Redefining Dust Control and Safety in Bulk Solid Transportation
In industries where the import of raw materials plays a pivotal role to enable manufacturing processes, ensuring the safety of both the products and the workforce is of greatest importance. Companies involved in the processing of many different bulk solids sourced from different locations are challenged with finding the most economic, ecological and safest solution to handle their imports. Handling these materials, particularly during loading and unloading processes, can pose health risks due to the release of harmful dust. From July 2024 on Australia will ban the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone to protect workers from being exposed to silica dust. This new regulation will make exporters, importers and manufacturers of any materials contained in engineered stone reevaluate their handling methods of these materials in their “raw form”.
Handling and transporting bulk solids using FIBCs can result in the generation of airborne dust particles, with silica dust being a particularly hazardous component. Traditional FIBC loading and unloading methods may inadvertently disperse dust into the air, creating potential hazards for workers and the surrounding environment. This scenario can be observed at any business processing bulk solids. The loading nozzle into the FIBC or the loading nozzle of the FIBC itself are rarely attached with a dust-tight sealing for filling or unloading. Even if the attached equipment has i.e. an inflatable seal, once the FIBC is detached again from the filling spout or lifted from the unloading hopper, dust will be emitted until the FIBC is closed and put into the trash.
The problem becomes more apparent when the material is packaged in units with lower volume like 30kg bags. One shipping container on intermodal transport in Europe can load up to 28 tons of material which would typically be distributed in 28 FIBCs. Previously we have highlighted in an article how transporting bulk solids in Linerbags can reduce time per container loading/unloading and generate savings by reducing handling steps. For the above-mentioned challenge of ensuring the safety of workers handling dusty bulk solids the Linerbag can also become a part of the solution.
Filling and emptying one container with bulk solids requires only one point of connection per container whereas with FIBCs each of them needs to be attached and removed from the filling or emptying connection. That means 28 handling steps and possibilities for dust to escape per container.
The advantages of linerbags are obvious. Their fabric can be made of single PE or PP films, because the sea container in which they are installed supports their outer walls. These fabrics are dust-tight and protect the working environment from the material. FIBCs can also be made with these dust-tight layers, but they still need additional layers of fabric around them to give them their self-supporting strength. We have talked about the reduction in plastic waste by using linerbags before.
Linerbags are on the rise. More and more companies change their supply chain methods to accommodate the use of linerbags. There are variants for every bulk solid being shipped around the globe. The more challenging part is finding equipment to fill and unload linerbags that adhere to our industrial standards and increase workers’ safety. WWTec has been developing these solutions for over 20 years. Their machines do not only enable customers to utilize the advantages of linerbags, but they go one step further. Having safety in mind, WWTec offers equipment with various premium options like inflatable seal connections, liner pressure monitoring, dust filter and redirection systems, oxygen level monitoring and many more. Concerning safety WWTec is also a specialist in explosion protection, offering container loading and unloading equipment with ATEX certification.
