Dire Dawa institute of Technology (DDIT)

School of chemical and Bioengineering

Chapter Three
Transportation and storage of solids in bulks
(MATERIAL HANDLING)
Transport of solids
 Mechanical conveyors
 Pneumatic conveyors
Storage of solids

BY: Yohannes A.(Msc.)

 Material handling

Material handling is the function of moving the right material

to the right place in the right time, in the right amount, in
sequence, and in the right condition to minimize production
cost.

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Transport of solids(conveyors )

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Transportation of particulate solid is an integral part of most of the process
industries and
 The need for transporting:
To storage area
To packing area
To market place
To customer store
 To, raw material, production area
The appropriate selection of transportation equipment depends on the
capacity requirement, Length of travel, Comparative cost , material
characteristic and whether the solid are to be transported horizontally
vertically or an incline. 4
 1. Mechanical Conveyors

• Mechanical conveyers are used both for short and long distance transport
of solids
• Are more economical than transport by rail or road vehicles
• Are used for transporting solids at the rates of 12,500 to 60, 000 kg/hr
within 10-20km distances

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The popular types of mechanical conveyors are:
Screw conveyors
Belt conveyors
Vibrating conveyors
Bucket conveyors and elevators
Chain conveyor
Apron conveyor
• Screw is push the materials along an endless trough or tube and they are called
scrapers
• Belt, apron and bucket conveyors carry loads on belts, aprons, or in buckets and
they are called carriers

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 A. Screw conveyors
• Are widely used for transporting pulverised and granular solids vertically or
horizontally

• Used for transporting grains, crushed coal, ashes, gravel, sand etc.

• Transporting finely divided solids; sticky materials; and semisolid materials

including food waste and municipal solid wastes.

• Are relatively used for short distances usually up to 40m horizontally and 30m
vertically

• Are less recommended for handling sticky and abrasive materials

• Are normally horizontal or slightly inclined up to around 20o

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Screw conveyors

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The elements of horizontal or slightly inclined screw conveyor are:
An screw arranged on shaft supported on bearing
A trough with semi cylindrical bottom arranged coaxially with
the screw
A drive( electrical motor and reducer gear) to rotate the shaft
with screw
The material to be conveyed is fed into the trough
As the screw rotates the material get to propelled (pushed forward)
along the shaft
The material is unloaded at the discharge end through the openings
provided with gates

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The throughput capacity Q (kg/s) of an screw conveyor is function the
screw diameter d, the leads of the screw t, speed of rotation n (rpm).
lead of the screw is the distance between two screws

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CB= correction factor called angle factor or inclination factor and
depends on angle of inclination B of the screw conveyors

Cfs= filling coefficient or coefficient of filling of screw cross-section

and its depends on type of material conveyed

The correction CB factor decreases with increase in the angle of

inclination B of the conveyor

That is the throughput capacity Q decreases with increase in the angle of

inclination
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If the material is free flowing and easily movable, the lead of the

screw t is taken equal to its diameter d,

For poorly moving materials, smaller screw lead (t =0.8d) is chosen or

an screw with two or three leads is employed

The speed of rotation of n, depend on the type of conveyed materials

and the screw diameter

The maximum allowable value of n calculated empirically:

nmax= C’/(d)1/2 13
The coefficient C’ depends on type of materials conveyed

The value of C’ is lower for heavier and more abrasive materials

The operating speed of the screw should ensure smooth flow of the
material without over flowing over the shaft

The screw diameter d should be fixed rounded of to any standard

screw size available 0.1, 0.125, 0.16, 0.2, 0.25, 0.32, 0.4, 0.5, 0.63 or
0.8m

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 Example
30 ton per hour of heavy material is to be transported by horizontal screw
conveyer density of the solid is 2000kg/m3 speed of screw shaft is 35 rpm .
calculate the diameter and pitch of this screw if lead of the screw that is screw
pitch divided by diameter of the screw is 0.8

Solution
Q=30ton/hr=8.33kg/s
𝜌𝑠 =2000kg/m3 d=0.4497m
n=35rpm t=0.3598m
t/d=0.8
𝑐𝛽 = 1
𝑐𝑓𝑠 =0.125
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 2. Belt conveyors
Are the most versatile among the mechanical conveying equipment

 Found wide application in almost all branches of industries

Have large load carrying capacity up to 30 million kg/hr

Cover long distance up to 3-4km for single and up to 100km for systems of
comprising a number of belts

Are simple design, easy maintenance and high reliability of operation

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Typical belt conveyor

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 A belt conveyor consists of supporting structure or frame of with two or
more pulleys with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that
rotates about them.
 There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors;
 Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along
inside a factory and
 Bulk material handling such as those used to transport industrial and
agricultural materials, such as grain, coal, ores, etc. generally in outdoor
locations.

