Provided is a device for granulating, agglomerating, pelletising, drying and/or coating, the device including a swirl chamber, a distribution chamber, wherein the swirl chamber is separated from the distribution chamber by a base and wherein a powder to be granulated or a powder mixture to be granulated is presented in the swirl chamber, the device further including at least one agitator for thoroughly mixing the powder to be granulated or the powder mixture to be granulated and at least one addition device for a liquid, wherein the base is designed in several parts and at least one base part is horizontally and/or vertically displaceable, with the result that that the base becomes a distributor plate. Also provided is a method for granulating, agglomerating, pelletising, drying and/or coating using such a device and a base suitable for use as a distributor plate in a convective drying apparatus.

A tool for dry mixing and coating of powder mixtures comprising includes a fixing shaft and an approximately disc-shaped element fixed thereto and of a diameter d, having an upper surface, a lower surface and a peripheral surface connecting the upper and lower surfaces. The disc-shaped element has a plurality of grooves extending parallel to the shaft axis. Each groove has two groove walls extending from the peripheral surface to a groove bottom. A tooth is formed between two grooves. In order to provide a tool which is suitable for particularly low contamination dry mixing, dry dispersing and coating of powder mixtures, the disc-shaped element has a base portion and at least one wear element fixed to the base portion, wherein at least one portion of each groove wall, that adjoins the peripheral surface, is formed by the wear element.

A drum coater device (10) for coating tablets, comprising a mixing drum (18) which can be rotated about an axis of rotation (20) and which has an interior (24) for arranging a tablet batch to be coated, further comprising a spraying device for introducing a coating material into the interior, wherein the mixing drum has a hollow-cylindrical, perforated wall which delimits at least part of the interior of the mixing drum, wherein mixing elements for mixing the tablets of a tablet batch are arranged on the inner side, which faces the interior, of the wall, wherein pairs (36) of mixing elements (34a, 34b) form legs which are oriented with respect to one another in a V shape, wherein the distance between the legs of a pair widens from a central annular region, as seen along the axis of rotation, of the wall in the direction of lateral annular regions adjacent to the central annular region.

A coating apparatus and a method are disclosed for coating tablets in a rotating drilled container at the outlet of which a rotating annular element operates that is coaxial with the container, in which in an initial transition phase the annular element rotates in a direction that is opposite the rotation direction of the container to retain the tablets inside the container, forming a bed of tablets until a desired level is reached, and in a stationary phase the annular element rotates in a direction that is the same as the rotation of the container to permit the exit of the tablets, until the quantity of tablets entering the container is the same that the quantity exiting.

Apparatus for treating a wetted proppant including a device to estimate fraction of water in a wetted proppant feed of a frac proppant processing plant; a system for determining an environmental temperature at which the wetted proppant will be exposed to in the frac proppant processing plant or in storage holding an output from the frac proppant processing plant; and an additive system to apply a freezing point suppression additive to the wetted proppant in proportion to the fraction of water such that a mixture of the wetted proppant plus the freezing point suppression additive does not solidify at the environmental temperature. A method for treating a wetted proppant is also described.

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for coating a material by contacting the material with a coating material and a solvent are disclosed herein. The coated material can be obtained by evaporating the solvent: by heating the coated material directly or indirectly with electromagnetic radiation; by heating with heat generated from a heat source that heats an internal container for the material to be coated and/or coated material; and/or in an interior volume of a coating container having a side wall, by heating a portion of the side wall of the coating container and/or internal container with a heat source that is positioned outside of the interior volume of the coating container.

A granular coating conveyor system for coating granular particles carried in compartments along a tubular conveyor member. Coating fluid is fed over the granular particles through radial nozzles located inside a co-axial rotating blender with tubular member upstream discharge port and tubular member downstream return ingress port for the granular particles. The blender is a drum having a helicoidal spiral screw integrally mounted to an interior peripheral wall face of the drum and extending therealong radially outwardly of the tubular member mixing in the drum in tumbling fashion the granular particles with coating fluid and guiding same therealong, so as to dynamically form a kidney shape mass of granular particles.

A method of producing a particle coating on one or more items is provided. The method comprises mixing a supercritical fluid with a solution comprising dissolved material for forming particles. The method further comprises spraying the mixture into a precipitation chamber (316) to precipitate particles, wherein the chamber is at a pressure below a supercritical pressure of the supercritical fluid. The method comprises conveying items to be coated from an inlet of the chamber to an outlet of the chamber. The method also comprises capturing the precipitated particles on items within the chamber.

A system, apparatus and method are provided for processing articles. The system includes subsystems for synthesizing, pre-treating, conducting a vapor phase coating process and post-treating articles in the form of powders and solid or porous workpieces. The apparatus permits vapor phase synthesis, treatment and deposition processes to be performed with high efficiency and at high overall throughput. The methods include converting solids, liquids or gases into gaseous and solid streams that can be separated or exchanged with or without treatment and/or coating steps, and produce optimized composite articles for specific applications.

Various batch mixers and related components and methods for coating seeds to be used in planting and other applications where it is desired to enhance germination of the seed or growth of the resulting plant. Seed supply systems include an articulating gate on a seed scale fill hopper. A lateral discharge gate on a seed supply hopper is provided. Unique mixing bars or blades are arranged around an interior of a stirring batch mixer. A discharge chute may be provided to dissipate kinetic energy of coated seeds without damaging the seeds.