TRANSPORT and ROAD RESEARCH LABORATORY

Department of the Environment Department of Transport

SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT 592

PIPELINES CONSIDERED AS A MODE OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT: A REVIEW OF CURRENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE USES

by

J G James

(The text of this Report was first published in the Journal 'Minerals and the Environment'

Vol. 2, No. 1, March 1980)

Any views expressed in this Report are not necessarily those of the Department of the Environment or of the Department of Transport

Transport Engineering Division Transport Systems Department

Transport and Road Research Laboratory Crowthorne, Berkshire

1980 ISSN 0305-1315

Ownership of the Transport Research Laboratory was transferred from the Department of Transport to a subsidiary of the Transport Research Foundation o n I st

April 1996.

This report has been reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO. Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.

Abstract

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Freight transport mode statistics

Major types of bulk freight currently conveyed in pipes

3.1 Water and sewage

3.2 Gas

3.3 Oil (both crude and refined products)

3.4 Coal

3.5 Ores

3.6 Clay and chalk

3.7 Other valuable minerals

3.8 Sand and gravel in maintenance and reclamation dredging

3.9 Aggregates

3.10 Mineral wastes

3.11 Concrete

Less common types of pipeline transport

4.1 Pneumatic conveying of granular solids

4.2 Pneumatic propulsion of capsules

4.3 Hydraulic propulsion of capsules

Other aspects of pipelines and conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

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(C) CROWN COPYRIGHT 1980 Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for

commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged

PIPELINES CONSIDERED AS A MODE OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT: A REVIEW OF CURRENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE USES

ABSTRACT

Pipelines are perhaps the least appreciated mode of freight transport. The unobtrusive distribution of many megatonnes of water, oil and gas in the UK annually is taken for granted and only the figures for oil appear in annual freight statistics. The transport of solids by hydraulic or pneumatic pipeline - either in free flow or packed into capsules - is technically more difficult and less common, but the practice is already well-established in certain specialised fields.

After a brief introduction to the statistics for various freight transport modes, the author reviews the current usage of pipelines for water, sewage, gas and oil, before examining at length hydraulic 'slurry' pipelines for a variety of minerals. The Report concludes with a brief note on capsule pipelines which, apart from small-bore in-house delivery systems, are still in the prototype stage. A bibliography of over 100 references is given.

1. INTRODUCTION

For at least two centuries the pros and cons of different freight transport modes have been hot ly debated. In the UK

until the end of the eighteenth century bulk freight, such as 'sea-coal ~ from Newcastle to London, travelled largely

round the coast in small ships. The canal boom of the late 18th and early 19th centuries improved inland waterway

facilities which were of particular value to the industrial midlands and shortened many routes considerably. In

early Victorian times the railway boom brought even more direct routes and much higher speeds. The railway

network grew rapidly and largely ousted canals until the mid-twentieth century by which time roads had begun to

rival railways as the dominant mode.

This simplified conventional view of transport trends overlooks the less obvious advance o f pipelines during

the same period. For various reasons current national transport statistics ignore all pipelines except the comparatively

recent trunk oil routes. The general public, and even most transport writers, take the vital water sewage and gas

networks for granted and forget that they have supplanted innumerable water-carts, 'night-soft' carts, coal-carts

and oil-shops.

Pipelines are obviously suited primarily to fluids but under some circumstances it is bo th technically and

economically feasible to convey solids through pipes. Granular solids may be blown along or pumped with water;

alternatively, solids of almost any sort may be packed into capsules to be swept along pipes by pneumatic or

hydraulic pressure. In the 1860s and again in the 1960s imaginative writers foresaw networks o f pipes, on the one

hand transporting bulk freight of all types across continents, and on the other hand delivering small packages to

every house. ,

The practical feasibility and economic viability of piping solids have been studied in most developed countries

over the last twenty-five years or so and this report comments on present usage particularly with regard to slurry

pipelines, many of which are now in operation. Before turning to these, however, the subject is introduced by a brief

review of existing freight transport modes and the types of freight (liquids and gases, as well as solids) which may

conveniently be handled by pipeline.

1

2. FREIGHT TRANSPORT MODE STATISTICS

Since World War 2 the UK, in common with most other developed countries, has published annual statistics of the

amounts o f freight conveyed by each of the major transport modes 1,2. Figure 1 presents these statistics graphically

to show the trends as reported, firstly in tonnes, secondly in tonne-kilometres, and thirdly in percentages of the total

tonne-kilometres. Because road freight transport is primarily used for short and medium journeys its share appears

somewhat smaller when considered as tonne-kilometres rather than tonnes but since the 1950s it has clearly become

the dominant mode. The most recent available figures, expressed as percentages of the total, are given in Table 1.

TABLE 1

Modal split for UK freight transport in 1976

Road

Rail

Coastal shipping

Inland waterways

Pipelines

Per cent of total tonnes

85.0

9.9

2.2

0.3

2.6

Per cent of total tonne-kilometres

67.3

16.2

14.0

0.1

2.3

It needs to be noted that the above statistics for waterways and pipelines are 'pessimistic': the former relate

solely to navigations under the jurisdiction of the British Waterways Board (ie they ignore rivers and the Manchester

Ship Canal for example 3) while the latter relate solely to major oil pipelines longer than 16 km and appear to include

only refinery products lines, not those carrying crude oil.

Reservations of this sort, due to non-uniformity in methods of gathering statistics, make international

comparisons even more difficult. Table 2 presents some examples from the United Nations Annual Bulletin for

Europe 4 to show the apparent diversity of freight transport practices.

TABLE 2

Modal spht for freight transport in selected countries in 1976, expressed as percentages of tonne-kilometres

Road

Rail

Inland waterways

Pipelines

UK

75.1

20.3

0.1

4.6

GFR

44.2

26.5

22.4

6.8

France

41.7

34.7

6.0

17.6

i Netherlands

29.5

5.2

56.7

8.5

GDR

22.9

68.1

3.2

5.8

USSR

7.6

72.5

5.0

14.9

USA

23

37

16

24

The UK figures in Table 2 differ from those in Table I mainly because the United Nations compilation neglects

coastal shipping. As might be expected, rivers and canals play a more important role in West Germany and the

Netherlands, while in Russia and East Germany railways remain dominant. USA national figures, added from another

2

source 5 for comparison, show a surprisingly low percentage of road freight but US statisticians gather only long-

distance inter-city traffic figures and omit the local urban and rural traffic which makes up the bulk of lorry usage.

These statistics also reveal USA as the major user of pipelines: this reflects the facts that USA consumes more

energy per capita than any other country and that oil is the primary source there. USA consumption of energy

doubled between 1950 and 1970 and it can be seen from Figure 2 that the reported pipeline usage also doubled.

The actual usage of pipelines in USA is even greater than these statistics show because (a) only the major inter-city

pipelines (longer than 50 kin) are included and (b) gas, which provides one-third of USA energy through a network

of over 2 million kilometres of pipes, is omitted entirely. The effect of recent and current changes in energy sources

on the UK transport pattern is discussed later.

3. MAJOR TYPES OF BULK FREIGHT CURRENTLY CONVEYED IN PIPES

3.1 Water and sewage

Before dealing with commodities more usually thought of as freight, reference must be made to water and

sewage because of the sheer magnitude of the quantities transported and the cost and complexi ty of their networks

which form the mainstay of the pipe industry.

In 1971 it was estimated 6 that total UK water sales amounted to 22 thousand million tonnes per annum

split as fol lows:-

direct industrial abstraction 22.7 per cent

Central Electricity Generating Board 55.0

public water supply 21.7

agriculture and miscellaneous 0.6

Presumably CEGB water, like the majority of industrial water supply, is abstracted directly f rom open-channel

waterways but the public water supply (amounting to about 5000 million tonnes) is almost entirely piped to the

users. For the most part it is then taken away by a secondary network of sewers which also deal with rainfall run-

off from paved and urban areas. Sewage is said to be 99.9 per cent water 7 and the two are frequently considered

as a joint subject.

Historically water and sewage were the first commodities to be conveyed by pipes in quantity: the length and

size of ancient Roman aqueducts and sewers made them world-famous. However in the UK the distribution of

water and the subsequent disposal of effluent and sewage was (with a few notable exceptions such as London 's

New River) a very local affair until Victorian times. In London for instance the early s team-pump-operated

waterworks merely raised water from the Thames, Lea and Ravensboume for distribution over a radius o f a few

kilometres. Sewage went on to the land or back into the rivers by the shortest path to nourish Whitstable oysters.

As London grew after 1800 it became necessary to go further afield for flesh water (to rural Fulham and

Hammersmith) and to introduce large reservoirs and cast-iron mains of unprecedented length and diameter. Much o f

the sewage was still taken away at night in armies of carts and fleets o f barges; in some foreign cities such as Athens

road tankers are still the primary sewage conveyors t o d a y . In mid-Victorian times Bazalgette finally installed

London 's great piped system with over 150 km of main interceptors discharging all sewage (after processing) into

the Thames well east of the city at Barking Creek and Erith (Figure 3). Other towns gradually followed suit and

thousands o f municipal waterworks and sewage works became established.

The increasing inadequacy o f natural waterways and canals to supply the required quantities at all times to

local storage reservoirs, and to .convey away the effluent, led to the installation of some notable long-distance

schemes: Welsh water for instance is piped to central England. In 1973, anticipating that the public water supply

would need to be doubled to 10,000 million tonnes annually by the year 2000, a scheme was published (Figure 4)

showing new major networks which would become necessary 8. These schemes will require about 600 km of

pipelines, mainly 1 to 2 metres in diameter, and 200 km of major carriers over 2 metres in diameter (and therefore

officially classified as tunnels).

In the mid-1970s the National Water Council was established to coordinate conflicting demands and one of

its first tasks was to improve the accuracy o f water and sewage statistics. It is now estimated that there exist

current ly over 500,000 km of public watermains and sewers of which probably over a quarter have a diameter of

300 mm or more. The current value of these pipelines is estimated at £26,000 million (one-third for water and two-

thirds for sewage). The required annual expenditure is estimated at £260 million, ie one per cent of the value 9.

This makes an interesting comparison with the UK public roads system which comprises 330,000 km and required

£276 million for maintenance in 1975.

