Grant: Alliance Grants

In many gas-solid processes, electrostatic charge is generated during solids handling, transport (e.g., pneumatic conveying), and processing (e.g., gas-solid fluidization) due to contacts among solids, and solids and the container walls. Charge build-up results in solids-wall adhesion, agglomeration, and generation of high-voltage electrical fields that can cause explosions. The adverse impact of electrostatics has been reported in industries including petrochemical, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc. Solids pneumatic conveying is known to lead by far to the greatest electrostatic charge levels, among all industrial powder operations due to high flow velocities. In addition to electrostatic discharge that could cause dust explosions, solids may deposit on the conveying pipes surfaces causing partial blockage, loss of valuable material, and potentially leading to deviations from the system stable operation. This international partnership is aimed at the development of Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) models and their experimental validation that could be used by industry as predictive tools to determine the severity and risks of electrostatics in any powder flow system. The outcomes of this collaborative research include increasing process efficiency, reducing process economic loss, as well as elevating process safety by mitigating the risks of fires and explosions due to electrostatic charge build up in powder flow systems.