Chemical and plastics production lines face a specific problem that sits between the process and the pack — getting resins, pellets, and powder blends from the extruder, reactor, or blender to the packaging station in the right condition. Too hot, too aerated, too contaminated with fines, or inconsistently fed, and the packaging line either stops or ships product that fails specifications. At Spiral Elevator Limited, we build vibratory handling systems engineered around that exact challenge, with bespoke construction, documented material grades, and process-specific performance built in from the start.
Challenges We Solve for Chemicals & Plastics Manufacturers
Pellets and resins arriving at packaging too hot
Polymer pellets and resin granules exit extruders and reactors at temperatures that cause them to fuse, deform, or block packaging machinery if they are not cooled before the fill point. A separate floor-level cooling conveyor takes up space most plants do not have.
Pellet clumping and fusion during conveying
Warm pellets in contact with each other under static or slow-moving conditions stick together, arriving at weighers and form-fill-seal machines as clusters that cause blockages, inaccurate fills, and unplanned stoppages.
Powder blend aeration and inconsistent fill weights
Fine chemical powders and compounded blends trap air during conveying, reducing apparent bulk density and producing short-weight packs, excessive headspace, and product that settles significantly once it reaches the customer.
Fines and agglomerates contaminating finished product
Pelletising and grinding always produce a proportion of fines alongside the target particle size. Without inline removal, these reach the packaging station, affect bulk density, create dust at the fill point, and generate non-conformances.
Bridging and flow failure in powder hoppers
Hygroscopic chemical powders—polymer additives, fillers, pigments, and compounding ingredients—absorb moisture and become cohesive in storage. They bridge across hopper outlets and rat-hole through bulk, producing erratic feed rates and forcing manual intervention that slows the line.
Dust generation from open powder conveying
Open troughs carrying fine chemical powders create fugitive dust that is a safety risk, a product loss, and in some chemical processing environments, a classified explosion hazard. Containment cannot be an afterthought.
Surface moisture on water-cooled pellets
Pellets quenched in a water bath after extrusion carry surface moisture that must be removed before packaging. Wet pellets cause bags to seal poorly, promote microbial risk in certain formulations, and affect the accuracy of moisture-sensitive weight checks.
Key Products for Chemicals & Plastics Applications
Air Cooling Spiral Elevator
Most plastics lines do not have the floor space for a dedicated cooling conveyor after the extruder. The Air Cooling Spiral Elevator solves that by cooling your pellets and resin granules as they travel up to packaging height, so by the time the product reaches the fill point the temperature problem is already dealt with.
Cooling or Dry Spiral Elevator
If your pellets come out of a water bath they need more than just cooling. They need the surface moisture gone before they go anywhere near a weigher or packing machine. The Cooling or Dry Spiral Elevator handles both in the same pass without adding another piece of equipment to the line.
Screening Spiral Elevator
Fines are a fact of life in pelletising and grinding operations and the question is simply where you catch them. The Screening Spiral Elevator pulls them out during elevation before they reach the packaging station, affect your fill weights, or create dust at the fill point.
Recirculation Spiral Elevator
Some product will not hit the target temperature on a single pass and sending it straight to packaging is not an option. The Recirculation Spiral Elevator loops it back through the cooling cycle automatically so the line keeps running and the packaging station only ever sees product that is actually ready.
Decline Spiral Elevator
When your process equipment sits at height and your packaging line is at floor level, product has to come down somehow. The Decline Spiral Elevator gives it a controlled, gentle descent that is far kinder to pellets and powder blends than a drop, with no breakage, no segregation, and no dust cloud at the bottom.
Vibrating Feeders
Packaging machines run best when the feed coming into them is steady and predictable. Vibrating Feeders give you that with an adjustable flow rate tuneable to whatever bulk density and particle size you are running, so the line downstream can do its job without surges or starvation.
Vibrating Screens and Sieves
Whether you need to clean up incoming raw material before it enters the process or pull fines and oversized particles out of finished product before packaging, Vibrating Screens and Sieves handle it inline without manual sieving or a separate quality check to schedule.
Vibratory Hopper Discharges
If you have ever started a shift to find a hopper has bridged overnight you know exactly what this machine is for. Vibratory Hopper Discharges keep cohesive powders and polymer additives flowing freely from the outlet without anyone needing to intervene manually on a running line.
Magnetic Dosing Feeders
Getting additive ratios right batch after batch is not something you want to leave to a manual process. Magnetic Dosing Feeders dose precisely, integrate with your control system, and give you a traceable record of what went in and when, which matters more and more as traceability requirements tighten across the sector.
