White Paper: Considerations when handling bulk chemical powders

Summary

Successful conveying and handling of chemical powders requires much more input than understanding a material’s properties, the desired convey rate and distance. Today’s manufacturers are faced with tighter margins, leaner operations, shorter lead times and greater environmental concerns. Maintaining plant and worker safety is paramount.

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by Steve Grant

Dust Control

Dust is the No. 1 issue most chemical processors face when handling powders. And for good reason, too—dust threatens both plant and worker safety. Explosions are an obvious concern, with ignition resulting from electrostatic discharge, friction, hot surfaces or open flame. Depending upon the level of dust control required by theprocess, a number of options are available when conveying.

Conveying methods that move material en masse (such as tubular drag conveyors) can minimize dust. Because the tubular drag conveyor’s components come into contact with a smaller percentage of material compared to other conveying methods, it is less likely to create dust. Tubular drag conveyors also create less friction as the chain and flight mechanism moves the material at a relatively slow velocity.

When handling bags, dust collectors are an effective way to minimize plant and worker exposure to powders. Such systems can be configured to filter material down to 1 micron. And units can include glove box access to further assure worker protection from hazardous materials. Adding a bag compactor to these systems can extend dust control to the bag disposal process, as well as enhance operator efficiency. In addition, dust-tight connectors can be employed with bulk bag handling equipment to minimize dust entering the plant environment.

Equipment Design and Material Construction

Other factors to consider when handling chemical powders deal with the design of equipment and materials used in their construction. For example, does the process require sanitation or washdown? Is the chemical powder corrosive or will it react in some way with equipment handling it? Is the powder abrasive? There is a wide array of options available to effectively meet sanitation standards, which may include various materials for construction and finishes. Likewise, materials for construction and the design of the conveyor can reduce wear from abrasive materials.

Easy to Operate

Operators who may have only dealt with one aspect of a process in the past may now be responsible for multiple pieces of a process as organizations have found ways to increase productivity. And as the baby boomer generation begins to exit the workforce, they take their knowledge and experience with them. To reduce training required and reduce errors that can result in wasted materials or operator injury, equipment should be intuitive and employ safeguards. One example of this would be the use of programmable logic controls (PLC) to ensure batching consistency. However, depending upon the equipment and process, a number of design elements are available.

Conclusion

Handling chemical powders is a lot more complex than simply moving product from point A to point B. Use of systems and processes that assure safe and efficient processing of chemical powders are just as important. A wealth of options related to dust control, safety and efficiency are offered by today’s manufacturers of bulk powder handling and conveying equipment.

Steve Grant is Bag Dump Station (Dust Collection), Bag Compactor and MiniVac™ Pneumatic Conveyor Product Manager at Hapman. You can e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .