Solutions · Chemical Industry
From mineral fillers and pigments to salts, acids, and additives: chemical bulk solids dust, bridge, wear, or attack the silo material. PW Silo Systems designs aluminum and stainless steel silos and PW TankLine tanks for the chemical industry with you – material and design defined for your product.
Chemical Storage at a Glance
A chemical silo stores powdered, granular, or crystalline chemical products close to production – for minerals and fillers, pigments, oxides, salts, acids, additives, or by-products. It keeps the product contained and feeds it in a controlled way to weighing, dosing, mixing, or the process.
Every chemical product behaves differently. Some bridge, some dust, some are abrasive, corrosive, or combustible. That is why the silo material, the design, the discharge, and the safety concept are defined together with you for your product and your site.
Chemical Silos by Product
Each page explains the typical challenges of a product group and how we solve them – with the products on our tested list.
Minerals
Fine, cohesive mineral fillers with discharge aids and dust collection.
View pageMinerals
Cohesive mineral fillers and clays that bridge and must stay dry.
View pageMinerals
Heavy and abrasive mineral fillers.
View pageMinerals
Fumed and precipitated silica and silica flour.
View pageMinerals
Light filter aids and fillers.
View pagePigments
White pigment that must stay clean.
View pagePigments
Color pigments and powder coatings kept strictly separate.
View pageOxides
Abrasive alumina and fine ATH filler.
View pageOxides
Quicklime, hydrated lime, and milk of lime.
View pageOxides
Lithium hydroxide, iron phosphate, and graphite.
View pageCarbon
Black, dusty carbon products.
View pageCarbon
Black dust and highly abrasive grains.
View pageSalts
Alkaline salts with material defined with you.
View pageSalts
Industrial salts that cake and need a safety concept.
View pageSalts
Hygroscopic prills and fine melamine powder.
View pageAcids
Citric, malic, adipic, and other acids.
View pageAcids
Monomers for polyester and nylon production.
View pageAdditives
Flakes, beads, and pastilles that soften when warm.
View pageAdditives
Modifiers, stabilizers, and processing aids.
View pageAdditives
Carbon black, silica, and mineral fillers for compounding.
View pageProcess aids
Light, fibrous filter aids.
View pageBy-products
Fine by-products for disposal, recycling, or reuse.
View pageLiquids
PW TankLine tanks for process liquids.
View pageWhy Chemical Products Are Demanding
Flow behavior, dust, abrasion, corrosion, and safety decide whether a chemical silo runs reliably.
Fine, cohesive powders compact under their own weight and build bridges or narrow flow channels above the outlet.
Fine chemical powders spread quickly during pneumatic filling and conveying.
Hard products such as alumina, silica flour, or silicon carbide wear the outlet and conveying equipment.
Salts, acids, and alkaline products can attack the silo material, depending on the product and its moisture.
Chemical plants often handle many products that must not be mixed by accident.
Venting, filtration, and explosion protection depend on the product and its particle size.
Silo Materials
We build silos and tanks exclusively in aluminum and stainless steel. Carbon steel is not an option for us: its coating is the only protection against corrosion – and flaking coating or rust can end up in your product.
Which of our two materials and which design fit your chemical silo depends on the product, your process, and your site. For corrosive and alkaline products, we define the material and the design with you based on your product data.
Your Chemical Silo System
Silo, discharge, blending, filtration, monitoring, and tanks are engineered as one system. That means fewer interfaces for your team and components that are designed to work together.
Storage
Concentric mass-flow discharge without asymmetric flow zones – as standard, site-assembled, indoor, or multi-compartment silos.
Learn moreBlending
Gravity blending and homogenizing with four technologies, including PW ConeBlend with a hopper that is quick to clean.
Learn moreDischarge
Air fluidization for uniform discharge of poorly flowing products – prevents bridging and can be retrofitted to existing silos.
Learn moreDischarge
Vibration from unbalanced motors breaks up cohesive forces, resolves caking, and keeps the outlet clear.
Learn moreFiltration
Dust separation during pneumatic filling and conveying – sized for fine powders.
Learn moreLiquids
Tanks in aluminum and stainless steel for liquid products and suspensions.
Learn moreTested Chemical Products
Products marked “Tested in our lab” are on our list of bulk materials. The others we review with you based on your material data before designing the silo.
Tested in our lab
Calcium carbonate, GCC, chalk
Calcium carbonate is on our list of bulk materials tested in our lab.
Tested in our lab
Titanium dioxide, TiO₂
Titanium dioxide is on our tested list.
Tested in our lab
Precipitated silica, silica filler
Precipitated silica is on our tested list.
Tested in our lab
Soda ash, sodium carbonate
Soda ash is on our tested list. Material and design we define with you.
Tested in our lab
Urea, urea prills
Urea is on our tested list.
Review with us
Specialty chemicals and intermediates
Not on the list? We review your product data with you before designing the silo.
Also tested in our lab:
Send us your material data and we will review the right solution with you:
Product Check
Type in your chemical product or any other bulk material to see whether it has already been tested in our lab. The list covers 287 bulk materials.
Try: , ,
Service in the U.S.
With more than 40 years of experience in silo engineering, we support your chemical silo project from the first design discussion to commissioning. We deliver to every U.S. state and install with our own qualified personnel.
FAQ
Answers to the questions plant managers, engineers, and buyers ask most often about storing chemical products in silos.
Dry chemical powders, granules, and crystals can be stored in a properly designed silo. These are some of the products on our list of bulk materials tested in our lab:
Our list covers 287 bulk materials. Products that are not on it we review with you based on your material data.
We build silos exclusively in aluminum and stainless steel – never in coated carbon steel. Which material and which design fit depends on the product, your process, and your site. For corrosive and alkaline products, we define them with you based on your product data.
A mass-flow hopper geometry keeps the entire silo content moving. Discharge aids such as PW SpeedBlow air fluidization and bin activators break up bridges and keep the outlet clear. The right combination depends on your product.
Yes. PW TankLine tanks in aluminum and stainless steel store liquids and suspensions such as mother liquor or milk of lime. Material and design we define with you.
In mass flow, the entire silo content moves downward when material is discharged – not just a channel in the center. Your chemical products leaves the silo in the order it came in (first in, first out), and no product is left behind in dead zones. Our PW StoreLine silos are designed for concentric mass-flow discharge without asymmetric flow zones.
Integrated filters and PW FilterLine dust collectors separate dust during pneumatic filling and conveying. Explosion protection and venting we review with you where your product requires it.
The right size depends on your daily consumption, delivery intervals, the number of products, and the space available at your site. PW StoreLine silos are available in a wide range of sizes and diameters, and silos too large for road transport are assembled on site. We size the system with you – without oversized investment.
Yes. We deliver to every U.S. state and support your project with silo transport, field assembly, silo installation and supervision, and site relocation of existing systems.
Very likely. Our silo systems are designed for nearly all free-flowing, granular, and powdered bulk solids. Send us your material details – particle size, bulk density, moisture, and how the product is filled and discharged – and we will review the right storage solution with you.
Tell us about your products, required storage capacity, how the silo is filled and discharged, and your site conditions. Based on this, we work out the material, silo type, and configuration with you and send you a detailed quote.
