Electronic Theses and Dissertation

Sistem pneumatic conveyor di pt. solusi bangunan andalas untuk mendistribusikan sekam padi sebagai bahan bakar alternatif pre-calciner hanya mampu beroperasi pada 18–20 ton/hari, jauh di bawah kapasitas desain. melalui simulasi cfd berbasis fem menggunakan ansys fluent dengan pendekatan discrete phase model skala 1:1,yang divalidasi dengan selisih kurang dari 10% terhadap data lapangan,ditemukan bahwa penyebab utamanya adalah geometri ejector yang tidak optimal, sehingga memicu turbulensi tinggi dan aliran balik partikel ke hopper. dari tiga rancangan modifikasi yang disimulasikan, modifikasi terbaik, melalui pembesaran volume ejector, penghalusan geometri aliran, dan penambahan deflector, berhasil meningkatkan laju distribusi hingga 10,627 ton/jam atau sekitar 425% dibandingkan desain aktual, tanpa memerlukan perombakan menyeluruh pada sistem yang ada.

The pneumatic conveying system at PT Solusi Bangunan Andalas, which is used to transport rice husk as an alternative fuel for the pre-calciner, was only capable of operating at a capacity of 18–20 tons per day, significantly below its design capacity. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) was conducted using ANSYS Fluent with a 1:1 scale Discrete Phase Model (DPM) approach. The simulation results were validated against field data, showing a deviation of less than 10%. The analysis revealed that the primary cause of the system's poor performance was the non-optimal ejector geometry, which generated excessive turbulence and particle backflow into the hopper. Among the three proposed design modifications evaluated through simulation, the most effective configuration, consisting of an enlarged ejector volume, a streamlined flow geometry, and the addition of a deflector, successfully increased the conveying capacity to 10.627 tons per hour, representing an improvement of approximately 425% compared with the existing design, without requiring a complete overhaul of the current system.