicochemical properties of individual particles, the process parameters (geometry, pressure, nature of the gas, gas velocity) and the behavioural properties of the non-conventional powders used. In order to achieve this objective, it is essential to integrate the physical laws that govern gas-particle and particle-particle interactions as well as interface phenomena (e.g., electrostatic forces) over a representative (ideally full) scale of the process.
The ultimate goal of the project is to set up predictive experimental tests and reliable digital twins to describe the flow of powders at different conditions and thus optimize the design and implementation of the transport operation.