Bulk material transloading technology on SMIALA – Big-Bag Transloading & Repackaging | PHS Magnum Poland

Transloading without pneumatic conveying — gravity granulate transloading

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

Transloading without pneumatic conveying is a method of moving bulk materials based on a gravity chute through a cleaning sieve, without the use of compressed air and without mechanical impacts, protecting the granulate from abrasion, electrostatic charging and contamination.

This is the method around which we built our terminal — and our most important competence. In a world where most operators pump granulate with compressed air because it is faster, we consciously chose the slower but gentler path for the material. For plastics producers, for whom granulate parameters are sacred, this is the difference that decides the choice of supplier.

Cleaning sieve — the quality control point in granulate transloading

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

A cleaning sieve is a sieving screen placed in the gravity transloading line, which separates mechanical contaminants, agglomerates and foreign bodies from the granulate, while at the same time serving as a quality control point for the incoming batch.

It sounds like a simple piece of equipment — a bit of mesh in the loading hopper. In reality it is a device that distinguishes conscious transloading from the mere transfer of material from one package to another. Over more than thirty years working at the terminal I have learned that it is precisely on the sieve that the truth about the quality of the incoming batch most often comes to light. Granulate of the right size passes freely through it; what should not be in the material is held back. And what remains tells the operator more about the delivery than many a document.

Cross-contamination of granulate — how to protect batch purity in transloading and transport

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

Cross-contamination is the unintended introduction into a clean granulate batch of foreign material, dust, moisture or residue of a previous load — most often because the silo tanker, transloading installation or packaging was not sufficiently cleaned between two different products. The result is foreign pellets, black specks and contaminants in a material that was meant to reach the customer uniform and repeatable.

Over more than 30 years working at the terminal in Chorula, I have learned that in the plastics trade you do not sell granulate alone — you sell its purity and batch repeatability. A processor pouring material into an injection moulding machine assumes they received exactly what they ordered, and nothing more. Cross-contamination is a breach of that contract. That is why the entire transloading and transport chain is designed to minimise the points at which foreign material can enter the batch.

Granulate electrostatic charging — electrostatics in plastics transloading

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

Granulate electrostatic charging is the accumulation of electrostatic charge on the surface of plastic grains as a result of friction during transfer, transport and transloading — a phenomenon unavoidable with polymer granulates, which are very good insulators and do not drain off the charge spontaneously.

In terminal practice it is one of those problems that do not show up on an invoice yet can ruin an entire operation. Granulate that has become charged sticks to walls, dusts, cakes and causes trouble during filling and emptying. And in unfavourable conditions — with combustible dust or solvent vapours — it stops being a nuisance and becomes a real occupational safety risk. Over more than thirty years working with polyethylene and polypropylene I have learned to treat electrostatics not as a physical curiosity but as a process parameter that must be consciously controlled.

Pneumatic unloading of a silo tanker — fluidisation, pressure and how bulk material is blown out

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

Pneumatic unloading is a method of emptying a silo tanker or tanker in which compressed air first aerates the material layer (fluidisation), and then an overpressure of the order of 2 bar pushes it through a pipeline to the recipient’s tank. The material does not slide down by gravity — it flows in an air stream, from the tanker cones all the way to a silo several metres above the ground.