Some experimental observations on the pressure driven flow of biomass suspensions

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the experimental investigation of the pipeline flow of low volume fraction suspensions. Our experimental observations of low volume fraction biomass suspensions such as mulch, coffee powder, crushed leaves, in water, show an unusual, non-linear relationship between flow rate and pressure drop which is not observed in homogeneous systems. While it is well known that in Newtonian liquids, the flow rate increases monotonically with the pressure drop, our experiments indicate that increasing pressure drop across the pipe can cause the flow rate to drop at an exponential rate. The observations are seen to be consistent for the varying concentrations and for different kinds of solute particles.