Case Study – Filling Corrosive and Toxic Liquids

A chemical manufacturer asked us to solve a problem filling 30-gallon carboys and 55-gallon drums on a pallet as well as 330-gallon totes with toxic and corrosive chemicals. The liquid caused a safety hazard for the operator and the surrounding work area. Curtains, gloves, masks, and other solutions tried by the customer were not effective enough.

The Customer

The customer is a world-wide manufacturer of cleaning liquids. Buying capital equipment from the lowest bidder forced them to live with their problems until they learned that Specialty Equipment solves unique issues and is the leading manufacturer in handling hazardous chemicals.

The Challenge

The most obvious challenge was to provide absolute safety for the operator from highly toxic fumes and prevent them from going airborne. The acid splash-back and overfilling problems also added to the safety issues.

The Solution

We created a special, all-stainless steel construction, two-room, fume booth that included a nitrogen purging station to clean out the container prior to filling it, a semi-automatic drum and tote filling station, and a bung and capping station. Two pairs of rubber gloves are provided for the operator for removing bungs from drums and totes, both at the purging station, then a similar pair of gloves at the filling station for replacing the bungs after filling the container. A special pivoting bellows was included for leaning into the booth to bung and cap.

The Customization

The unique drum filler within a fume booth consisted of the following components:

• A stainless steel, all-welded and sealed fume booth
• Air-operated, guillotine doors front and aft
• Two nitrogen purging lines, one for drums, the other for totes
• A semi-automatic palletized drum and tote filling machine
• Two Kynar ball valves and manifold at the infeed
• A special length Kynar filling lance
• NEMA 4X control panel with a PLC & operator touch screen
• A 5,000 lb. capacity, stainless platform scale at the fill station
• Infeed and discharge pneumatic sliding doors
• Stainless, powered roller conveyors with corro-duty motors
• Lexan see-through windows on both sides
• A special reach-in station with safety bellows
• A fume-line connection to the customer’s exhaust system
• Four pairs of long-reaching thermal gloves for the operator

The Benefits

When completed, the customer had an OSHA approved liquid filling machine and fume booth with complete operator safety with corrosion resistant equipment. The payback was accomplished in a few months.

Let us know how we can solve your filling machinery problems.

See the fume booth drum filler – item 803 for more details.

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