| Abstract | The primary purpose of this report is to examine Canadian research capabilities in granular multiphase flow (GMPF) and to identify opportunities in industrial processes where further advances in GMPF science and technology will contribute to reductions in Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions.
Multiphase flows of particulate solids with liquids or gases occur in numerous operations spanning many sectors of Canadian industry, including cement, mining, oil sands, heavy oil, pulp and paper, aluminium, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals. The processing, handling, and transport of granular materials in these industries require large amounts of energy, hence there are opportunities for GHG reductions through the advancements in GMPF science and technology. The behaviour of granular materials is very complex and the current understanding of the underlying science is poor. Hence the engineering design and analysis lack a sound scientific basis, resulting in sub-optimal designs with associated deficiencies in capital and operating costs, energy consumption, process efficiency, and reliability.
The industrial survey consisted of interviews with personnel of selected companies representing four industrial sectors: cement, drilling services, mining, and oil sands. An analysis of the survey responses identified four major research topics of a fundamental nature: rheology; flow regimes; separation and mixing processes; and flow metering, instrumentation, and pumping. These four identified topics address industrial operations involving substantial energy usage and GHG annual emissions, estimated at up to 100 megatonnes by 2015. Although there is much uncertainty in associating these particular research topics with specific reductions in GHG emissions, they may directly impact processes responsible for at least 20 percent of the total GHG emissions in the surveyed industrial sectors.
The research interviews targeted a core group of researchers conducting relevant work in selected research institutes and universities. These research activities were found to currently address only a few aspects of the four topics listed in the preceding paragraph. There are research programs and coordinated networks that deal with subjects which only partly overlap with some of the identified topics. There are, however, no existing research programs to specifically deal with GMPF problems that are common among the various industrial sectors. The present survey identified key Canadian expertise that could form a core for a coordinated research effort. A successful treatment of the identified research topics will require establishing a program with a focus on GMPF. Such a program should provide means for coordinated efforts by experts at different universities and laboratories. Other nations sponsor significant programs on GMPF research. In Canada, to date, there has been no concerted national GMPF R&D program comparable to those of Canada's leading trading partners.
The second purpose of this report is to provide information to promote international collaborative R&D in GMPF. Canada is a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Implementing Agreement on Multiphase Flow Sciences. Other member nations include Australia, Mexico, Norway, UK, and the USA' Member nations are responsible for identifying their respective capabilities and for promoting mutually beneficial, pre-competitive R&D collaboration between their researchers wherever feasible. This report fulfils Canada's obligation to provide information on Canadian GMPF research and was released concurrently with a similar UK report at a joint UK/Canada/IEA workshop in London in July 2001. |
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