Dear Co,

Transporting the glass particals pneumatically will be not the problem.

From your data, the following figures can be derived:

Pressure system:

Glass density is approx 2500 kg/m3

Average particle size approx. 20 micron

Suspension velocity approx 1.1 m/sec

Required end air velocity approx. 5 m/sec

With a 4” pipe this results in approx 2.4 m3/min of air (144 m3/hr)

Air mass flow approx. 170 kg/hr

SLR = 3500 / 170 = approx. 20.6

These values do not seem to be unrealistic.

The required pressure cannot be estimated without knowing the material resistance factors.

How you extract the glass from the dust collector is a matter of choice.

A rotary lock should be of a special design for very fine and fluidisable products.

Another way to go could be batch wise feeding with a single pressure vessel or a double vessel system

The receiving silo should be equipped with a suitable filter, level testers and safety valve.

A vacuum system does not seem to be a favourable solution, because it would suck from the dust collector and must be placed on the silo.

Whether the compressor can be used for another system, depends on that system.

The required air velocity for talc might be different and a different pipe size may be necessary.

Look at TBMA, Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands.

www.tbma.com

success ■