Difference between revisions of "Big Bags"

[[Category:Packages]]{{Knoppen}}

[[Image:Big-bag-filling-machine.jpg|thumb|200px|Big Bag Filling Machine]]  

[[Image:Big-bag-filling-machine-portable.jpg|thumb|200px|Portable Big Bag Filling Machine]]

[[Image:Big-bag-filling-machine-highspeed.jpg|thumb|200px|High Speed Portable Big Bag Filling Machine]]

A '''Big Bag''', Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container, FIBC , or Bulk Bag is a standardized container in large dimensions for storing and transporting dry, flowable products, for example sand, fertilizers , and granules of plastics.

Big Bags are most often made of thick woven polyethylene or polypropylene,  either coated or uncoated, and normally measure around 110 cm or 45-48  inches in diameter and varies in height from 100 cm up to 200 cm or 35  to 80 inches. Its capacity is normally around 1000 kg or 2000 lbs, but  the larger units can store even more. The average bulk bag made to ship  one metric ton can weigh between 5-7 lbs.

==Size==

Bulk  Bags come in many different sizes, they can be customized into just  about any 3 dimension size possible. There are limits to the sizes of  course, but usually you'll see standard bulk bags with a standard base  dimension of 35" x 35". The heights of a bulk bag can range up to 96  plus inches tall. Again, the size and dimensions of bulk bags are  determined by safety, functionality and usability by the customer.  

==History==

Although there is disagreement on exactly where FIBCs were first made  and used, it is certain that they have been employed for a variety of  packaging purposes since the 1940s. These forerunners of the FIBC as we  know it today were manufactured from PVC rubber and generally utilised within the rubber industry for the transportation of carbon black  to be used as a reinforcing agent in a variety of rubber products. One  of the first known importers of the PVC containers into the United  States is Robert Williamson, founder and CEO of B.A.G. Corp., in 1969.  These first PVC bags were imported from Japan as an efficient way to  solve the loading and handling problem faced by crop dusters.

By the 1960s, with the development of polypropylene combined with  advances in weaving, the bulk bags as we know them today came into being  and were rapidly adopted by a wide variety of oil and chemical  companies to store and transport powdered and granular products.

It was during the oil crisis of the mid 1970s that the FIBC really  came into its own for transporting huge quantities of cement to the  Middle East from across Europe for the rapid expansion of the oil  producing countries. At its zenith, upwards of 50,000 metric tons of  cement was being shipped out on a weekly basis to feed the vast building  programme. The Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container Association (FIBCA)  was formed in 1983 by the companies that were manufacturing bulk bags  at that time.

The modern FIBC transports a growing figure of over ¼ billion tonnes  of product each year and is used to handle, store and move products as  varied as cereals to powdered chemicals and flour  to animal feeds. With a capacity of up to 3m³ and load capability  ranging from ½ a tonne to two tonnes FIBCs are highly cost effective,  easily recyclable and ideal for virtually any free-flowing granule,  powder, pellet or flake. FIBCs are also being developed to hold and  filter fluid products.

==Construction==

==Lifting options==

   

==Electrostatic properties==

Type - A - no special electrostatic safety features

Type - B - Made from plain (non-antistatic) polypropylene. Type B  bags are not capable of generating propagating brush discharges. The  wall of this FIBC exhibits a breakdown voltage of 4 kilovolts or less.

Type - C - Conductive FIBC. Constructed from electrically conductive  fabric, designed to control electrostatic charges by grounding. A  standard fabric used contains conductive threads or tape.

Type - D - Anti-static FIBCs, essentially refers to those bags which  have anti-static or static dissipative properties without the  requirement of grounding.

==Industries Served==

==Flood Barrier Use==

Thailand utilized big bags to erect temporary walls to protect areas during the 2011 Thailand floods. Walls built using big bags instead of smaller traditionally used sand bags were termed the big bag wall, or big bag barrier.

== Video==

<youtube>lz9W0m45VUk</youtube>

<youtube>4vgflSSql3Q</youtube>

<youtube>4h74r_Y8PBI</youtube>