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The material to be transported is fed onto the belt through one or more
filling funnels or hoppers

The material is carried on the upper run or carrying run of the belt
conveyor

The return run is always empty

It is also possible to convey materials simultaneously on both runs of the

belt in opposite direction

Material is unloaded at discharge point(at head pulley) from the belt

through unloading funnel or hopper
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Cleaning devices are mounted at terminal or head pulley from which
material is unloaded

The external (load carrying) surface of the belts is cleaned from the stuck-
on dry or moist particles by means of scraper plates

Wet and sticky materials are removed by using rotating brush

Hydraulic cleaning also employed, but the belt must be dried up properly
after cleaning operation

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Belt conveyors may have rubberized, all-steel rolled or wire belt

Rubberized belts are used most extensively(covering large area)

Belt conveyors may be horizontal, inclined or mixed type such as inclined

horizontal, horizontal inclined

The angle of inclination of the conveyor with horizontal depends on:

Type of material handled
Nature of belt surface whether smooth or ribbed
The angle of repose of the bulk load
Method of loading and
Speed of the belt
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Speed of conveyor belt is selected based on:
Characteristics of the conveyed material
Belt width
Provisions for intermediate unloading
Location and final application of the conveyor

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 Advantage of belt conveyors
A wider range of material can be handled which pause problems in
other transportation means.
Belt conveyor can be used for abrasive, wet, dry, sticky or dirty
material.
Higher capacity can be handled than any other form of conveyor at a
considerably lower cost per tone kilometer
Longer distances can be covered more economically than any other
transportation system.
A single belt conveyor or a series of belt conveyors can do this.

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 It is comparatively cheaper and supporting structures can be used for
many otherwise impossible structures such as crossing rivers, streets
and valleys.
The belt conveyor can be adopted for special purposes (fire resistant,
wear resistant, corrosion resistant) and can be integrated with other
equipment.
It can be horizontal, incline or decline or combination of all.
Minimum labor is required for the operation and maintenance of belt
conveyor system.

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 Limitations
Numbers of protective devices have to be incorporated to save
the belt from getting damaged by operational problems.
The belt needs higher initial tension .
The use of belt is restricted by the lump size .
Conveying of sticky material is associated with problems of
cleaning and discharge causing poor productivity.
Higher elongation of the belt (4% elongation may take place
at the working load).

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 3. Bucket conveyor (Elevators)
 Are conveying machines employed for lifting solids vertically
upwards or over steeply inclined path (60- 80 with horizontal)
 Are most popular for handling bulk materials in process industries

Bucket elevator can handle a wide range of solids, from heavy

lumps to fine powders, and are suitable for use with wet solids and
slurries.
Are capable of lifting loads to large heights up to 60- 70m
They have also throughput capacity 5to 500m3/hr

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Throughput capacity of bucket elevator depend on:
Volume of the bucket
The pitch of the buckets
The bucket speed

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 Pneumatic Transport
What is pneumatic conveying?
Pneumatic conveying is the movement of solids through pipe using gas
(usually air) as the motive force.
The flow regime in the pipe depends greatly on the ratio of solids to gas
and the particle characteristics.
The product (solids) is fed into a moving air stream, which blows the
material down a length of pipe.
The pipe is connected to a receiver or cyclone where the air and product
are separated.

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Pneumatic Transport

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A pneumatic conveying system comprises of four distinct
parts:
1.The Prime Mover - a blower, fan, compressor or vacuum
pump to provide the necessary means to create a flow of gas
and the conveying air stream.
2.The Feeder - a rotary valve, screw, blow vessel or feeder to
introduce the solids into the air stream under controlled
conditions.
3.The conveying line - pipe work comprising straight,
horizontal and vertical sections, bends, branches and diverter
valves.
4.Separator - a cyclone, receiver, filter receiver or silo/vessel to
separate the air from the solids. 32
A pneumatic conveying system can be classified into two distinct
categories:
Dilute Phase (also know as lean phase) - where gas volume is high
and the solids volume is low and mass flow ratio(ratio of mass of
solids to the mass of conveying air) is approx. 0 - 15.
Dense Phase - where the gas volume is low and the solids volume is
high and the mass flow ratio is greater than 15.

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 Storage of solids
When hundreds or thousands of tons of materials are
involved (like gravel and coal), storing outside in large piles is the most economical
method.

But, this outside storage can lead to environmental problems, such as:-

• Dusting (can be controlled by covering)

• Leaching of soluble materials (can be controlled by covering the pile or locating it in

a shallow basin)

A pile of finely divided solids is subjected to erosion by wind and rain, so that this
method of storage is ordinarily restricted to coarse water insoluble materials.

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 Bin Storage
Solids that are too valuable or too soluble to expose in
outdoor piles are stored in bins, hoppers, or silos.
These are cylindrical or rectangular vessels made out of concrete or
metal.
Silo: tall and relatively small in diameter.
Bin: not tall but wider
Hopper: is a small vessel with a sloping bottom for
temporary storage before feeding solids to a process.
Every storage Bin usually has two sections such as:
 Upper section: rectangular, or cylindrical and
Lower section: pyramidal or conical (narrowing to the discharge
opening)
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Silo

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Bin

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Hopper

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When granular solids are piled up on a flat surface, the sides of
the pile are at a definite reproducible angle with horizontal. This
angle is the angle of repose of the material.
The angle of repose is low when the grains are smooth and
rounded; it is high with very fine, angular, or sticky particles
The maximum height at which the solids can be piled depends
on the angle of repose of the material
Angle of repose is maximum slope measured from the horizontal
at which a heap of loose solids will stand without sliding

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There are two primary and distinct types of flow of solids
in hoppers, mass flow and funnel flow.
These flows get their names from the way in which solids
move in the hoppers.
In mass flow all of the material in the bin is in motion,
though not necessarily all with the same velocity.
 In funnel flow only a core of material in the center above
the hopper outlet is in motion while material next to the
walls is stationary (stagnant).

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Mass flow
Funnel flow

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 Flow assisting devices and feeders
A. Vibrating hoppers
B. Screw feeder

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C. Belt or apron

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