If an average distance of say 10 km is assumed for piping the public water supply a total for 50,000 million

tonne-kilometres is obtained. If a similar figure is added to this for sewage the f'mal total is greater than that of all

UK road freight and thus, if water and sewage were considered as freight, the graphs in Figure 1 would be radically

altered.

3.2 Gas

After water and sewage the next greatest group of commodities, in terms of bulk transported, are the mineral

energy sources: coal, oil and gas. Present UK trends in the consumption of these are shown in Figure 5.

Historically, gas was Ftrst to be piped. Coal-gas production and its local distribution through underground

pipes followed closely behind the rapid development of waterworks and cast-iron water-mains in the early

nineteenth century. Relatively large district gasworks replaced individual-consumer plants soon after the start of

gas development and as early as 1821 cases were being brought against the London producers for destroying the

Thames fishing industry with their effluent. However there were no really long-distance gas pipelines in the UK

until recent times when natural gas began to be exploited.

In the early 1960s liquid natural gas was shipped from Algeria to Canvey Island on the Thames estuary and a

450 mm diameter pipeline was installed to carry it as far as Leeds. From the mid-1960s onward North Sea gas

supplies were tapped and a 500 km national network of high-pressure (up to 7 MN/m 2) 'transmission' pipelines has

now been created to deliver it f rom the coastal terminals to the existing medium and low pressure local 'distribution'

networks. Figure 6 shows how use of North Sea gas has grown while coal-gas production has dwindled almost to

4

zero. Figure 7 is a map of the high-pressure transmission grid: the diameters of these pipes range from 900 m m at

the coastal terminals to 450 mm in the west of England. The old medium and low pressure distribution mains have

also been extended to accommodate the new supply sources, their total length increasing f rom about 150,000 km

in 1960 to 220,000 km in 1977.

This increased use of natural gas (an.d of oil, discussed in Section 3.3 below) has led to significant changes in

freight transport patterns since less coal movement is needed either to feed local gasworks or as direct fuel for

factories and houses. A large proportion of coastal shipping and rail freight traffic, both greatly dependent on coal

customers, has thus been transferred to pipelines.

As already noted, transport statistics invariably ignore gas pipelines: this is possibly because the quantities

are commonly expressed in energy units, such as the British Thermal Unit (Btu) or the Therm (100,000 Btu),

rather than tonnes, and because problems arise in considering the bulk handled due to compressibility. To obtain

relative quantities 'coal equivalents' and 'oil equivalents' based on energy content are sometimes derived. Here the

oil equivalent has been used, taking 1 million therms as equivalent to 2300 tonnes of petroleum. This provides a

national annual consumption equivalent to 36 million tonnes. If an average distance of say 100 km is assumed

for its transportation, the transportation total may be taken as 3600 million tonne-kflometres. If this were added

to the reported oil pipeline tonne-kilometrage shown in Figure 1 the national pipeline freight total would be more

than doubled.

3.3 Oil (both crude and refined products)

As noted in Section 2 above, USA leads in the use of oil pipelines. There the economic advantage of pipelines

over railways or roads for delivering crude from rural oilfields to city-based refineries was realised in the 1860s.

The first long-distance (100 km) line was completed in 1875 and another of 180 km in 187910. The US oil

pipeline network has thus had over a century of development although the very long (over 1000 km) pipelines of

large diameter (250 to 900 mm) grew up only during and after World War 2. These last are usually not for crude,

but for transporting the end products from refineries to customers.

The larger the pipe diameter the more cheaply per tonne may oil be pumped. On the other hand, the capital

cost of a large pipeline is so great that it must be operated continuously for economic viability. To ensure a through-

put sufficient for continuous operation of a large-diameter pipeline it is now common practice for several companies

to share the cost and with modern technology it is possible for several different products to be simultaneously

travelling along successive lengths of the same pipe. The 'Colonial Pipeline' from Houston to New York (about

2500 km long and 900 mm decreasing to 750 mm in diameter) is said to contain over 100 batches at any one t ime

en route to about 200 delivery points along it 11. The US oil pipeline network now totals about 300,000 km although

it may be remarked that the gas pipeline network, not reported in US transport statistics, is even greater and

estimated to comprise 420,000 km of transmission lines, 1,000,000 km of distribution mains, and 700,000 km of

small-bore 'service' pipes to individual properties.

Unlike water and gas, oil will clearly never be piped directly to every individual consumer but it is possible to

envisage a situation where most local petrol stations, domestic heating-oil depots, and factories are pipe-linked.

In Europe indigenous coal has long been the main energy source and, except for the 880 km Baku-Batum

pipeline (in 1907 the world's first refinery products line), very few oil pipelines existed until World War 2. In

western Europe until very recently most oil was brought by ocean-going tankers from Africa, Asia or America to

coastal ref'meries, from which the f'mal products were distributed by road, rail or inland waterway. During and just

after the war a few strategic pipelines (such as the famous PLUTO under the channel) were installed and these

provided the nucleus o f the stiU-growing network of both crude and refined product lines. A map published in

197312 showing most of the major oil lines in western Europe is reproduced with a few additions in Figure 8.

the UK pipelines shown on this map are all for refinery products.

A new stage was entered when mammoth tankers were built after the Suez Crisis of 1956. These required the

creation o f deep-water terminals, and crude-oil pipelines then had to be installed to connect these with existing

refineries in the 1960s. Finally in the 1970s has come the exploitation of North Sea oil necessitating further crude

oil pipelines f rom the North Sea fields to new terminals. Figure 9 is a map of existing major UK pipelines for both

crude and ref'med products: also shown are a few long pipelines carrying liquid petroleum derivatives such as

ethylene and propylene to chemical works.

The crtide oil pipelines range in diameter from 300 to 900 mm, the refinery-product pipes from 150 to

400 mm, and the olefme lines from 150 to 250 mm diameter. In 1975, before North Sea oil really began to flow,

the UK oil lines were reported to total 2658 km in length and to convey about 30 million tonnes, half crude and

half refined products. Because the refined products lines are longer than the crude lines only one-quarter of the

5,322 million tonne-kilometres total oil-pipeline freightage related to crude.

Current statistics are less certain because of recent rapid changes in oil supply sources. After the 1973

financial crisis ref'mery output fell slightly and has since remained relatively static but the amount of crude oil

piped has probably increased. The tonnage of North Sea oil used in the UK, a mere 1 million tonnes in 1975, rose

to 12 million in 1976 and to 37 million in 1977. The larger part of this (20 million tonnes) came from the Forties

field (see Figure 9). The total length of major UK oil-pipelines must now be well over 3,000 kin.

The additional olefme pipelines total about 1,000 km and their individual throughputs range from about

50,000 tonnes to 300,000 tonnes/year. These therefore probably add only a few hundred million tonne-kilometres

to the overall freight total.

3.4 Coal

In most cases oil and natural gas are more cheaply won from the earth than the third great energy source, coal:

they are also more cheaply transported and are more convenient to use. Consequently, although coal is more

abundant globally its share o f the energy market generally decreased during the present century. Only in the 1970s,

with recognition o f the finiteness of mineral resources and 'energy crisis' forecasts was the decline in coal

product ion halted (Figure 5).

In some areas o f North America coal exigts in massive deposits from which it may be extracted by relatively

easy open-cast methods but even there the cost of transportation made it unable generally to compete with oil

in the major energy-consuming regions. Coal may be burnt at source to produce electricity and conveniently

6

distributed long distances in this secondary form by cable. However this is not particularly efficient and long before

the energy crisis cheap transportation of coal was seen as the key to any at tempt to arrest its declining usage. In

view of the great early success of gas and oil pipelines in the USA it was inevitable that the first major at tempts to

pump coal through pipelines over long distances were made there in the 1950s.

That small quantities of coarse solids (fish, nuts and oranges) would pass successfully through a centrifugal

water pump without blocking it had been demonstrated a century earlier at the Great Exhibition of 185i. By the

1860s centrifugal pumps were developed sufficiently for them to be used for hydraulic dredging where large

quantities of sand and mud had to be raised. At about the time of World War 1 G G Bell used a 50 hp Gwynnes

centrifugal pump to convey 100 mm lump coal from Thames barges to an electricity-generating station at

Harnmersmith through a 200 mm diameter pipeline 600 metres long. This comparatively short and simple pipeline

operated for only a few years: from 1913 to 1924 according to Bell or from 1919 to 1922 according to the power-

station records 13.

Meanwhile it had been realised that positive-displacement (piston or plunger) pumps can also pass solids with

water providing that the particles are time enough for the mixture to be considered as mud or sludge. Although they

cannot pass coarse solids, such pumps are capable of developing high pressures and this feature suggested the

possibility of pumping solids in the form of fine slurries over long distances. In 1889 an American, W C Andrews,

filed a US Patent (granted 1891) for conveying finely ground coal as a water slurry 'hundreds of miles' using

'force-punps' and he exhibited a model at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. He was followed by W T Donnelly

who applied for a new patent in 1904 (granted 1906) with particular reference to an improved arrangement for

feeding coal slurries 14.

The feasibility of long-distance coal pumping was taken up again after World War I , and in 1921 articles

were published on American schemes such as one to pump 7M tonnes per year o f fine anthracite about 300 km

from Pennsylvania to New York through a 350 mm diameter pipe 15. These plans came to nothing but the use of

short pipelines (up to a few km long) to send coal times from washeries to lagoons became common in the 1920s

and 1930s establishing the basic technology.

Renewed interest in the subject came following the growth of large oil pipelines in World War 2. In the 1940s

Bell proposed piping 2.5M tonnes of coal annually 200 km from the Midlands to London using 350 m m diameter

pipe in 16 km stages. However the great practical breakthrough came in 1950/51 when an experimental test-rig

and then a pilot-scale plant were built in America to back up a proposal to pump 1M tonnes o f time coal annually

about 175 km from Cadiz at one end of the State of Ohio to Cleveland power-station at the other. Virtually none

of the scientific data obtained from these trials (reported to have cost two million dollars) was published but the

technical and economical viability of the project was proved sufficiently for construction of the pipeline (250 mm

diameter) to be sanctioned and started in 1954. It was completed late in 195616, became fully operational in 1958,

and ran successfully until September 1963 when it was closed down because of altered economic conditions.

