Loading a truck with blended food ingredients is a big job any way you look at it. When the product consists of food-grade powders for human and pet consumption, it can get very messy. Truck loaders can be an efficient way to handle bulk solids, but only when you can manage the dust that comes with large plant production for domestic and international markets.
Dust control and flexible bulk bag formats call for specialised mobile conveyor
So how do you efficiently load bulk pea starch, pea protein powder and potato starch into road tankers when you’re handling multiple packing formats? A US ingredients supplier whose premium, traceable products for food and pet food industries wanted to find out.
Operating multiple processing facilities in the American Midwest, the company needed reliable conveyor equipment that could handle diverse materials while providing excellent dust control. The company sources and processes a wide variety of pulses and grains, oilseeds, nuts, and spices, so equipment versatility became absolutely critical to their decision-making.
Pulses and grains challenge: Managing fine powders with different bulk bag formats
The company’s Indiana facility needed to automate the transfer of pea starch flour, pea protein flour and potato starch from various bulk containers directly to road tankers for customer delivery. Their material handling requirements were complex, involving single-use bulk bags, reusable bulk bags, and rigid tote bins ranging from 1,100 to 2,200 lb (500 to 1,000 kg) capacity.
The company had previously outsourced this operation to external contractors, but bringing the process in-house would provide better quality control and cost management. However, implementing an internal solution created several operational challenges that needed addressing:
- Employee exposure to dust from very fine, lightweight powders
- Need for equipment compatible with multiple packing formats
- Requirement for mobility across different sites
- Dust mitigation at both container-to-conveyor and conveyor-to-tanker interfaces
- Ability to fill tankers with varying inlet heights.
The company was finding it difficult to source an all-in-one, mobile solution which could handle multiple packing formats. A colleague at one of the company’s partner operations mentioned they had achieved excellent results with Floveyor equipment, providing a strong word-of-mouth reference. The positive feedback convinced the site manager to investigate whether a Floveyor portable conveyor could deliver the all-in-one mobile solution they required.
Moving to a fit-for-purpose powder conveying system design
Following initial consultation, which included a detailed assessment of the company’s bulk solids handling requirements and solution modelling, Floveyor recommended a complete portable truck loader system consisting of a bulk bag receiving hopper, screw feeder, and Floveyor Elementa F4 aero-mechanical conveyor (AMC).
Why the AMC was selected
An AMC with FloDisc® Technology provides a fully enclosed system that controls dust, prevents product contamination, and ensures safe, efficient transfers at any elevation. The reliable conveyor is engineered to minimise downtime, maintain product integrity, and allow complete batch transfers with minimal cleaning requirements.
The AMC was ideal for handling pea starch, potato starch and pea protein powder because it:
- Provides fully enclosed, dust-free operation for food-grade manufacturing standards
- Maintains product integrity of fine, lightweight powders during transfer
- Offers gentle conveying action that prevents degradation and blend separation
- Delivers consistent throughput rates required for efficient truck loading
- Enables quick cleaning between different product runs.
Why the Elementa F4 was chosen
Of the AMC product ranges, the Floveyor Elementa is the classic conveyor used for food manufacturing and designed for low-risk, dry ingredients requiring food compliance and quality assurance. Floveyor’s Elementa F4 AMC met all the conveying requirements for the diverse materials used in pulses and grains processing, with a mobile option to make delivery easier and more convenient.
The Elementa F4 was selected because it:
- Features food-grade construction suitable for ingredient applications
- Provides a mobile design with a compact footprint
- Offers an adjustable conveying angle and height for trucks with various filling heights
- Operates across multiple locations at the site, with mobile conveying option
- Handles multiple packing formats with a single reliable conveyor system
- Delivers versatile application in the plant including filling storage vessels, mixers, and other equipment.
What the portable conveyor solution from Floveyor consisted of
Elementa F4 AMC with:
- Mobile configuration for multi-location flexibility
- Adjustable conveying angle and height for variable tanker truck inlet positions
- Dust collection capability at filling head
Trough screw feeder with:
- Controlled material flow from hopper to AMC
Bulk bag receiving hopper with:
- Removable bag splitter for easy decanting
- Compatibility with single-use bulk bags, reusable bulk bags, and rigid tote bins.
The system included dust collection tubing at the filling head, enabling connection to the client’s existing dust collection system for superior dust control during truck loading operations.
New system provides controlled, dust-free flow for ingredient powders
Operating the mobile conveyor is straightforward and efficient. Operators wheel the equipment to the required location, position bulk bags or tote bins on the receiving hopper, and activate the system. The screw feeder regulates material flow from the hopper into the AMC, which then gently conveys pea starch, potato starch or pea protein powder through fully enclosed tubes to the tanker filling head.
The adjustable angle and height allow operators to accommodate different tanker configurations, while the dust collection capability at both the hopper and filling head interfaces provides dust mitigation. The fully enclosed powder conveying system eliminates employee exposure to dust and maintains the product integrity and quality essential for food and pet food ingredient applications.
Elementa F4 delivers proven performance for pulses and grains applications
The ingredients supplier experienced improved operational efficiency by managing their truck loading process internally with reliable equipment. The portable conveyor solution required no permanent site modifications, demonstrating the flexibility of Floveyor’s bulk solids handling approach.
The success of this mobile conveyor system has positioned the facility to maintain consistent product quality while managing operational costs more effectively. The equipment’s proven track record with pulses and grains processing gave the client confidence. Floveyor’s long history of supplying equipment to the US market provided additional assurance.
Using a Floveyor in your ingredient powder handling
If you need conveying machinery and bulk material handling equipment for your food and beverage operation, a Floveyor with FloDisc® Technology will optimise your powder handling. Contact us to learn more about how our portable conveyor solutions can handle pea starch, potato starch, pea protein powder, and other fine ingredient powders across your facility.