Flexicon Europe, Whitstable, UK, in early 2015 installed a Twin-Centrepost™ bulk bag filler at the speciality mineral processing plant in Hattem, the Netherlands, of TOR Processing & Trade BV. This company is one of the world’s major producers of hydrated alumina which is shipped in bulk bags to customers worldwide. Filling a bulk bag previously spanned one hour mainly owing to the time required for the fine alumina particles to settle.
The new Flexicon bulk bag filler, which was purchased in order mainly to overcome dust, air entrainment and filling delays, deaerates and densifies the bulk hydrated alumina. Fill time has been cut to 20 minutes, tripling capacity, while filling bags with a greater amount of material and eliminating dust emissions. Prior to installing the new filler, blended material flowed from the mixer through a funnel hopper into a bulk bag suspended on ropes above a scale. The hopper’s outlet was manually opened and closed with a slide gate valve. The process was labour intensive and slow, and bags could fall when the ropes were detached. Manual effort is now minimised, and filling (directly from the mixer) is fast, precise and automated. www.flexicon.co.uk; www.torminerals.com

The operator, having first activated the inflatable collar to form a dust-tight connection, next actuates the bag inflation blower to remove creases in the bag prior to filling – thanks to advanced automation and a densification deck, fill time has been cut by two thirds.