In 1958 it was reported that the Ohio pipeline had cost between 12 and 14 million dollars and that the cost

of coal delivery was forecast to be 1.60 dollars per short ton compared with 2.40 dollars by rail. Several conflicting

reports were published subsequently some of which gave the rail cost as high as 3 to 4 dollars but the true figures

are uncertain. At the time of closure it was reported that the pipeline cost had proved to be 2.50 dollars per ton

while the railway had slashed their tender to 1.90 dollars.

Since its operation had forced the railway companies to lower their freight charges substantially, the pipeline

was regarded as having been an economic as well as a technical success, and it was preserved to safeguard against

any future re-imposition of higher charges. On the other hand, the general lowering of rail freight charges which

it had brought about made the viability of several other pipelines which had been planned dubious: the rapidly

booming interest in coal pipelines slumped sharply as was shown by a review of papers on this subject (Figure 10) 17.

An additional check to the growth of US coal pipelines was the tactical refusal of railway companies thereafter

to grant prospective pipeline users wayleaves to cross over or under their tracks. Some inconclusive legislative

battles ensued which came to a climax in 1977 when a Slurry Pipeline Bill was tabled in the House of Representatives:

after considerable discussion it was thrown out in 1978 but the battle still continues to be waged 18. An important

factor inhibiting governmental decisiveness is the reliance by many railway companies on coal traffic for their

survival and their possible strategic value in the future. Of equal importance has been the objection by the States

concerned to the simultaneous 'export ' of their water as mere carrier liquid.

Since the Ohio pipeline only one other large example has been completed in the USA: this is the 440 km

long, 450 mm diameter, Black Mesa line, across a comparatively deserted stretch of Arizona to the Mohave power

station in Nevada. It has a throughput of over 4M tonnes/year and came into operation in 197019. Currently

several more are planned (some over 1,000 km long) and with the resurgence of coal as the major long-term energy

source the future of coal pipelines seems assured once the necessary legislation has been passed. Some of the proposed

lines are shown in Figure 11.

From time to time since the late 1950s several reports of proposed long coal pipelines in USSR and other

eastern European countries have appeared but it is doubtful if any have in fact been constructed as yet. However

there is a very extensive literature in Russian on the subject of hydraulic pipelines for coal and rock and it is clear

that hydraulic coal-hoisting and hydraulic mine-waste disposal are extensively practised, probably to a greater degree

than in any other country. In 1970 Traynis 20 referred to fourteen hydraulic coalmines, three of which had 10 km

pipelines conveying their product to power stations or metallurgical plant. Some of the literature has been translated

into English by American agencies particularly since 1976 when the US Bureau of Mines commissioned an extensive

study o f East European pipelines 20.

In the 1950s most western European research on hydraulic pipelines was carried out in France and the UK.

Two important symposia were held in 1952, at Grenoble in June 21 and at London in November 22. The latter was

held under the auspices o f the National Coal Board (NCB) which had commissioned research from the British

Hydromechanics Research Association (BHRA). Later in the 1950s the main initiative shifted to the primary

customer for coal, the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), whose team built their own test rig and

then installed a 2 km trial line from Walton Colliery to Wakefield in 196323.

In the UK there are many large coal-ftred power-stations, individually consuming up to 5M tonnes of coal per

year and therefore potentially suitable for feeding by pipeline. However there are few single collieries capable of

supplying such an output and most stations are fed from several sources byrailways and/or belt conveyors. In the

1960s feasibility studies were made by CEGB for supplying at least two proposed new power-stations by coal

pipeline but these schemes were never implemented.

8

When the British Railways network was being pruned in accordance with the Beeching Report (1963) over

60 per cent of BR's freight tonnage was coal. It was improbable that any pipe-v-rail wayleave controversy could

seriously have arisen as in the USA since (a) the railways had been nationalised and (b) a special Pipelines Act

had been passed in 1962, although primarily intended for oil and gas pipelines. Nevertheless, UK research on coal

pipelines largely ceased and from 1963 onward little can be traced until after 1970, in which year BHRA held the

lust of its international symposia on 'Hydrotransport '24. This coincided with a worldwide upsurge in environmental

consciousness, awareness of limitations in supplies of conventional mineral energy, and renewed interest in coal.

At this time the Transport and Road Research Laboratory also began to investigate the potential uses of pipelines.

In 1974 NCB resumed coal pipeline research although, in common with most recent studies in this field, the main

emphasis has been on hydraulic hoisting and short-distance conveyance to washeries rather than long-distance

transportation.

In countries where long-distance coal transportation by pipeline has been seriously examined one of the major

subjects for debate has been the relative economic efficiencies of rail and pipeline, and relative efficiency o f either

of these methods compared with generating electricity at the coalfield and transmitting this by cable. Each of the

three interested groups have produced figures to support their case and the matter seems likely to remain inconclusive

until several coal pipelines have been in existence for several years so that their true economic performance and

energy intensiveness may be established.

In the UK pipelines will probably be considered when new massive coal seams come to be exploited although

the extensiveness of the existing railway network will provide strong competition. In the long term it is possible

that coal imported from yet undeveloped sources in the third world could require pipelines running inland from

deep-water ports analogous to the crude oil pipelines.

3.5 Ores

In the comparative lull of interest in slurry pipelines following closure of the Ohio coal line in 1963

support was sustained by metal-smelting industries. In Japan and USA particularly, steel production underwent

great expansion with the result that the amount of ore shipped in bulk from less developed countries increased

remarkably (from 40 to 240 million tonnes) between 1960 and 197025. This growth also continued into the

1970s 26.

More than half of the ores supplied for smelting nowadays are in the form of 10 mm pellets made from finely-

ground concentrates. When extracting ores from deposits in virgin territory, particularly mountainous jungle, it is

easier and cheaper to instal grinding plant at the mine and to pipe the frees to a coastal pelleting plant than to build

a railway or road to convey lump ore. A pipeline of about 150 mm diameter can convey a million tonnes o f fines

per year and requires manning only at the terminals. In several cases such pipes have been cheaply slung across

spectacular gorges by cable. A dozen notable ore pipelines are listed in Table 3.

TABLE 3

Notable slurry pipelines transporting ores

l eng th I Diameter Annual throughput Date first Reference Site Ore (km) [ (mm) (Mt/year) operated

Creighton, Ontario

E1 Salvador, Chile

N. Stradbroke, Australia Savage River, Tasmania

Waipipi, New Zealand

Bougainville, Papua

West Irian, Indonesia

Hopa, Turkey

Pena Colorada, Mexico

Pinto Valley, Arizona

Las Truchas, Mexico

Ponta Uba, Brazil

Kudremukh, India

Ni/Cu

Cu

Ti/Zr Fe

Fe

Cu

Cu

Cu

Fe

Cu

Fe

Fe

Fe

"12

23

6

85

9

27

111

2x62

48

18

25

400

71

200

150

150

225

200+300

150

100

125

200

100

250

500

400+450

0.5

0.3

0.3

2

1

1

0.3

0.5

1.5

0.3

1 to 3.5

7 t o 12

3 to 7.5

1951

1959

1962

1967

1971

1972

1972

1973

i974

1974

1976

1977

due 1980

28

29

3O

31

' 32

33

34

35

108

109

110

111

In a few cases the slurry is shipped out in unpelletised form. One firm has developed a technique (the Marconaflo

process) for loading ships with slurry via pipelines to floating terminals and subsequently unloading them through

similar terminals by re-slurrying the settled ore in the ships' holds using rotating water jets, either installed in the

ships themselves or else lowered in by crane from the wharf. The Waipipi scheme listed in Table 3 provides a typical

example o f a loading installation. An elaborate unloading installation is at the Hirohata works in Japan 27.

During the 1960s and 1970s iron and steel production in the UK has declined rather than grown but we still

import about 15M tonnes of iron ore to supplement some 4M tonnes of native ore annually. A feasibility study

for an ore slurry terminal at Hunterston was made a few years ago but shelved. Almost all of the imported ore is

provided to. the UK as pellets and is unloaded by traditional grab methods.

No long pipelines carrying gold and silver bearing alluvium are known (apart from waste tailings lines,

discussed later) but mention should be made here of the fact that the technology of hydraulic mining was originally

developed in the mid-19th century goldfields o f Australia and America. Manual washing and panning soon gave

way to sluicing with mechanically-operated monitors and massive concentration plant, transportation by open-

channel flumes being common well over a century ago.

3.6 Clay and chalk

In the UK several major pipelines have been built to convey clays of various sorts and also chalk which,

blended with clay, forms the kiln-feed for cement manufacture.

Clays, by definition, are sedimentary rocks o f very small particle size. For most purposes they l~ve always

been processed with added water and they are obviously suited to pipeline transportation. Hydraulic mining of clay

was an early development from hydraulic mud-dredging, and short pipelines in china clay workings are among the

10

earliest known examples. Currently in Cornwall and Devon many millions of tonnes of china clay are annually

hosed from pit faces by hydraulic monitors, hoisted through pipes to washeries, and then pumped around ret-ming

and classifying processes. These in-house pipes are generally not more than a few hundred metres long but at least

two major examples have been reported. One carries about a million tonnes per year of refined china clay 18 km

from Trebal ref'mery to Par drying plant 36. The other is a 20 km network of pipes gathering some 2 million tonnes[

year of micaceous residues from several plants and conveying them to disposal lagoons 37. China clay is usually

shipped out dry but in 1978 additional shipping of china clay in slurry form began from Par harbour 38, thus

eliminating expensive drying.

Major china clay pipelines also exist in Georgia USA. One, dating from 1959, is 8 km long and 300 mm

diameter: two others are 18 and 26 km long and 200 mm diameter, all conveying over 1 million tonnes/year 39.

In south-east England a different type of clay is used for cement making. This industry was originally

established on the south side of the Thames using river mud mixed with the local chalk. In comparatively recent

times the numerous small manufacturing plants have been amalgamated at Northfleet where the kilns have an

output capacity of 4 million tonnes/year requiring 6 million tonnes of chalk and 1.6 million tonnes of clay. This

last is brought via an I 1 km pipeline 350 mm diameter from Ockenden, Essex to Swanscombe, Kent with a 1 km

section under the Thames. At Swanscombe the clay is blended with local chalk and the mixture then pumped a

further 3 km to the Northfleet works 40.

