1. Home
2. How CROHMIQ works

How  works

In many industries, it is crucial to safely and efficiently transport bulk material such as pigments and powdered chemicals. However, not all bulk bags are safe, especially when they are used in explosive or flammable atmospheres. Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container or FIBC bulk bags with static protective fabric are designed to minimize the risks of inadvertent sparks or brush discharges that can occur when the bags are used.

Texene offers CROHMIQ®static protective fabric for Type D FIBC bulk bags so users operating in the most volatile atmospheres can safely utilize the bags. Unlike other types of FIBC bulk bags, only Type D FIBC bags can protect against dangerous static without the need for a ground connection.

CROHMIQ® static protective FIBC fabric provides protection from hazardous electrostatic discharges by safely dissipating charge into the atmosphere by a process called corona.

Corona is one form of electrostatic discharge, but unlike sparks or brush discharges, corona is low energy and is not incendiary to flammable or explosive atmospheres.

 
Low energy corona discharge
surrounding a circular conductor.

In CROHMIQ static protective FIBC fabric, corona is produced by patented quasi-conductive yarns that are interwoven with polypropylene tapes at intervals of about 20 mm (0.8 inch). The purpose of the quasi-conductive yarns is to concentrate the electric field from any charge that accumulates when filling or emptying an FIBC.

In the high field strength region (>3MV/m) air is split into electrons and positive ions. This region of ionization quickly decays as the field strength falls off away from the quasi-conductive yarn. Ions produced in the air next to the quasi-conductive yarn are available to interact with any charge on the FIBC. Charge of the same polarity as that on the FIBC is repelled safely into the atmosphere, whilst charge of the opposite polarity combines with and neutralizes charge on the FIBC. The net effect is that charge is dissipated safely from the FIBC into the atmosphere.

The advantage of using corona to safely dissipate charge is that it does not require a ground connection. Type C FIBC bulk bags do require a ground connection because they rely on conduction to transport charge to ground; take away the ground connection and charge has nowhere to go. With corona as part of the Type D FIBC, there is always somewhere for charge to be safely dissipated.

When you’re working in flammable or volatile conditions or with material that can quickly become dangerous with a static spark from traditional bulk bags, contact us today to learn more about our high-quality Type D FIBC bulk bags.