Vibrating Tube Feeders
Some chemical powders simply cannot be conveyed on an open trough, whether that is because of dust risk, explosion classification, or because the material is too valuable to lose to the atmosphere. The Vibrating Tube Feeder keeps everything contained from inlet to discharge with no open transfer points along the way.
Vibrating Compaction Tables
Powder that has been conveyed arrives at the fill point aerated and lighter than it should be, which means short weights, too much headspace, and product that looks half empty when it reaches the customer. The Vibrating Compaction Table settles the fill at the pack point before the bag is sealed so every pack goes out at the right weight.
How Spiral Elevator Limited Integrates Into Your Process
Cooling at the extruder or reactor exit
The first priority after extrusion or reaction is temperature reduction. Rather than running a long floor-level cooling conveyor to bring pellets or resins down to packaging temperature, our air cooling spiral elevators cool the product as it is elevated, combining two process steps into one compact machine and returning significant floor space to the plant.
Surface drying for water-bath cooled pellets
Where pellets have been quenched in a water bath, surface moisture needs to be removed before the product is weighed and packed. Our cooling and drying spiral elevators extend dwell time on the spiral with managed airflow, handling both the residual heat and the surface moisture in the same conveying pass.
Inline screening to remove fines and agglomerates
Before cooled pellets or granules reach the packaging line, fines, agglomerates, and oversized particles need to be removed. Our screening spiral elevators do this during elevation — product is graded as it travels up the spiral, with fines falling through the screen deck and oversized material diverted, all without a separate downstream screener.
Controlled feed into weighers and packaging machines
Consistent feed rate into the packaging line is what keeps it running at target speed. Our vibrating feeders deliver a steady, adjustable flow of pellets, granules, or powder blends into weighers, form-fill-seal machines, big bag fillers, and drum filling stations — tuned to the specific bulk density and flow characteristics of your material.
Enclosed conveying for fine chemical powders
Where your material is a fine powder with dust or explosion risk, open conveying is not acceptable. Our vibrating tube feeders run fully enclosed from inlet to discharge, containing the product throughout the transfer and eliminating dust release at every point in the conveying path.
Reliable discharge from hoppers and silos
Cohesive chemical powders and compounding ingredients that bridge in storage need a reliable discharge solution that restores flow without mechanical agitation of the bulk. Our vibratory hopper discharges apply targeted vibration at the outlet, keeping feed rates consistent and the line moving without manual intervention.
Compaction at the fill point
Aerated powder that has been conveyed to the packaging station needs to be settled before or during filling to restore bulk density and deliver accurate net weights. Our vibrating compaction tables apply controlled vibration to the package during filling; removing trapped air, tightening weight variation, and eliminating the need to overfill as a buffer against short weights.
Why Chemicals & Plastics Manufacturers Choose Spiral Elevator Limited
Bespoke engineering, not catalogue products
Every system is dimensioned and specified around your material, your throughput, and your line layout — not adapted from a standard range to approximately fit your process.
Built for Continuous Duty in Process Environments
Chemical and plastics lines run hard and the equipment on them needs to keep up. Every system we build is specified for the temperatures, material characteristics, and run hours your production environment actually demands, not tested against a laboratory standard and left to prove itself on your shop floor.
Multi-function machines reduce line complexity
A single spiral elevator cooling, screening, and elevating simultaneously means fewer machines to run, fewer to maintain, and less floor space consumed between the extruder and the pack-off point.
Gentle handling protects pellet and powder integrity
Controlled vibration tuned to your specific material keeps breakage, dust generation, and blend segregation to a minimum throughout the conveying path — from process exit to packaging station.
Built and Supported in the UK
Every system is designed and manufactured in the UK, with typical lead times of 6 to 12 weeks from design sign-off. When you need a site visit, a spare part, or a technical conversation, you are talking to the people who built the machine and they can be with you without overseas logistics or time-zone delays getting in the way.
A Decade in the Field
Spiral Elevator Limited has been building vibratory systems for chemical, plastics, pharmaceutical, and food manufacturers since 2015. The problems that tend to catch people out during commissioning are ones we have already seen, solved, and built the answer to.
Hygiene, compliance, and documentation included
Every system ships with material certifications, weld inspection records, surface finish reports, and IP ratings as standard — ready for supplier audits, site approval, and regulatory inspection without additional work on your side.