Chalk is a free-grained, relatively soft, form of limestone which is readily broken down by agitation in water

to form a creamy slurry.. Its suitability for slurry pumping has led to the installation of several pipelines by cement

manufacturers, the longest in the world being in the UK. One of the earliest such pipelines is said to have been

build in the 1940s at Montebello in Columbia, Central America, and to be 27 km long, but little is known about it.

In 1962 a 10 km pipeline was installed in Trinidad for a subsidiary of the British Rugby Portland Cement Co Ltd 41.

The success of this then led the parent company to construct in 1964 a pipeline to convey about 1.5 million tormes/

year of chalk 92 km from quarries at Kensworth, Bedfordshire, to their cement works at Rugby, Warwickshire,

with an additional spur of 15 km from Rugby to another plant at Southam 42. The pipe is 250 mm diameter

and it is reckoned that its throughput is capable of being increased to 4 million tonnes/year if required: at present

it only operates intermittently. The Rugby pipeline was the first to be sanctioned under the 1962 Pipeline Act.

In 1971 a 28 km limestone pipeline (180 mm diameter: 1.5 Mt/year) was completed from a quarry near

Vallecito to a cement works at San Andreas, in Calaveras County, California 43. Studies have been made for other

such lines in Australia but as yet none have been built.

An important point about pipelines of this type is that they are not merely a convenient substitute for

conventional modes of transport: they enable the end product to be made near the consumer rather than at the

raw material source. The radius of final distribution using lorries is thereby reduced, with consequent savings in

both energy and cash. This concept might be applicable to other industries such as brick-making, with clay being

piped instead of moving the bricks, although the siting of works near the consumer could provide environmental

problems.

11

3.7 Other valuable minerals

Slurry pipelines are used to transport a variety of other minerals. Long established American examples include

those carrying Gilsonite (a form of natural rock-asphalt) and phosphate rock.

Gilsonite is mined below ground hydraulically and is thus produced in a form very suitable for pumping.

From the mine'at Bonanza, Utah, it is sent to a ref'mery at Grand Junction, Colorado where fuel-oils are extracted.

This pipeline, operated since 1957, is 116 km long, 150 mm diameter, and conveys about 0.5 Mt/year 44. Phosphate

rock is extensively mined in Florida where hydraulic techniques are said to have been used since about 1900. At

several mines pipes up to 500 mm diameter are used to convey the material at rates up to 2000 m3/hour over

distances up to 8 km to the processing plants. This material, termed 'phosphate matrix', is a variable mixture of

clay and sand with pebbles up to 150 mm diameter requiring pumping in several stages by centrifugal pumps 45.

In Canada several feasibility studies have been made on the piping of potash of which over 10 Mt/year are

produced in Saskatchewan. These pipelines would run either about 1500 km to Vancouver for shipment to USA

or else in a direct line across the border but so far none has been built. A feature of this system would be that the

carder "water' would in fact be a supersaturated solution of KC146. Other Canadian products for which major

pipelines studies have been made are wood chips as feed for the paper industry 47, sulphur (1000 km from Alberta to

Vancouver for shipment) 48, and gypsum.

In South Africa uranium-bearing pyrites concentrate is pumped about 5 km through 125 mm diameter pipes.

In NE England a 15 km pipeline has been considered for conveying dolomite to the coast at Hartlepool for

manufacture o f magnesia by reaction with sea-water. By using sea-water as the carrier liquid, the two or three hours

spent in the pipeline could reduce the processing time necessary on arrival. Several hypothetical schemes for

pumping slurries with additives to promote chemical reaction en route have been mooted: one possibility is the

digestion o f woody organic matter ('biomass') as part of a conversion process to paper pulp or alcohol.

Soluble chemicals are among the most obvious for pipelining and the earliest mineral system of importance

was built in Bavaria in 1616/19 to convey brine from Reicherthall to Traunstein where fuel for evaporation and

purification was more plentiful. This line, containing 31 km of 80 ram-bore wooden pipes (plus lead for the

highest pressure points), operated for nearly two centuries until increased production was required. In 1807/17

it was replaced by a larger-bore pipeline and incorporated into a system over 100 km long, from Berchtesgaden via

Reicherthall to Traunstein and Rosenheim. In this the riatural brine springs were supplemented by specially-dissolved

rock salt, which hitherto had been conveyed by horse and cart. Over a dozen pumping-stations and large quantities

of cast-iron pipe were required for this classic installation.

Ammonia is also commonly handled in solution. A notable example of long-distance pumping is the recently

completed 800 km pipeline from Gorlovka to Odessa to provide ammonia as fertiliser for Ukraine farmlands. This

is planned ultimately to be three times this length and to have an annual throughput of 2½ million tonnes.

12

3.8 Sand and gravel in maintenance and reclamation dredging

Vast quantities of sand and gravel are dredged annually from shallow waters, harbours and rivers, some o f

which is pumped several kilometres by hydraulic pipeline.

Suction dredging with centrifugal pumps originated in the 1850s but it only came into widespread use in the

present century. Originally devised for deepening shipping channels at port entrances, it was customary until

comparatively recent times merely to dump the dredged spoil further out to sea. Nowadays it is common to place

some or all of the spoil, if its properties are adequate, on selected sites to reclaim coastal land. If the material is

of good quality it may be more profitably sold as aggregate for making concrete etc. Thus from simple 'maintenance

dredging' have grown new industries of 'reclamation dredging' and 'aggregates dredging' which are sometimes carried

on independently as the sole process. An extreme case is Japan where in 1975 127 million cubic metres were

dredged for land reclamation and harbour wharf extension compared with a mere 1.2 million for maintenance

dredging.

One hundred and fifty worldwide examples of dredging partly or wholly involving reclamation were analysed

by Herbich and Hubbard in 197749. They found that 39 per cent arose from regular maintenance, 24 per cent

from specific improvements to harbours and channels, and 20 per cent from creation of new harbours or channels.

The major uses of the reclaimed land were industrial and commercial (46 per cent), and beaches or wildlife reserves

(26 per cent).

From the scattered literature 50 typical examples are listed in Table 4. Table 4a presents the outstandingly

large reclamation projects, each involving the use of 100 Mm 3 or more of material (excluding spoil dredged but

merely dumped at sea): these jobs continued over many years and utilised numerous large dredgers simultaneously

(up to twenty in one case). Other very large schemes not yet realised include the construction o f new islands in

25m deep water in the North Sea (eg 1000 hectare islands requiring 250 Mm 3, proposed 1972), and the Maplin Sands

scheme intended primarily for a new air and sea port (7300 hectares, requiring over 250 Mm 3, shelved 1974 after

several years debate).

Table 4b lists some lesser examples which were nevertheless major construction jobs by normal standards.

These were mainly brought about in connection with the creation of new deep-water ports.

Lastly Table 4c lists some 'beach nourishment' schemes which range from the restoration of eroded areas of old

beaches to the creation of totally new ones either for coastal protection or for pleasure purposes, usually both. The

quantities involved in this type of work range typically from 0.5 to 5 Mrn 3 although two jobs involving over 10M are

listed. A third large scheme was a proposal made in 1974 to restore 16 km of Miami beach using 10 Mm 3 but it is not

known if this was implemented. The large Hook of Holland scheme listed was a special case involving major coastal

protection. In the pioneering Los Angeles scheme of 1947 the sand was obtained from inshore sand-hills by sluicing

with monitors but this is not typical. In most schemes the sand is suction-dredged off-shore and shipped to the site.

The hopper dredgers used may themselves be capable of pumping the material ashore via a floating pipeline but

commonly they merely deposit it in shallow water just off-shore. From there one or more secondary dredge-pumps

pump it along the shore via a pipeline which is gradually extended. The diameter of pipes used here ranges typically

from 250 to 900 mm but in the larger reclamation schemes listed in Tables 4a and 4b the pipes are rarely less than

750 mm in diameter and may be over 1000 mm.

13

a.

TABLE 4

Some reclamation-dredging contracts involving pipelines

Extremely large schemes

Site

Fort Peck Dam, USA West Amsterdam, Holland West Rotterdam, Holland Antwerp, Belgium Fos (Marseilles), France Chiba Prefecture, Japan

Dates*

1933-39 1945-67 1947-68 1957-72

1960s 1960s

Approximate quantity

(Mm 3)

100 100 450 100

Approximate area

(hectares)

8000 5000

13000

Maximum pumping distance (km)

11 12 6

* Note. At all of these sites except the first work still continues: the last date cited merely represents the date when the figures given were reported.

4b. Other major schemes

Hiroshima, Japan Okayama, Japan Rainham, UK Kingston, Jamaica New York, USA Zoetermeer, Holland Sydney, Australia Saldanha, South Africa Teesside (Seal Sands), UK Honolulu, Hawaii Ghent, Belgium Singapore Airport Memphis, Tennessee, USA* Port Rashid, UAE Abu Dhabi, UAE Dubai, UAE Jubail, Saudi Arabia Dammam, Saudi Arabia

1960s 1960s 1961- 1963-

1963-75 1970- 1971-

1973-76 1973-74 1973-75 1975-79

1976-- 1977

1967-72 1 1970-78 1976-79 1975-79 1975-79

over 15 40 30

8 12 28 10 15 48 41 10

about 50

20 45

720 1370 200

over 550

120

250 310

750

I t ; m

3

12

2

8

4 10

* Note. At Memphis the material was pumped example of this type of application known.

4c. Beach improvement or creation schemes

directly into place as Fdl for a new highway: this is the largest

Los Angeles, Calif, USA Nordemey, Germany Norfolk, Na, USA Sea Girt, N.J, USA Monte Carlo, Monaco Redondo, Cal, USA Treasure Island, Fla, USA Pompano, Fla, USA Goeree, Holland Copacabana, Brazil Bournemouth, UK Hook of Holland PortobeUo, UK Monaco Carrara, Italy Scheveningen, Holland Kirra, Australia Corpus Christi, Tex, USA San Diego, Cal, USA

1 9 4 7 - 4 8 1951-52

1962- 1966

1966-67 1968 1969 1970

1969-73 1970

1970-75 1971 1972 1972

1972-73 1975 1975 1977 1977

11 1.8 3 0.2 0.1 1 0.6 0.8 4.5 3.5 1.5

19 0.2 5

0.5 0.4 0.5 5

15 10

4O

100 15 22

20

6 5 1.2 0.7

0.3 0.7 2.5 6.5 4.2 2 3.5 1

7

3

10

14

3.9 Aggregates

After water and fuel, the materials produced and transported In greatest quantities in the UK are sand gravel

and crushed rock, used mainly as aggregates in the building and road construction industries. This is shown in

Figure 12 which compares trends in production and consumption of aggregates with trends for other materials.

