A Question of (Particle) Character...

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DÜPERTHAL Sicherheitstechnik GmbH & Co. KG

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

TRM Filter d.o.o.

Requirements in the pharmaceutical industry have become increasingly demanding over the past 15 years. Dust-free transfer, for example from a container to a mixer, is a major priority. That is important in order to avoid cross-contamination, and factors such as increased handling of high-potency active ingredients have major employee safety implications. The situation is similar in the food and chemical industries.

It is important that the environment is dust free to prevent cross-contamination with allergens and avoid human safety hazards and dangerous situations caused by airborne dust.

The proliferation of container types is a major headache for design teams. Raw bulk solids, intermediates and finished products are handled and transported in big bags, octabins, barrels, sacks, mobile containers and much more. The varying heights of feed and discharge connections are another problem. Equipment manufacturers may have to make special modifications or design changes, which can be expensive. The answer is to design versatility into the systems.

Precision, uniform dosing is often a built-in feature of transfer stations and that functionality is essential for high-quality production of many products. Selection of the right dosing method has to be a joint decision by users and manufacturers, and the choice becomes more difficult as the volumes being handled decrease.

Minute amounts of vitamins have to be added with very high precision in the food industry. Hygiene requirements or major space constraints which often exist in the plastics industry are other factors that can make dosing more difficult.

Safety is the top priority

Explosion protection is an issue which most bulk solids technologies must address. In Germany alone, it is estimated that one dust explosion occurs every day. The outcome of these events may not always be tragic but they clearly show the need to take the issue seriously. The lower explosion limit (LEL) for many types of dust is 20 - 125 g/m³. The bulk density of the types of dust normally found in industrial environments is around 800 kg/m³. Given a dust layer of 1 mm and a room height of 3 meters, this would equate to 270 g/m³. Any air current which kicks up the dust would be enough to create a potentially explosive dust/air mixture. Effective explosion protection is mandatory in many applications.

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