Limestone Pipelines

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. 

At the discharge point of the limestone pipeline, the slurry is dewatered by a thermal drying processes. The lime is then transported in a powder form. To reduce the relatively... 

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

In a limestone pipeline project, the slurry plant is located at the quarry and needs to be fitted with a milling or grinding circuit. Water also must be available on-site to be blended with the ground limestone. Some of this water may be available locally however, if the pipeline is relatively short, it may be possible to return water from the pipeline discharge point. 

Processes of slurry preparation are described in Chapter 7. Limestone pipelines typically operate in a range of 50-60% weight concentration. If other ingredients such as clay are in the slurry, a small pump test loop is recommended on-site to monitor the composition and concentration. 

Pneumatic Pipelines. Pneumatic pipe systems are used to move blood samples, medicine, and suppHes between buildings in hospital complexes cash and receipts in drive-up banks parts and materials in factories refuse from apartment complexes and grain, cement, and many other materials. Most of these are small diameter and usually short however, a 17-km, 1220-mm dia pneumatic pipeline has been used to transport rock in the former Soviet Union since 1981, and a 3.2-km, 1000-mm dia line has moved limestone from the mine to a cement plant in Japan since 1983 (22). 

Coal pipelines have been built in countries such as France (8.8 km), and Russia (61 km), and pipelines are also used for transporting limestone, copper concentrates, magnetite, and gHsonite in other parts of the world. The first coal pipeline, built in Ohio, led to freight rate reductions. The pipeline stopped operation after introduction of the unit train, used exclusively to transport coal from the mine to an electric power generation station. 

James, J. G. and Broad, B. A. Transport and Road Research Laboratory, TRRL Supplementary Report 635 (1980) Conveyance of coarse particle solids by hydraulic pipeline Trials with limestone aggregates in 102, 156 and 207 mm diameter pipes. 

Oil - [COALCONVERSIONPROCESSES - CARBONIZATION] (Vol6) - [COALCONVERSIONPROCESSES - GASIFICATION] (Vol6) - [SIZE ENLARGEMENT] (Vol 22) -fuel for limestone kilns [LIME AND LIMESTONE] (Vol 15) -hydrogen from [HYDROGEN] (Vol 13) -measurement of particles m [SIZE MEASUREMENT OF PARTICLES] (V ol 22) -m nuts [NUTS] (Vol 17) -as petroleum lubricant [LUBRICATION AND LUBRICANTS] (Vol 15) -pipeline transport [PIPELINES] (Vol 19) -sample analysis by ms [MASS SPECTROMETRY] (Vol 15) -from shale [OIL SHALE] (Vol 17) -steel quenching m [STEEL] (Vol 22) -sulfur removal from [SULFUR] (Vol 23) -tanks for [TANKS AND PRESSURE VESSELS] (Vol 23) -use of fluidization [FLUIDIZATION] (Vol 11)... 

Treatment of an underground gasoline pipeline spill in the USA. A collection system recovered most of the gasoline from an area of impermeable soil on top of fractured limestone. Hydrogen peroxide assisted bioremediation was chosen to treat the remainder of the gasoline to improve the rate of remediation. Treatment of a gasoline station in the Netherlands was also successfully achieved with minimal disruption to the activities of the filling station.46... 

Kosugi, S. A capsule pipeline system for limestone transportation. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Freight Pipelines, Wollongong, Australia, Jul 6-8, 1992 Institution of Engineers Barton Act, Australia, 1992. 

The method for solids transported in slurry form is called hydraulic transportation. Today there are long distance rubber lined pipelines carrying a variety of minerals such as coal, limestone, rock phosphate, copper concentrate, nickel refinery tailings, iron ore concentrates and tailings in various parts of the world. The most important slurry pipelines in operation around the world are given in Table 4.2. 

Materials that are currently being transported over long distances by pipelines include coal, iron ore, limestone and copper concentrates. For hydraulic transportation over long distances to be economic, it is necessary that solids are reduced to an optimum size. To keep solids in suspension, a certain minimum velocity must be maintained. This velocity increases with the size of the particle. The increased velocity has a bearing on the wear life of the rubber lining. Wear in a slurry pipe line system increases with the cube of the velocity as well as increasing directly with the particle size. 

Limestone is generally applied from boats, which use the lake water to prepare a slurry containing up to 30 % by weight of calcium carbonate. Some systems prepare the slurry either on the lake shore, or adjacent to a nearby road, and pump the slurry via floating pipelines to a boat which disperses the slurry over the surface of the lake. Aerial application from fixed wing aircraft and helicopters is also used for remote lakes, using either powder, or pre-mixed slurry. 

Probably the location of the raw materials of an industry contributes more toward the choice of a plant site than any other factor. This is especially noticeable in those industries in which the raw material is inexpensive and bulky and is made more compact and obtains a high bulk value during the process of manufacture. The supply of the basic raw materials should be controlled directly by the user tonnage items like coal, salt, limestone, etc., should be available on company-owned property on the plant site or reached by not too distant pipeline, rail, or water transportation. Surveys should be made to chart definitely the quantity and quality of the basic raw materials a minimum supply of 30 to 50 years is usually considered mandatory. The steel mills are located near the iron mines or at some intermediate point between the iron and the... 

Engineering as a science must balance sophisticated mathematical models with practical field experience. In this chapter, some specific cases of slurry pipelines will be examined for coal, iron sand, clay, phosphate, limestone, and other materials. The practical experience with these minerals in different forms, particles sizes, and volumetric concentrations is very useful for the design of new pipelines or the modification of existing systems. 

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). 

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. 

This paper presents a review of development in the pneumatic capsule pipeline (PCP) system and its potential future developments. Two commercial PCP systems have been installed in Japan. One is to transport 2 million tons of limestone annually from the mine to the cement works. It has been in operation since 1983 without environmental pollution, with its availability being as high as 94 - 98 %. The other was commissioned for tunneling of Japan s bullet train from 1991 to 1994. This application is an epoch-making tunneling project with cleanliness and safety. Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd. (SMI) is also studying the application of the PCP system to municipal solid wastes, parcels, etc. It is anticipated that the 21st century will see widespread uses of the PCP system by virtue of its effectiveness without enviroiunental impacts. 

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