Despite the recession since 1973 the annual total of sand gravel and crushed rock produced in the UK is still over

200 million tonnes.

In the last twenty years a noticeable change in the pattern of production has occurred, primarily due to

demand in SE England, the most concentrated construction area. There is no hard quarryable rock here and it was

largely dependent on the output of sand and gravel from local shallow deposits until the construction boom of the

1960s accelerated the depletion of workings with the necessary planning permission. The obvious alternatives were

crushed rock brought from further afield (mainly Mendip limestone or Leicestershire 'granite') and marine gravel

dredged from the North Sea. Crushed rock had always been brought to London in relatively small quantities for

special purposes and small-scale dredging of aggregates had begun in the 1920s for use in coastal towns.

Whereas a typical Home Counties gravel pit has deposits a few metres thick and produces a few hundred tonnes

per day despatched by lorry, a modem limestone quarry - perhaps a hundred metres deep - may despatch a dozen

1000-tonne train-loads per day and produce over 5 million tonnes per annum. Equally efficient, a modern hopper

dredger can suck up a 5000-tonne load of sea-bed gravel and discharge it within a few hours. In the 1960s, integration

of the rival crushed rock and gravel industries had not progressed far and great competition ensued 51.

Both types of operation require large capital investment and in the last few years the crushed-rock industry

has been particularly assisted by government grants (made under Section 8 of the 1974 Railways Act) to establish

suitable railheads. By transferring heavy freight which might otherwise be carried by lorry onto rail, and by

removing land-intensive gravel workings from the London area, this encouragement of crushed rock movement is

seen as environmentally beneficial.

No similar financial assistance has been granted to the marine aggregates industry to establish coastal and

riverside wharves, and the exploitation of marine deposits has been restricted by the conflicting requirements of

fisheries, shipping lanes and the owners of submarine cables or pipes. Nevertheless the growth of this industry,

which invested heavily in new dredgers in the 1960s, has been maintained to some extent by exportation of part

of its output to the continental countries: some of these are equally short of crushed rock and there are few good

gravel deposits under the eastern half of the North Sea.

Figure 13a gives the official UK production figures 52 although it is cemmonly believed that the total amount

taken from UK waters is higher due to extensive unlicensed dredging 53. For comparison, the annual figures for

aggregates rail-hauled to SE England 54 are plotted in Figure 13b. This rail traffic currently forms about half of the

reported total tonnage of freight in BR's 'Earth and Stone' category which also includes glass-making sands, ballast

etc.

15

Following a review of the problems associated with the growing tonne-kilometrage of aggregates transport in

1971 the Transport and Road Research Laboratory formulated proposals for research into the possibility of using t

pipelines. Their relative unobtrusiveness made them appear attractive ~.f the technical and economic difficulties of

conveying comparatively large particles did not prove to be insuperable. Obviously their use would be limited, but

several possible applications could be identified such as:-

i) Extending the distribution range of marine aggregates with pipelines running inshore from wharves.

~) Delivering aggregates by pipeline from barges in the Thames to replenish selected gravel pits which are now

worked out but which are well-sited as permanent local redistribution centres.

iii) Transference by pipeline of aggregates won from pits or quarries located in environmentally sensitive areas to

screening and despatching plants sited elsewhere.

iv) Transport of aggregates by pipeline from new super-quarries located in remote (and therefore unobtrusive)

areas to coastal wharves for despatch by sea to the south-east or the continent.

The government's Advisory Committee on Aggregates (the Verney Committee) was set up in 1972 largely in

response to environmental pressures, and this recommended inter alia that pipeline research should proceed 55.

In addition to initiating and maintaining a review of pipeline usage (of which this report provides a partial

summary), TRRL commissioned reviews of existing practice in hydraulic-slurry transportation and pneumatically-

propelled capsule pipelines, and embarked on practical research in both of these fields in 1974. The research will

not be discussed here but it may be noted that the first report on conveying aggregates up to 50 mm in size

hydraulically has appeared 56, and the TRRL pneumatic capsule pipeline research programme (which involved

construction of a 0.5 km test loop of 610 mm diameter pipe) is largely completed.

A few feasibility studies have been made but as yet there are no aggregates pipelines in the UK apart from

existing short lengths within the workings of sand and gravel pits which employ suction-dredging methods.

Probably the longest of these is the 0.5 km sand pipeline which has been operated for over 25 years by

Marley Tiles Ltd at Poole, Dorset: this is 150 mm diameter and handles between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes per

annum (weekday working only).

3.10 Mineral wastes

Vast quantities of mineral wastes arise as residues from collieries and china clay works, slags from metal

smelting, and ash from coal-burning power stations. Since the 1950s the Transport and Road Research Laboratory

and the Building Research Establishment have studied possible applications of such wastes in place of specially-won

aggregates for the construction industries 57'58. A joint report was contributed to the Verney Advisory Committee

on Aggregates in 1972 and subsequently published 59. Following the UK lead an international survey has been

published by an OECD committee 60.

The major mineral wastes in the UK are listed in Table 5.

16

TABLE 5

Approximate quantities of major mineral wastes in the UK

Type

Colliery spoil*

Power-station ash**

China clay waste***

Slate waste

Spent oil shale

Iron and steel slag

Quantity already existing

(Mt)

3000

Hundreds

Current annual production

(Mt)

50

10

300

300

300

under 50

20

1

0

10

Current annual usage (Mt)

5

5

1

negligible

under 5

10

Notes: * At some collieries each torme of coal raised is accompanied by a tonne of spoil.

** At a power-station burning 5 Mt/yr of coal, 1 Mt/yr ash may be produced.

*** At some pits for each tonne of saleable clay, 5 tonnes of sand, 1 tonne of stony waste ( ' s tent ' ) and 3 tonnes of unusable clay and mica may be produced.

Iron and steel slags provide valuable aggregates and demand now exceeds supply, but for all other wastes the

annual usage is only a small proportion of the output. Most attention has been directed towards colliery spoil,

power-station ash (sub-classified into 'pulverised fuel ash' and 'furnace bo t tom ash'), and china clay waste, the

outputs of which are continually increasing. All three materials have a variety of potential uses ranging from simple

fill to the manufacture of aggregates or building bricks but the cost o f transportation f rom source to consumer

prohibits much further increase in.their exploitation. Consequently these materials continue to be stockpiled in

heaps or dumped in lagoons as near to their sources as practicable. Already over 10,000 hectares o f land are

estimated to be covered with colliery spoil heaps and about 1000 hectares with china clay waste.

Pulverised fuel ash (pfa) is of particular interest here since it is a fine-particle waste (median size 0.1 m m or less)

which has long been removed from power-stations as a slurry in water. Considerable quantities are sold as cement

additives, converted into building blocks, or put to other construction uses; but where output outstrips demand

disposal is by stockpiling (as at Gale Common in West Yorkshire) or more commonly by lagooning. In the latter

case the ash may still be gainfully employed by piping it to fill disused mineral workings as at Peterborough, or to

reclaim new coastal land as at Longannet on the Firth of Forth. At Peterborough over 2 Mt/yr f rom three power-

stations is being absorbed and eventually over 250 hectares of old brick-clay pits will have been returned to arable

land use 61. In the Longannet scheme the ash from two power-stations is piped into bunded lagoons of f the north

shore of the Forth to create 160 hectares of new grazing land. These ash pipelines are about 500 m m diameter

and up to 13 km long.

About half of the china clay waste consists of white sand of about 1 mm median diameter. This too might be

pumped distances up to about 10 km using methods similar to those of the dredging schemes described earlier in

Section 3.8. Unfortunately, since this waste is located entirely in Cornwall and Devon, the quantities which can be

absorbed locally are very limited. A study of the possibility of conveying it to SE England by various transport modes

was made in 197262 but the cost was shown to be prohibitive without subsidy. Stockpiling therefore continues

17

although planning permits now require ultimate landscaping and grassing of the tips. If for environmental reasons

cessation of tipping should be required in the future, the cheapest solution to the disposal problem could be to pipe

the sand to the coast and transport it by hopper barge for selected beach improvements. The material has a grading

very similar to that of the marine sand used to replenish Boumemouth beach and its light colour is not unattractive.

Following this suggestion, details for a trial beach at Portmellon were planned by Hydraulics Research Station in

1972 but the scheme was never implemented 63.

Colliery spoil is recognised to provide the most pressing problem, partly because of the enormous output,

which increases annually as poorer seams are worked, and partly because of its more widespread distribution

nationally, much in environmentally sensitive areas. Since the Aberfan disaster, colliery-spoil tips are made flatter

and sloped more gently but this safety precaution results in greater coverage of land. In 1974 the exemption which

many collieries had from close planning controls was withdrawn and, particularly in some parts of Yorkshire,

provision of future tipping space is causing some concern.

The involuntary fluidisation of the Aberfan tip in 1966, due to natural water percolation, immediately suggests

that such materials (largely composed of soft shales and mudstones) are well-suited to transportation by hydraulic

pipeline and this was one of the considerations which led to the original programme of research on pipeline transport

at TRRL. The first experimental results have already been reported in reference 56.

The National Coal Board has recently started important practical research in this field by constructing a pilot

pipeline (250 mm diameter and 1.7 krn long) to dispose of 200 Mt/hr of spoil from Horden colliery on the Durham

coast 64. In 1978, its first year of operation, about 0.2 Mt were pumped through it. Long-term prospects are the

possibilities of using colliery spoil like power-station ash for filling old mineral workings and for coastal land

reclamation. Some small projects have already been carried out and several proposals for very large reclamation

schemes have been examined includi.ng Maplin (1973:400 Mr), Spurn Head (1974:1000 Mr), and Pyewipe Flats,

Grimsby (1978:80 Mt65), although these have not all necessarily proposed to use pipeline transport.

