Corrosive liquids mean a risk for the personnel and high depreciation of your packaging line machines and facilities. Therefore, it is paramount to use a filling Machine specially designed to work with these products. In this sense, its highly recommended to select the ideal corrosion-proof filler that are capable to concentrate the risk inside of its guarding without damaging other machines and components.
When it comes to corrosive liquids Sodium Hypochlorite, Hydrochloric Acids and Sulfuric Acids are the common corrosive agents in Bleach, Toilet Cleaners and Disinfectants in different concentrations. Therefore, since various corrosive agents can be part of the scope no single combination of corrosion-proof materials proves ideal for every product, but there’s an ideal combination for each particular requirement.
Main trends in Corrosion-proof Filler
1. Low Cost Filling Machines
Gravity filling machines are predominant in the corrosive filing industry because of the simplicity of this freeflowing technology and the possibility to be constructed entirely in inert plastics and fiberglass. with even the fasteners made of fiberglass.
Pros:
- Low cost investment.
- Wide range of local manufacturers.
Cons:
- Gravity fillers do not guarantee a volume or weight. Overfilling is the only way to comply with the target dose.
- High maintenance cost due to premature wasting of components.
- Reduced machine’s lifetime.
2. Low Maintenance and High OEE Filling Machines
These products work like any other detergent from thin and foaming liquids to viscous gels, so it makes sense to use similar filling systems with higher accuracy than Gravity or Level Fillers. A corrosion-proof filler design not only means to use chemical resistant materials on sensitive parts. It is also necessary to design the best way to evacuate fumes, build a robust structure to guarantee at least 20-25 years of lifetime of the Filling Machine, protect the operators from the corrosive atmosphere and the rest of machines of the line.
Strategic materials like Hastelloy, Titanium, Duplex, Viton Extreme and Halar coated stainless steel that offer higher resistance to corrosion at the nominal temperature of the product.
Pros:
- High filling accuracy.
- Reduced maintenance cost and minimum machine downtime.
- High OEE.
Cons:
- Initial investment.
From the ROI point of view a robust and durable solution should be aligned with the medium / long term investment policy of most of the companies. However this is not something easy to prove to procurement until the first Alternative-B-Filler has been acquired and analytical accounting comes up with the costs and benefits of the new acquisition. Those companies used to lead with low cost machines will never understand why their largest competitors prefer to invest in expensive Filling Machine and where the secret of their success is.
