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<br />,'J <br />r- <br />C'~ <br />~ <br /><_oj <br />~; <br /> <br />-, <br /> <br />eOl.DO SCHOOL OF MINE 5 RESEARCH erlTU T E <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />, INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />J <br />In July of 1981, Mr. Ira E. McKeever, Jr., President of Western Mining <br /> <br />Operations for W.R. Grace and Company, contacted Mr. J.M. Link of Colorado <br /> <br />School of Mines Research Institute to discuss a feasibility study for a coal <br /> <br />slurry pipeline. After several discussions, a proposal for the study was <br /> <br />submitted by Mr. Link on August 24, 1981. Work was authorized by <br /> <br />Mr. McKeever on August 26, and began almost immediately. <br /> <br />The system design was based upon the discussions between Mr. Link and <br /> <br />Mr. McKeever at the Research Institute on August 13, 1981. Briefly, brackish <br /> <br />or salt water obtained from wells in the Piceance Basin, from the federal <br /> <br />desalinization station to be built near Rifle, Colorado, or other sources <br /> <br />will be used as the carrier. Neutrally buoyant capsules of coal contained in <br /> <br />plastic bags will be preparaed at Axial and injected into the pipeline. The <br /> <br />pipeline route would be from Axial, Colorado to Oxnard, California via Rifle <br /> <br />and Grand Junction, Colorado and the Kaiparowits Plateau. This route was <br /> <br />adjusted to suit terrain features as shown on Army Map Service 2 degree <br /> <br />sheets. Pipe diameter and wall thicknesses, as well as pump station <br /> <br />locations, were defined on the basis of the terrain and predicted power <br /> <br />requirements. <br /> <br />Capsule friction losses were computed from test data reported by various <br /> <br />investigators. For the most part, these data were from smaller pipes and <br /> <br />were scaled to the size proposed for this system. <br /> <br />The size distribution of the coal to be encapsulated and the specific <br /> <br />gravity of the capsules was based on limited experimental work conducted at <br /> <br />the Institute. For this work three 35-gallon drums of coal were provided <br /> <br />from the Colowyo mine at Axial. <br /> <br />The conceptual design for the capsule pipeline will transport 10 to 15 <br /> <br />million tons of coal capsules to the West Coast annually. Because of the <br /> <br /> <br />d:};.....: <br />1J~ <br />J: <br /> <br />..~. <br /> <br /> <br />.~~~ <br />;.a~ <br />-~1l.. .: <br /> <br />, ,:' <br />. . <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />',. ~ <br />~ <br />" <br /> <br />. > <br /> <br />.0 <br /> <br />.' <br />;< <br />, <br />. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />. ~ <br />