Similar schemes have also been proposed for Scotland, to dispose of both colliery spoil and spent shale from

the defunct shale-oil industry. Some old oil-shale tips contain over 10 Mt each. For the most recently proposed

scheme 30 Mt of such material from tips between Edinburgh and Grangemouth is to be used to reclaim 615 hectares

of coastal land at Grangemouth. From consideration of various modes of transport it has been concluded that

hydraulic pipeline is cheapest and most efficient. As planned, the main pipeline for this scheme would be 10 km

long 66.

Pipelines are well established in the mining industry for conveying a great variety of free residues ('railings')

to disposal lagoons and a world review of tailings-disposal practices was recently made by Down and Stocks 67,68.

In South Africa several large pipelines for handling gold-mine tailings have been reported: one 35 km long conveys

1 Mt/yr and other shorter examples convey several Mt/yr. The longest reported railings pipeline is in Japan,

conveying copper-mine tailings 70 km 69.

The idea of pumping tailings and other mine spoil down the shaft to back-fall mine workings was exploited in

Silesia over 75 years ago 70 and today this has become a recognised branch of slurry-handling technology 71.

However these pipelines are invariably short in-house installations and do not warrant further mention here. The

18

converse operation of hoisting minerals hydraulically from mines has already been mentioned but another variant is

the hydraulic removal of tunnelling spoil in road or railway construction. A 150 m m diameter pipeline was used to

remove over 100,000 tonnes of spoil during excavation of the first Dartford-Purfleet tunnel under the Thames in

the 1950s and a similar line would be suitable for removing the chalk from the Channel tunnel if its construction

goes ahead. Such water-borne chalk may be used either for cement or land-fdl: in 1979 200,000 m 3 of dredged

chalk were pumped to reclaim 6 hectares at Ramsgate. Hydraulic removal of tunnel spoil is actively under develop-

ment in Germany and USA 72 and its use is expected to spread because of the convenience and safety of a pipe

compared with trucks or belt conveyors in conjoined spaces.

3.11 Concrete

Concrete is often conveyed from site mixer to placement area by pipeline 73. However only very limited

distances are practicable because of the high viscosity of the material. Pumping is inevitably done at a comparatively

low velocity and, even if several stages were used to extend the distance, a secondary constraint arises because of

the limited handling time available. Concrete was reported to have been pumped 420 metres on one job but it is

unlikely that this has been much exceeded 74. In the case of concrete therefore, piping can hardly be regarded as a

mode of transport: for longer distances belt conveyors or ready-mixed concrete trucks have to be used.

4. LESS COMMON TYPES OF PIPELINE TRANSPORT

So far this review has dealt with conventional single-phase flow pipelines for liquids and gases, and with the less

familiar but well-established two-phase flow pipelines for conveying particulate solids as slurries with water.

Other methods of conveying solids along pipes include (a) 'air slurries' or pneumatic conveyance of particulate

solids, (b) movement of solids as compressed slugs or packed into capsules blown pneumatically, (c) slugs or capsules

moved hydraulically, ie with a liquid carrier. So far these methods have only achieved limited or pilot-scale

application.

4.1 Pneumatic conveying of granular solids

Granular materials may be blown or sucked along pipes as in the familiar processes of sand-blasting or vacuum-

sweeping. On a larger scale pneumatic conveying was used to move materials around processing plants early in

the 20th century and it is now common in certain industries, eg for in-house handling of grain, pelletised plastics,

cement and many other powders. Pneumatic loading and unloading of ships holds and silos is also widely

practised. An extensive literature and text books are now available 75.

Lump coal is commonly delivered from lorry to bunker in the UK by blowing it through a flexible hose 76.

In the early 1970s this technique was extended to hoist coal 100 m from a Canadian mine and in 1977 an even larger

installation began operation at Shirebrook colliery in the UK. In the latter system 25 m m run-of-mine coal is

blown at the rate of about 60 t/h up a 300 mm diameter vertical pipe 326 m long and then 54 m horizontally 77.

Pneumatic conveyance is also used for removing domestic refuse from large blocks of flats (eg Lisson Green,

London, 1972) 78 and it has been proposed to extend this practice to whole estates and even towns. A test-rig was

built at the Building Research Station in the early 1970s to obtain practical data and the design know-how obtained

is now being commercially marketed 79.

19

In 1971/72 a feasibility study was made for conveying daily 1500 tonnes of London's refuse 64 km from

Hendon to the Bedfordshire brickfields by various methods, including water slurry and 'air slurry' pipelines. The

latter was concluded to be barely practicable and more expensive than any other method 80.

The conclusion from the London-Bedfordshire study was in agreement with the findings of most other

investigators regarding long-distance applications of pneumatic conveying of discrete solids (as opposed to capsules).

It has been concluded generally that power requirements are high and that closely-spaced booster pumps would be

necessary. However this viewpoint has recently been challenged in lllinois by Professor Soo and his colleagues 81 .

They have concluded that, by carefully optimising flow conditions to obtain the minimum practicable velocity,

and b y using a 'telescope' pipe of gradually increasing diameter, the power requirements might be reduced to as little

as one-fiftieth o f that calculated in previous US government-sponsored studies. For distances up to 8 krn Soo typically

envisages 50 mm coal travelling at velocities up to 45 m/s, but for very long distances he advocates using coal no

larger than 6 mm with veolocity reduced to between 16 and 20 m/s. Proposed pressure is typically about 10

atmospheres. A 6 km pilot plant has been designed but not yet built. It is notable that Soo makes no mention

o f the major problems of coal size degradation en route and pipe-wall wear which have figured largely in other studies.

Useful data on these points are emerging from the Shirebrook hoisting scheme but at present the use of this form

of conveyance over distances long enough for it to be considered a proper transport mode seems dubious.

4.2 Pneumatic propulsion of capsules

The lethal dart-blowpipe and its toy derivative, the pea-shooter, ate of great antiquity. More elaborate uses

o f pneumatic power were investigated by Hero of Alexandria ( ls t century AD) and Papin in France (late 17th and

early 18th centuries): In 1799 and 1800 a London engineer, George Medhurst, patented forms of compressed air

engines for "driving carriages without the use of horses'. From there he went on to develop in pamphlets (1810 and

1812) the idea o f using stationary compressors to blow mail packets at high speed through small-bore pipes and even

wheeled freight trucks and passenger-carriages through 2 m diameter tubes.

Medhurst was followed by John VaUance of Brighton who patented such a system in 1824. He also issued

pamphlets over the next decade and actually built a demonstration length about 50 m long x 2 m diameter although

the 3 km/h achieved fell somewhat short of the 100 to 200 km[h anticipated by Medhurst.

For the next half century writings about pneumatic transport systems proliferated, particularly in connection

with the 'atmospheric railways' so extensively tried in the 1840s. In these, full-sized railway trucks were propelled

along not inside pipes but by being connected to a 'piston' located in a modest-sized pipe at track level. The air was

exhausted from the pipe so that operating pressure was less than one atmosphere. Some of these systems operated

commercially for several years, eg St Germain (1847-60) and Dublin (1844-54) 82.

Partly because of difficulties in maintaining an adequately air-tight seal between the truck and the piston there

was a return of interest to the simpler idea of smaller containers within pipes. In 1848 a 1 m diameter 'tubular

railway', presumably pneumatic, was proposed to convey coal 144 km from Port Carbon to Philadelphia. In the UK

J L Clark, then engineer to the Electric and International Telegraph Company, took out patents in 1854 and 1857

for a pneumatic pipeline to convey letters and parcels in what he called 'capsules'. With this company he installed

lines up to 57 mm diameter and 1.2 km long.

20

Clark was followed by T W Rammell who favoured larger, wheeled, capsules within pipes and who took out at

least sixteen patents between 1856 and 1886. Rammell proposed an underground pneumatic pipeline network for

London's goods in 1857 and then a passenger line on the bed of the Thames from Waterloo to Whitehall: a 200 m

demonstration length for the latter was installed at Crystal Palace in 1864. However it was the light freight system

which created most commercial interest and this was specifically applied to a postal service by the Pneumatic Despatch

Company, formed in 1859 with Clark and Rammell as joint engineers 83. A trial length of 413 m at Battersea in 1861

was re-layed and extended to 548 m between Euston Station and Mornington Crescent sorting office in 1863. A

second larger line (1.4 m wide instead of 0.8 m) was then laid from Euston to Holbom (2.8 km opened 1865) and

on to the post office at St Martin-le-Grand (1.5 km opened 1869). The whole system was abandoned in 1874,

the GPO preferring its widely established horse-and-cart network.

Only the less ambitious small-packet tubes (up to 75 mm diameter) proved permanently successful in London

and others followed in Paris, Berlin, Vienna and Hamburg. In 1885 J B Berlier proposed a pneumatic parcels link

between Paris and London with 475 km of twin 300 mm pipe. In the 1890s several postal lines up to 200 m m

diameter and up to 3 km long were installed in USA 84. However by then electric underground railways were

being developed and large bore pneumatic systems were temporarily forgotten.

In the first half of the 20th century small in-house pneumatic delivery systems nevertheless became common

for shops, hospitals, factories and offices 85. These were relatively cheap to construct, with small-bore pipes, non-

wheeled capsules and few mechanical problems. The largest UK installation of this type is owned by the British

Steel Corporation at Scunthorpe. This has a network of over 30 km of 115 mm pipe, handling metallurgical

samples as well as documents, via 48 'stations'. The impressive extent o f this system has been emphasised by

superimposing its plan on a map of London (Figure 14). Other large complexes exist at London, Hamburg and

Schiphol Airports which also have some 300 mm pipes with non-wheeled capsules weighing up to 10 kg.

The current wave of interest in larger pneumatic pipelines began in the early 1960s with the construction of

the first 1.8 km of a projected 16 km line for the Hamburg Post Office. This had twin 450 mm diameter pipes

and wheeled capsules weighing about 50 kg (although up to 110 kg experimentally). Since then large-bore

experimental pneumatic pipelines have been built in several countries and, using data from these lines, feasibility

studies have been made for a number of larger commercial installations (Table 6).

