New Scientist - Pipe Dream

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Title: New Scientist - Pipe Dream
Author: Alun Anderson, New Scientist
Source: New Scientist magazine, 13 May 2000, p41.
Copyright: © Copyright New Scientist, RBI Limited 2000
Date: 13 May 2000

QUESTION

In one of the earlier issues of New Scientist, a scheme was outlined for the long-distance transport of solid goods by pipeline. The idea was for a national network of pipes about a foot in diameter, through which cylindrical containers up to three feet long would be propelled by fluid. The author maintained that many goods carried by road or rail could be transported by this method. The original plan had a pipeline terminal in each town where there would be depot to provide distribution. If this proved successful, the pipes were to be extended to homes so that food and mail could be delivered. Does anyone know what became of the scheme?

Roger James

ANSWER

This question appeared in the very first Last Word column on 26 March 1994 and has been waiting for an answer ever since. Back in the issue of 7 October 1965 we did indeed speculate that many goods--not just oil and gas--could be transported by small pipelines, easing congestion on roads. The article, written by C. W. N. McGowan was in part based on an Institute of Petroleum lecture by the late John Loudon, who went on to be chairman of Royal Dutch Shell. Pipeline freight transport has not so far experienced such an illustrious career, even though it flowered briefly in the Soviet Union and arguments for it are now stronger than ever. Propulsion and pipeline-laying systems have been greatly improved and computers could now provide sophisticated routing for cargo. And, as traffic congestion grows, the idea of delivering goods through underground pipelines seems wonderful.

Will we ever seen one built? Future developments are likely to come from two places: the Netherlands, where an international conference on underground freight transportation will take place in September at the same time as the Dutch parliament discusses an initial project that could link Amsterdam's Schiphol airport by freight pipeline to the flower market at Aalsmeer; and Missouri, where a project to test the transport of coal in long- distance pipelines is under way.

A couple of older, simpler systems are still used in Japan. The Sumitomo Capsule Liner is the best known. It carries limestone from a mine in Tochigi Prefecture straight to a plant 3.2 kilometres away and is of great benefit to local residents because it keeps heavy truck traffic off their village roads. Although the pipeline is just a metre in diameter it has been delivering 2 million tonnes of freight a year for almost 20 years. The freight is carried in wheeled capsules propelled by air pressure generated by large blowers.

Its designers learned from Soviet work. During the 1970s, several pipeline freight systems were built. One 45-kilometre system in Georgia carried 2 million tonnes of minerals each year.

The largest research institute devoted to pipeline transport is now to be found at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The Capsule Pipeline Research Center, run by Henry Liu, is investigating two propulsion systems: pneumatic and hydraulic.

Pneumatic systems, propelled by air pressure, need booster fans along the length of the pipeline unless it is very short. That causes problems because freight has to be sent around a bypass tunnel when it reaches the booster fan.

A neat solution owes much to pioneering work by M. Carstens of the Georgia Institute of Technology and William Vandersteel, a New Jersey engineer and backer of TubeXpress, a system designed for long-haul delivery of freight through 2-metre-diameter pipes. Vandersteel patented the idea of tube capsules which fitted closely inside the pipe and acted as pistons. By propelling these capsules with linear induction motors, they increase the air pressure in the tube ahead of them, forcing other capsules up ahead to keep moving. Liu explains that such pneumatic systems can carry freight cars at up to 72 kilometres per hour. As they run 24 hours a day, this means they can beat the average inter- city delivery times of a truck.

Liu's main focus is on the much slower hydraulic "coal log" pipeline system which could offer an immediate economic advantage. In Missouri, coal for power stations has to be carried by rail over 1000 kilometres from mines in Wyoming and Colorado. If Liu's system were used, the coal would be compacted into short, cylindrical "logs" which would then flow along a water-filled pipeline at around 11 kilometres per hour.

A 50-centimetre pipeline could carry 18 million tonnes of coal a year, enough for up to five large power plants, says Liu. He has almost finished a pilot project and if it works well, a commercial system could be under construction in two years. Over distances greater than 30 kilometres, he believes that freight pipelines will prove more economical than trucks.

Elsewhere, the dream of pipeline freight transportation and the benefits it could bring to crowded urban environments remains alive. In the Netherlands, research has been going on at the Delft University of Technology since the 1980s, on the control technology needed for electric-powered cars running in a 5-metre- diameter tunnel connecting the main international airport to the flower market and to a freight terminal. Johan Visser, who runs the project, says that similar systems running in 3-metre diameter tunnels could be extended for urban freight delivery. He has carried out a feasibility study on the underground distribution of goods for the city of Leiden. If the Dutch parliament agrees to provide further funds later this year, freight pipelines will receive a big boost.

But none of today's plans match the ambitious ideas of the engineers of an earlier, more heroic age. In 1869, Alfred Beach built a pneumatic passenger transport system in a 2.5-metre-diameter tunnel under Broadway in New York. It boasted a station with a grand piano but functioned for only a few months. One of its cars was retrieved in 1912 when workers building the current Broadway subway broke into the old tunnel.

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