Environmental

The Environmental industry encompasses many bulk material handling applications including radioactive waste, soil remediation, municipal sludge, hazardous waste removal, post-consumer product recycling (e.g., glass, plastic, paper, cardboard), and nuclear waste vitrification (glass encasement).

Environmental applications often involve regulatory agencies (e.g., US Environmental Protection Agency, US Department of Energy), waste collection services, municipal processing facilities, and research/development groups that focus on testing of new technologies for collecting, receiving, processing, and recycling of a waste stream.

The materials handled in the Environmental industry, such as soils, tailings, and sludge, typically have high cohesive strength, leading to poor flow.  Bulk solids that are shaped like flakes or fibers, such as ground plastic, shredded tires, or wood chips, can interlock to form arches, resulting in large masses of non-flowing material.  Flow problems such as these can result in high cost and wasted time.  The key to success in designing reliable equipment for these difficult-to-handle materials is determining the flow properties of the materials for the equipment design basis while complying with environmental regulatory requirements.