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At our industrial scale facility, we are able to test a processing step, mock up a whole handling process or logistics chain, at near or full scale. This enables us to find and solve problems off-line, so when you transfer the same process or material to your own or your customer's plant, you can be confident that it will work.

Our plant extends over 450 square metres, and includes almost anything you can think of that is in a real processing and logistics chain, including:

• Pneumatic conveyors
• Pharmaceutical dosing test rigs
• Belt and mechanical conveyors
• Hoppers and silos
• Screening machinery
• Blenders
• Feeders (vibratory, screw, belt and others)
• Presses
• Transport simulators
• Drying test facilities
• Granulation and pelleting facilities
• Size reduction facilities
• Environmental test facilities
• Control systems rigs
• Dust control test facilities.

We also have the flexibility to obtain and install any item of equipment not currently in our plant.

Frequent pilot plant test project objectives

• Assessing a new or reformulated material – will it go through the existing systems, or what changes will be needed to accommodate it?
• Setting up a short production run on a proposed new powder-route product, to test formulation and manufacturing proposals
• Testing a proposed new handling system.

Unique pieces of equipment

Brookfield Powder Flow Tester

A user-independent machine that can generate repeatable measurements of the flow properties of powder and quantify the magnitude of the cohesive strength.

Void pressure test rig

A large-scale test rig designed and constructed to enable an in-depth evaluation of a range of flow behaviour associated with changes in interstitial gas pressure in flowing beds of bulk particulates.

Elutriation tester

A new type of tester that is capable of testing a wide range of powders for sensitivity to interaction with counter directional air flows.

QPM (quality in particulate manufacturing) segregation tester

This is used to assess the 'segregability' of a bulk solid, for the purposes of understanding likely problems in handling and storing it. 

The name "QPM" is a registered trade mark owned by the Çï¿ûÊÓƵ.

Specific-use equipment

Dynamic vapour sorption tester

This is used to measure moisture take up or release by bulk powders over a range of controlled test conditions.

Atomic force microscope

This is used to measure the shape and surface roughness of particles as well as the contact forces between two particles or between a particle and a wall surface.

Degradation tester

This is used to assess the propensity for bulk particulates to suffer breakage during handling operations (most commonly in pneumatic transfer systems).

Pycnometer

This is used to measure the density of particles.

Sample dividers

The importance of obtaining a representative sub sample from a large batch of material is critical as business decisions are based on the results of characterisation of these samples. We have a range of equipment designed for this purpose.

Gradex sieve analyser

A high speed, low cost method of providing a large number of sieve analyses.