Winterize Your Flexitank

The United States is being hit with heavy snows as an arctic blast sits on the Northeast.

Don Reilly EPT Technical Services Manager

Winter is here!  For many of our customers this means big concerns about shipping their bulk liquid cargos to and from the northern hemisphere.  “For example, we’ve got customers shipping enzymes from China into extreme weather conditions in the Midwest,” stated Don Reilly, Technical Services Manager at EPT.  “We’re working to ensure their product does not freeze and arrives safely and in good condition.

”Environmental Packaging Technologies (EPT) continues to develop different heating solutions as part of their BIG Red Flexitank system.  Some products that ship in flexitanks can separate or change concentration at extremely cold temperatures; others may change consistency to that of honey and be difficult to unload.  “In these weather conditions, our goal at EPT is to make sure our customers’ product is not damaged in any way during transit, that the flexitank is not damaged, and that the product will discharge in a timely manner and not negatively affect costs or plant efficiencies,” explained Reilly.

EPT has tested different thermal linings for the 20’ shipping container that help maintain the product’s temperature.  Using these liners, the product can be loaded hot and not freeze during transit as the liner keeps the product warm.  EPT flexitanks can be loaded with liquids at temperatures up to 170°F and typically hold 24,000 liters.  The mass of the product helps maintain its temperature and in tests using the thermal liners an average loss of 1°F/day was observed and 2°F/day in extreme below freezing temperatures.

Another option is installing an electric or steam heating pad under the flexitank before loading.  At final destination, the product is reheated and then discharged.  This is a very workable solution for products that will not separate or be damaged at lower temperatures.   For thermal containers like reefers, EPT is developing a 40’ flexitank so that liquid cargos can be kept warm or cold as needed.

EPT Flexitank in Russia

Reilly emphasized that “EPT can help specify the best heating solution for this time of year and meet the requirements of customers who need to ship products across hemispheres.”  All EPT heating solutions are reclaimable and reusable.

A Flexitank Case Study

At least one day a week, trucks arrive at Bigler Specialty Oils in Houston to pick up products. But instead of forklifts bringing on scores of 55-gallon drums or 250-gallon tote bins, these intermodal containers will get fitted with a liner and then a huge red bag. Hooked up to a hose and pump -whoosh!- the polyethylene pouch is filled with fluid until it plumps up like a giant pillow. As rigid bulkheads protect the bag from pinching, the fittings are carefully stowed and doors closed firmly. The truck pulls away, and the entire 20-foot container, packing 6,000 gallons of base oil, white oil or ink oil, heads to a ship bound for a foreign port.

Supervising the whole process is a specialist from Environmental Packaging Technologies, one of a number of global companies that supply the bulk packaging and expertise needed to fill “flexitanks” or “flexibags”. It’s common today for the leading flexitank suppliers to have a representative on site for each lading, users say; not only does this assure the package’s reliability but it can also ease insurance costs for the shipment.

Dan Schramm, president of Bigler Specialty Oils, is an avid user of this bulk option. “In my mind, the flexibag is the transportation package of the future,” he enthused. “We even upgraded our truck racks and built new ones to handle them, and we can load them now with the same ease and time as a tank truck.”

Special thanks to Lubes N Greases Magazine, the original publisher of the flexitank case study, and Bigler Specialty Oils, a Houston, Texas global marketer of petroleum base stocks.

To read the entire flexitank case study visit EPT Featured In Lubes N Greases Magazine in the News section of our website.