A study of permeability and porosity in pulverized coal

The purpose of this research was to experimentally investigate the relationship between porosity and permeability in pulverized coals. Permeability is defined as the ease with which a fluid passes through a porous medium. Permeability is a critical characteristic in the dense phase pneumatic transport of pulverized coal. The degree to which the transport gas can permeate through the porous mass of coal particles is important in order to maintain stable flow which is free of plugging. Porosity can be measured in both static and dynamic situations while permeability is measurable only in the static state and is dependent on particle size, size distribution and porosity. The results of this experiment showed a strong relationship between porosity and permeability within a given coal particle size and the size distribution appeared to be very influential when comparing different coal preparations.