Interfacing to processes

In terms purely of interfacing to processes, the suitability of either RIBC's or FIBC's is dependent to a large extent upon the quantities of material that are required for a given production run. It is unlikely that a plant will have the luxury of dedicated feed stations for every single ingredient that will be required from the IBC's, therefore the ease of installing fresh IBC's onto the feed station will be a consideration. The physical lifting and placement of both types of IBC are similar and represent no special problems. However, the interfacing to the process can present quite different considerations for both genres of IBC.

FIBC's

For applications where a only few hundred kilograms are required there can be problems with using a

800kg FIBC, for example. In general the dust-free sealing of the FIBC to the feed out station can be readily achieved with proprietary equipment. However closing off the spout after a partial discharge can cause considerable problems for operatives (due to the need to tie off the spout through a constrained column of material having a diameter defined by the spout). A commonly encountered approach to this problem is to only slacken off the drawstrings and thus discharge the required amount of material through a partially constricted spout. Although this makes closure of the FIBC easier for the operators, it also induces erratic and unreliable discharge (despite the use of vibrators which are commonly installed on discharge stations). Tensioning of the inner liners in food or pharmaceutical applications is also an important factor in avoiding constrictions of the outlet.