The largest known operational pneumatic capsule pipeline is 1 m diameter and carries gravel 2.2 km to a

concrete plant near Tbilisi in Georgia USSR. In this the capsules are despatched as trains of six totalling about

25 tonnes. A proposal to extend this line to 50 km has lain dormant for several years. An 11 km line (twin 1200 m m

pipes) to convey domestic refuse from Leningrad to a processing plant is now nearing completion and is forecast to

be in operation in 1980.

In the UK research on this topic has been undertaken by the Transport and Road Research Laboratory for

the last five years. In conjunction with the British Hydromechanics Research Association and an industrial

consortium a pneumatic pipeline test-loop 550 m long and 600 mm in diameter was built at Milton Keynes in

1976.

21

TABLE 6

Pneumatic capsule pipelines

Site

Battersea

Euston North

Euston South

London-Paris*

Hamburg

New York-Philadelphia*

Paris

Croydon

Atlanta Georgia, USA

Shulaver, Georgia, USSR

Tokyo

Scunthorpe

Hendon-Stewartby*

Len~h [ Diameter Date , (km.) [ (m)

1 8 6 1 i 0 . 4 0 . 8 + i

1863 0.55 0.8 +

1865[69 4.3 1.4 +

1885 475 0.3

1961 1.8 0.45

1965 136 2.9

1967 0.3 0.6

1969 0.12 0.25 I

1970 0.43 0.9

1971 2.2 1.02

1972 1.5 0.9

1972 34 0.12

1972 64 0.45

1973 10 0.6

1974 60 0.9

1975 i l l 0 0.45

1976 0.55 0.6

1980 11 1.2

Castle-an-Dinas*

Ardrossan*

Humberside*

Milton Keynes

Leningrad, USSR

Notes: * Proposal or feasibility study only

+ Non-circular cross-section

t Non-wheeled capsules

Capsule weight loaded (kg)

2x1000

2x1000

4x2500

lOt

50-100

240

l0 t

205

6x4160

225

2 t

100

780

3520

380

1200

6x4000

Cargo

Experimental

Mail i !

Mail !

Mail

Mail

Passengers

Mail (Exptl)

Electrical goods

Experimental

Gravel

Experimental

Documents +sampie.,

Refuse

Crushed granite

Iron ore

Colliery spoil + pfa

Experimental

Domestic refuse

Reference number

83

83

83

84

87

88

89

90

91

92

86

80

93

94

95

96

4.3 Hydraulic propulsion of capsules

Capsules may be propelled through pipelines by liquids instead of air. A liquid provides considerable

buoyancy and most studies in this field have postulated non-wheeled capsules. By using empty compartments in

the capsules it would be possible to trim them to the same density as the liquid if found desirable. Obvious dis-

advantages are the lower velocity range which would be practicable, the higher pressures which would be necessary,

and the need to seal the capsules against water for some cargoes.

The most advantageous situation for installation of such a system would be where oil or water is being

pumped along an identical route. The practicability of this possibility was demonstrated in 1965 when a 230 kg

capsule, 1.2 x 0.4 m, was sent 175 km through an existing oil pipeline from Edmonton to Hardisty in Canada 97.

Extensive theoretical and experimental studies of hydraulic capsule systems have been made in Canada since

about 1960 and, following this practical trial, a test-loop 1200 m long of 100 mm diameter pipe was constructed at

Edmonton in 196798 .

22

Instead of capsules it would be possible to convey compressed moulded or extruded, spherical or cylindrical,

slugs or ingots of such materials as sulphur, metals, plastics, and baleable wastes. Commodities such as wheat might

be packed and sealed in plastic 'sausage skins'. Similarly natural articles of suitable shape such as logs could be

conveyed and, in one of the few known practical applications so far, pit-props have been sent down a mine

hydraulically. The 'slug' concept has been extended by Berkowitz, also in Canada, to the study of coal-water

paste cylinders in an oil carrier liquid 99.

The centre of hydraulically-propelled capsule research remains Canada, where the scientific papers of M E Charles,

H S Ellis and their associates, of the Alberta University and Research Council respectively, now form an extensive

series 100. As yet however no commercially-operated hydraulic capsule line has been built.

5. OTHER ASPECTS OF PIPELINES AND CONCLUSION

This review has deliberately been restricted to general aspects of pipeline transport: the scientific, technical and

economic aspects which are the subject of most of the research in this field have barely been mentioned since there

is no shortage of literature. Summaries of the science and technology of slurry pipelines are provided in the

Colorado and Ottawa surveys 101 and in the textbooks of Bain and Bonnington 102, Zandi 103, Govier and Aziz 104,

and Wasp et a1105. Further details of particular topics may be traced via the given references, particularly the

Conference Proceedings 17,24, and the quarterly publication of abstracts 106. For pneumatic pipelines there are

similar short- cut s 81 c,81 d,106.

The most difficult aspect of the subject is economics. The operating costs may, for anygiven project, be

determined with reasonable accuracy. But most pipeline systems (excepting the small-bore pneumatic capsule

delivery installations) are capital-intensive and the overall costs depend on how the primary installation is funded

and spread over the hypothetical life of the system. In some cases it is also difficult to establish the capital cost

very accurately because of the exploratory state of some of the technology. Even in fine-coal slurry pipelines,

several of which have now been documented, debate continues over the expensive terminal equipment such as the

best method of crushing, feeding and de-watering. In the case of coarse-solid slurries, there is wide possible choice

between pumping systems and type of pipe (cheap renewable, or expensive durable), and scant data on life

expectancy of systems conveying a wide range of materials. The costs of large-bore wheeled-capsule pipeline systems

are at present only available as hypothetical computer projections with numerous variables: this state of affairs

will continue until a commercial installation has been built and operated for some years.

Despite the continuing world-wide recession, which has inhibited the installation of many pipelines which

were projected in the early 1970s, interest in the subject is currently greater than ever as shown by the growing

frequency of conferences. It seems likely that the next great practical step forward will come with the next

generation of large coal pipelines which many see as inevitable within the next decade 107.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Report has been prepared within the Transport Engineering Division of the Transport Systems Department of

the Transport and Road Research Laboratory.

23

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100. ELLIS, H Set al. The pipeline flow of capsules Parts 1 to 8, Canad J of Chem Engng, 1963, 41 (April) 43-51;

1964, 42 (Feb) 1-8, (April) 69-76, (Aug) 155-161,168-173, (Oct) 201--6; 1965, 43 (Aug), 197-205.

Part 9, J Fluid Mech, 1967, 30 (3), 513-31. Part 10, Proc Hydrotransport 1, 1970, C1-99.

Many more unnumbered papers have been published by the same group of workers in later Hydrotransport

Proceedings and in other scientific and technical journals.

101. a) COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES RESEARCH FOUNDATION. The transportation of solids in steel

pipelines, Golden, Colorado, 1963 (CSMRF).

b) JOB, A L. Transport of solids in pipelines; a literature survey. Canadian Department of Energy Mines

and Resources Information Circular IC230, Ottawa, 1969 (Mining Research Centre).

102. BAIN, A G and S T BONNINGTON. The hydraulic transport of solids by pipeline. 1970 (Pergamon).

103. ZANDI, I. Advances in solid-liquid flow in pipes. 197 ! (Pergamon).

104. GOVIER, G W and K AZIZ. The flow of complex mixtures in pipes. 1972 (Van Nostrand).

105. WASP, E J, J P KENNY and R L GHANDI. Solid-liquid flow: slurry pipeline transportation. 1977 (Trans

Tech Publ).

106. Solid-liquid flow abstracts. Cranfield (Quarterly publication by British Hydromechanics Research Association

since 1970).

107. WASP, E J. Coal slurry pipelines for the next decade. Mech Engng, 1979, 101 (Dec), 38-45.

108. PITTS, J D and T C AUDE. Iron concentrate slurry pipelines. Trans Soc Min Engrs, 1977, 262 (June), 125-33.

109. BREWlS, A A C. The Sicartsa Project. Mining Mag, 1976, 135 (Oct), 318-30.

110. HILL, R A and M E JENNINGS. Samarco's 246 mile slurry pipeline. Engng and Mining J, 1978, 179 (Aug),

74-9.

111. SESHADRI, G R. Kudremukh iron ore, Mining Mag, 1978, 138 (Jan), 26- 31.

31

1700 m

R o a d

1600

1500

1400

1300

1200

1100

~ 1000

8 c 900 0

800 -

700 -

600

500

400

300 "-

200

' 1 0 0 -

1950

1800

Pipeline

Coastal

I / shipping

- -""--===:~=7. In&nd

1960 1970 1980 Year

(a) TONNES

t_

E O

C e-

£ t- O °~

m

t-

O ¢-

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

1 0 -

0

1950

Roa

I Pipeline

Inland I ~ ' ~ ' T ' ~ " ~ ' ~ I ~ " wat e rway

1960 1970 1980 Year

(b) TONNE-KI LOMETRES

O

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1950

Roa~

~ ~ /Coastal ~ - - ~ s h ~ p p i n g

/ P i p e l i n e

/ / ' / In land I ~ I ~wate rway

1960 1970 1980

Year

(c) PERCENTAGE OF TONNE KILOMETRES

Fig. 1 TRENDS IN UK FREIGHT TRANSPORT MODES (Data largely from A n n u a l Abstracts of Statistics, H M S O )

E O

$ t- ¢- o

t- O

r-

-1 O t- F-

1500,

1400 t

1300

1200

1100

1000

900

800

700

600

50O

400

300

200

100

0

1950

Rail

Pipeline Road

I n land waterway

I I

1960 1970 1980 Year

(a) T O N N E - K I LOMETRES

100

90

8O

~ 70

~ 60

50

"6 40 Q)

~ 30

~ 20

Rail

Pipel ine

__ ~ Road I

~ ~ - ~ ' - - In land w a t e r w a y I

10

0 I I

1950 1960 1970 Year

1980

(b) PERCENTAGE OF TONNE- -K ILOMETRES

Fig. 2 TRENDS IN USA F R E I G H T T R A N S P O R T MODES (Data from Transport Energy Conservation Data Book,

US Dept of Energy 1977) ~

i , Intercepting sewers - - Main sewers

Storm relief sewers

Principal sewers only are shown

• Sewage pumping stations and outfall works

O Storm water pumping stations

~1= Out county drainage

27 km

, I . I I~ ~ I I s L I ~ T H

". .

4

i O~L~A

M O C ~ T'OTt INs,~L~ ~L~ • " t ~ GiIEN

NOITx iaSt l lN IDGI ~ SlOl.,~ IIILIEt

4b ~ HACK~Y

LuDO~! LIvl l / 14~

= - - - ~ , I " "%.

I ,.-,,.., ...... T SEWER No I

UANCH SOUtNill SIW|I $1Wll •

STOIM crlsTAL l | t i f

~LET1TCN

DEPTPOID P S

mGH [EVIL SEWlR No 2 IUSc'IE ¥ rJ~EN

• t t Wt SZ~tt I I K H UW|R

V~EST NA~

a~t,t$ P 5.

NORTH OOGS S lA~H WOOtWlCH P 5

r" .'%=.!

WI~.WllOI

I , [ |

' I i

~ . . . . . . . . . J

Fig. 3 MAP OF LONDON'S PRINCIPAL SEWERS, COMPARABLE WITH THE FAMILIAR 'TUBE' R A I L W A Y NETWORK (From J.Venables. The main drainage of London,

Underground Services, 1973 1(2),25-28)

" OUI~ALt

N

?

b 16o

| s

bo °

FY LDE/PRESTON I

Water sources

• Water deficient sites

Links

SUNDERLAND

IITEESSIDE

SIDE ...... SHEFFIELD/

-~ ) ~ ~ .,.~.o~oo~ LEICESTER I

CARDIFF ,#SOUTH ESSEX I LONDON

Fig. 4 PROPOSED WATER RE-DISTRIBUTION NETWORK (from Water Resources of England

and Wales 1973)

9

TotaJ 7 -

6 -

5 -

4 -

3 -

2 -

1 -

I ol 1950

o O

Oil

/ ~.-.-Coal

~ Gas

Nuclear + Hvdr~

1960 1970 1980

Year

o

~J

(3.

80

70

60

5O

40

30

20

10

C

1950

~ Oil Coal

Gas

~ ~ 1 Nuclear + Hydr~ 1960 1970 1980

Year

Fig. 5 TRENDS IN UK ENERGY SOURCES (Data from Digests of UK Energy Statistics)

15

~ 1 0

O ° _

"O t - t~

O t -

I- 5 ~

North sea gas

Imported gas

Petroleum gases purchased

Coke oven gas purchased

Water gas and other gas made

Oil gas made

Coal gas made

1978=15.8

t /

1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974

Year

Fig.,6 GROWTH IN UK CONSUMPTION OF NATURAL GAS (From 1975 Digest of UK Energy Statistics)

FRIGG

=ST FERGUS

) ABERDEEN

• Stations

N LIVERPOOL

WREXHAM •

• NEWCASTLE ; \ ~l l l lq lb MIDDLESBROUGH

ROUGH

THEDDLETHORF

WEST SOLE ~1 VIKING

HEWETT ! ~ • INDEFATIGABLE

LEMAN

~ BACTON |

~ORWICH

~o J

200km

EXETERI

Fig. 7 NATIONAL GAS TRANSMISSION SYSTEM IN UK

.... " % , . . ' % . s

"t', .2 S

V

.- / .

ITRAPIL] /'~"~Eo~s

OR L~ANS

0

SAINT NAZAIRE ~

CEPS pipelines and depots I ~ . m - - - Other pipelines

0 100 200k m I

CHALON SUR • SAONE

MARSEILt

%

STRASBOURG

F R A N K F U R T I WURZBURG

% LUDWIGSHAFEN

Fig. 8 MAP SHOWING THE " C E N T R A L EUROPEAN PIPELINE S Y S T E M " A N D SOME OF THE OTHER DISTRIBUTORS OF P E T R O L E U M IN N O R T H WEST EUROPE

(From BAYLAC, AHRENS and GROSS, 1973, ref 12 with additions)

Oilfields in production or under development Other oil finds

6 Oil refineries

Crude oil pipelines

• =~ Refinery products

-=, . . . . Petrochemicals

MAGNUSA••• MURCHISON

DUNLIN~ ~ THISTLE TERN • ~ h

CORMORANT fSTATFJORD I~:RRENT

HEATHER • HUTTON

SULLOMV~ A~ BERYL

• CRAWFORD

,,o~, ~ ~ ~'~RAE ,WEB

~ e=.~F RUCHAN • •

Q _-~? A - -

°° ,OL:::~

• MAUREEN ANDREW

~ I EKOFISK

'ARGYLL

GRANGEMOUTH

b 160

N

f

N D R % ~ ~

/:.E,,.ELO__ ~;O0" RUNCORN * ~ ~.

ELLEBMERER" "~OR?"~"~L p NO~,"G"~ / STANLOW I - #

ele ee / ~ - t~°URR°R~ ~ ~ / j I s . ...~" J ~"'~v~Lc: ,lco,ocoj'41°" j

PEMBROKE L L A N ~ R I ~ I ~ - I~HEATHROWig LONOOONiI'~I~ISLE'(~rGRAIN

. _ _ - - - J "~ A,OER'M~'O.~----i __J J .% s" I = ~ U l F

~ L E Y ~

Fig. 9 M A I N O IL N E T W O R K IN UK (from Gt. Britain 1978, HMSO, with additions)

25

20

Q.

"o

~- 15 oo

(lo

10

_Q

E :3 z

5

0 I L

50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66

Year

68 70

Fig. 10 NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON COAL SLURRY PIPELINES APPEARING EACH YEAR, SHOWING SHARP DECLINE

AFTER CLOSURE OF OHIO PIPELINE IN 1963 (from THORNTON, 1970, Ref. 17)

~ N <~O.,0" / / 4~" % INTERPROVINCIAL LAKEHEAD SYSTEM )/

'<>il, o-~N ov<.. ., ..... . ~ ,

% 1o .. . . . .

( ' 7 " - " %• TRANSPORTATION ~,~ OH O,~ GULF INTERSTATE NORTHWEST / ~ I , SYSTEMS INC. ~ ..........

NEVADA POWER TEXAS EASTERN i% / ~ % I '1 . . . . . . 2 - '= ..... w,L,~,,.o ~ % % FLORIDA GAS " 1 '_ ~ '% ~ '~ COMPANY

" ~ BLACK MESA % - '% ~ ( • I " ~

I .x .o , 1 s , , . . . . co .~, . . ~ .....

Fig. 11 SOME EXISTING AND PROPOSED COAL SLURRY PIPELINES IN NORTH AMERICA

(Data largely from Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Slurry Transportation, 1979)

I B Production of crude minerals C Consumption of construction materials A Consumption of mineral energy sources D Production of basic foods

200

ides im )orts 150

£ 10O ! and g .....

stone

I ;l ~ oil equivalent)

1960 1980 1960 1980 1960

Year Year Year

Ready mixed

Liravel and hoggin

1 Concrehng sand

road

Bricks

1980

D

Cereals Is ~ M i l k I Fodder

Beer Potatoes Vegetables

ineSand spirits

1960 1980

Year

Fig. 12 TRENDS IN UK PRODUCTION AND USAGE OF SOME MAJOR MINERALS, CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, AND FOOD STUFFS

(Data largely from Annual Abstracts of Statistics, HMSO)

20 20

c- t - O

t - O

15

10

5

o

1960 1970

T o t a l

I m p o r t

E x p o r t

1980 "

Year

(a) MARINE AGGREGATES PRODUCED IN UK

t - O

c- O . _

15

10

0

1960

A p p r o x i m a t ~

I

1970 1980 Year

(b) AGGREGATES TRANSPORTED BY RAI L TO SOUTH EAST

ENGLAND

Fig. 13 GROWTH IN MARINE AGGREGATES PRODUCTION AND USE OF RAIL- -HAULED AGGREGATES IN UK

Fig. 14 BRITISH STEEL CORPORATION'S PNEUMATIC CAPSULE NETWORK AT SCUNTHORPE SUPERIMPOSED UPON A MAP OF LONDON

(from Dialled Despatches Ltd. Ref. 86)

(992) Dd0536380 1,500 6/80 H P L t d S o ' t o n G1915 PRINTED IN ENGLAND

ABSTRACT

PIPELINES CONSIDERED AS A MODE OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT: A REVIEW OF CURRENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE USES: J G James: Department of the Environment Department of Transport, TRRL Supplementary Report 592: Crowthorne, 1980 (Transport and Road Research Laboratory). Pipelines are perhaps the least appreciated mode of freight transport. The unobtrusive distribution of many megatonnes of water, oil and gas in the UK annually is taken for granted and only the figures for oil appear in annual freight statistics. The transport of solids by hydraulic or pneumatic pipeline - either in free flow or packed into capsules - is technically more difficult and less common, but the practice is already well-established in certain specialised fields.

After a brief introduction to the statistics for various freight transport modes, the author reviews the current usage of pipelines for water, sewage, gas and oil, before examining at length hydraulic 'slurry' pipelines for a variety of minerals. The Report concludes with a brief note on capsule pipelines which, apart from small-bore in-house delivery systems, are still in the prototype stage. A bibliography of over 100 references is given.

ISSN 0305-I 315

ABSTRACT

PIPELINES CONSIDERED AS A MODE OF FREIGHT TRANSPORT: A REVIEW OF CURRENT AND POSSIBLE FUTURE USES: J G James: Department of the Environment Department of Transport, TRRL Supplementary Report 592: Crowthorne, 1980 (Transport and Road Research Laboratory). Pipelines are perhaps the least appreciated mode of freight transport. The unobtrusive distribution of many megatonnes of water, oil and gas in the UK annually is taken for granted and only the figures for oil appear in annual freight statistics. The transport of solids by hydraulic or pneumatic pipeline - either in free flow or packed into capsules - is technically more difficult and tess common, but the practice is already well-established in certain specialised fields.

After a brief introduction to the statistics for various freight transport modes, the author reviews the current usage of pipelines for water, sewage, gas and oil, before examining at length hydraulic 'slurry' pipelines for a variety of minerals. The Report concludes with a brief note on capsule pipelines which, apart from small-bore in-house delivery systems, are still in the prototype stage. A bibliography of over 100 references is given.

ISSN 0305-1315