Prevention of contamination
New solution for the discharge of bulk materials

The ever increasing requirements made of industrially manufactured products lead to increasing requirements of the raw materials and components involved. Products are more specialized, the consequence being higher degrees of purity, more effective substances and, unfortunately, more hazardous substances.

Toxicity and allergies: the impact of contamination is growing. The problem manifests itself in two distinct areas. Firstly, in the area of operator safety – the operator must not be put at risk – and secondly, in the area of product safety – the product must not be burdened with foreign substances. These are general requirements which have particular applicability to the bio-industry and food industry and the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries.
In order to meet these requirements the products to be processed are not handled in the open but in sealed-off bulk material containers, such as solid bulk containers, flexible containers (also called big bags or FIBC) or drums. All these bulk material containers are generally fitted with an inliner. How can these bulk material containers be discharged without contamination?
For solid bulk material containers, expensive and complex docking systems are already available, e.g. divided flaps, cone systems, etc., but as yet there have been no satisfactory solutions available for bulk material containers with flexible outlets.
Contamination-free
after discharge
The problem is that as yet it has not been possible to find a way of connecting bulk material containers with flexible outlets to the product inlet of a unit and/or system without causing exposure to the environment – and to remove the empty packing material free of contamination after discharge.
Previous systems have employed mechanical clamping equipment for the connection of the packing material to clamp and seal off the outlet at the connecting system. However, both the connecting system and the packing material outlet are exposed when the packing material is changed. Hence, dust in the air and product after-flow may lead to contamination both at the connecting point and for the operator and the environment.
A new system has been developed which represents the evolutionary development of service-proven technology: The Hecht double-ring connection system with de-dusting and evacuation unit.

What requirements were to
be met by this development?
Major reduction in emissions relative to traditional systems by means of a high level of containment.
Product discharge port to be sealed off even when no packing material is connected.
Contamination-free changing of the protective liner.
System to be capable of use for all industrial bulk material containers with fixed as well as flexible bottom outlets (e.g. big bags).
Cost reductions relative to previous docking systems.
How can such requirements be met?
In order to meet the aforementioned requirement for protection against emissions, neither the product discharge port or the packing material outlet may be open to the environment at any time before, during or after the discharging process.
The discharge port and the packing material outlet must be tightly enclosed in a manner which seals off both the packing material outlet and the discharge port while the empty packing material is being removed. This enclosure is provided by a protective liner tube.
During removal of the empty packing material the bulk material outlet is protected from the environment with part of the protective liner. At the same time, the discharge port is sealed off in a dust-tight manner with the installation of a second fastener at the protective liner above the discharge port. This prevents any environmental contamination either from the packing material outlet or the product discharge port.
The empty packing material may be then removed from the discharging station. By simply pulling the tube-liner from the liner holder positioned concentrically
above the connection system, a new and clean piece of liner is ready for the packing material to follow. Once the supply of
liners has been used up the system also permits the liner carrier to be changed
without any risk of contamination.
The new connection system with new de-dusting and evacuation module and integrated filter offers optimum protection for both operator and product.