Gladstone Pipeline

In Chapter 1, a number of limestone pipelines are listed. The pipeline focused on in this segment is the Gladstone pipeline of the Queensland Cement and Lime Company in Australia, which started operation in 1979. Venton (1982) described the pipeline in great detail and diagramed examples of a practical design for a cement plant. 

The Gladstone pipeline is 24 km long and is located 400 km north of Brisbane. The reserves of limestone are overlaid by deposits of clay suitable for a clinker cement plant. A ship loading facility was built in the Gladstone harbor in order to transport the lime to Brisbane (Figure 11-6). 

The Gladstone pipeline uses Wilson-Snyder positive displacement pumps. At the weight concentration of 60-64%, the slurry acted as a Bingham mixture, with non-Newtonian viscosity characteristics. However, it did feature clay, sand, and iron, as the materials were formulated for the manufacture of clinker cement. The pipeline operation speed was maintained at 2 m/s and the pressure drop was around 300 kPa/km. API 5LX steel with a high yield strength was used. Corrosion rates as high as 0.25 mm/year were measured during the initial phase of operation of the pipeline. 

Venton, P. B. 1982. The Gladstone Pipeline. Working paper A-4, BHRA Group, Hydrotransport 8. 

FIGURE 11-6 The Gladstone limestone pipeline in Queensland, Australia. (From Venton, 1982. Reprinted with permission of BHR Group.)... 

Pertuit, P. 1985. Gladstone Limestone Slurry Pipeline. In 10th International Conference on Coal Technology, Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Washington, D.C. Coal and Slurry Technology Association. 

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