Spiroflow Systems, Inc. will be showing off their Bulk Bag Discharger at the upcoming Process Technology Expo South at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, NC on March 19-20, 2008.

The Spiroflow display will feature a working flexible screw conveyor collecting material from the bulk bag discharger, and conveying it to a Spiroflow aero-mechanical conveyor which fills the product back into the bulk bag. Spiroflow will also be featuring bulk bag fillers and vacuum conveying equipment.

"Flexible screw, aero-mechanical and vacuum conveyors available from Spiroflow typically offer the lowest cost, simplest, most hygienic and easiest to clean means of conveying products from free flowing salt to sticky lumps of broken chocolate, chemicals or minerals."

That's right, a manufacturer of lubricant increased their capacity 194% just by switching from 55 lb. small bags to large 2,200 lb super sacks. Increased throughput, less labor or man hours, less product spillage, more accurate discharge, reduced disposal costs and improved ergonomics for the operators are just a few of the benefits available when switching to bulk bags.

M & I Materials Ltd. posted increases of up to 194% in throughput of a lubricant it manufactures for electrical transformers, due primarily to the addition of a bulk bag unloader and a flexible screw conveyor system from Flexicon Europe, Ltd.

Pre-installation throughput averaged 16 to 20 tonnes (35,264 to 44,080 lb.) per week of the lubricant, Midel 7131. Current production is 47 tonnes (103,588 lb.) per week. The gain in productivity, and attendant benefits of improved worker safety, product quality, and higher profitability, were the result of two installations and a plant relocation. M & I doubled the production of Midel lubricant with the first installation of Flexicon equipment at its former plant in Old Trafford, U.K., and effectively tripled throughput after the move to Manchester and specification of a larger process reactor.

The Problem: Several years ago, the ITT Surprenant Division in Clinton, MA, now the Surprenant Wire and Cable Division of FL Industries, faced a major materials handling problem. Two of the fourteen ingredients used to compound various insulations for Surprenant's specialty conductors were toxic and had to be batched in substantial quantities. The ingredients were received in powder form in 50-lb bags which were opened on the production floor, hatched on platform scales and manually dumped into a mixer or blender. Despite extensive use of exhaust ducting and respiratory protection for the workers in the area, Surprenant engineers were still concerned with the impact of toxic contamination on the environment and the threat of not meeting OSHA regulatory standards.

In this installation, materials are received in 50-pound bags and bulk bags and both are security screened for foreign objects while being conveyed to a weigh hopper, where they are automatically hatched in predetermined weights and discharged into process drums. The picture at right shows the Vac-U-Max bag dump station and bulk bag unloader. The hose connected to discharge of the bulk bag unloader can quickly be shifted to the discharge outlet of the bag dump station.