Dec Group

Contained powder transfer and process linking

Company focus: Dec Group develops equipment and integrated systems for transferring, dosing, sampling, milling, blending and containing powders in demanding process environments.

Dietrich Engineering Consultants was founded in Switzerland in 1987. The company’s history centers on moving powder with alternating vacuum and pressure rather than relying on gravity or continuously rotating conveying components.

PTS Powder Transfer System

Operating concept: The PTS Powder Transfer System draws material into a pressure-rated transfer vessel under vacuum, then discharges it with gas pressure through the conveying line.

The vessel therefore works in cycles. Valves, filters, pressure boundaries and the control sequence are central to the design even though the transfer chamber contains no rotating conveying element.

Dec positions PTS for closed charging and discharging of reactors, dryers, mixers, centrifuges, packaging systems and other process equipment.

Published variants address clean-in-place and sterilize-in-place duties, wet or dry powders, high-containment interfaces and inert operation. The exact material, pressure rating, cleaning cycle and validation boundary have to be confirmed for the selected model.

Containment, dosing and sampling portfolio

Dec combines PTS with big-bag, drum and sack-emptying stations, DCS docking systems, isolators, dosing valves and weighing arrangements.

Its product families also include PFL Powderflex, micro-transfer systems, sampling devices, blending and milling equipment.

These components can form one linked process, but each interface still needs an agreed responsibility for containment, controls, cleaning and acceptance.

Industries and materials

Dec publishes applications in pharmaceuticals and biopharma, chemicals, food and cosmetics, explosives and battery manufacturing.

Examples include active pharmaceutical ingredients, catalysts, battery powders and materials that are moisture-sensitive, pyrophoric or otherwise hazardous.

Manufacturer application statements should be carried into a project only after the actual exposure limit, minimum ignition energy, oxygen sensitivity, corrosion risk and process conditions are established.

Engineering questions before selection

• Is the duty transfer, accurate dosing, reactor charging, sampling or a combination?
• What containment target and measurement method apply at every connection?
• Which pressures, temperatures, solvents and cleaning fluids reach the transfer system?
• Does the powder need inerting, conductive construction or explosion-pressure containment?
• How will the line be emptied, cleaned, dried and released for the next batch?
• Which alarms and permissives govern vacuum, pressure, valve position and receiver readiness?

A cyclic transfer system can make a complex route compact. It also makes the sequence important.

A blocked line, leaking valve or wet filter is a controls and recovery problem as much as a mechanical one.