Capsule Pipeline Research at University of Missouri-Columbia Under an NSF State/IUCRC

The Capsule Pipeline Research Center (CPRC) at the University of Missouri-Columbia is a State/Industry University Cooperative Research Center (S/IUCRC) funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The purpose of CPRC is to conduct extensive research and development in the capsule pipeline technology for transportation of coal, solid waste, grain, mail and many other types of freight. The Center’s R&D is multidisciplinary including fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, drag reduction, compaction of coal and solid wastes, automatic control of pipelines, machine design, electromagnetic propulsion, economic analysis, and legal research. Progress in R&D since 1991 has resulted in rapid advancement in the coal log pipeline technology for transporting coal, and in great expansion in knowledge in capsule fluid mechanics, compaction science, compaction machine design, automatic control of capsule pipelines, economic model of capsule pipeline, and so on. Over 100 students participated in the Center’s research; most of them have completed their degrees (B.S., M.S., Ph.D. and J.D.). Plan for the coming year (September 1, 1998-August 31, 1999) is to conduct a pilot plant test of an entire coal log pipeline (CLP) system in order to ready the CLP technology for commercial use. The Center is also expanding its research areas to solid waste compaction, grain pipeline and pneumatic capsule