Buck® Plastic Seed Containers

For immediate release - February 15, 2001

Columbia, MD - GEA Pharma Systems announced today the U.S. availability of Buck® Plastic Seed Containers with adapters for Buck® high-containment passive valves. The containers are widely accepted in Europe. Plastic seed containers are particularly useful in the following situations :

• When small quantities of materials are to be fed into blenders or reactors.
• When there are weight limitations for lifting by employees, as the plastic seed containers weight much less than stainless steel.
• When the level of the materials needs to be visible to determine when the container is empty.
• When a throw-a-way type container is necessary because validation of CIP is difficult.

Some of the main features of these new containers are:

• Made of FDA-approved materials
• Sanitary in design and construction
• Can be CIP or SIP
• Less expensive than stainless steel
• Disposable
• Tamper proof
• Easily adapted to Buck® passive valves
• Low price
• Less weight than stainless steel, yet very durable

Buck® split-valve technology allows containers to maintain a dust-tight seal while connecting with (and disconnecting from) intermediate bulk containers and various process equipment such as mills, dryers, blenders, presses, and compactors. The design eliminates contamination of the product or leakage of material that might endanger operators to less than 1 microgram/m³.

Buck® technology is offered in North America by Niro Inc. Niro Inc. is an international company specializing in the manufacture of equipment for the production of materials in powder, granulate, agglomerate, or tablet form. Niro products include spray dryers and coolers, flash dryers, continuous and batch fluid bed processors, rotary presses, evaporators, filtration systems, homogenizers, mixers & one-pot processors, IBCs and powder handling equipment, docking systems & valves, and packaging systems.

Jim Shell
Niro Inc.
410-997-6629
E-mail : jim.shell@geagroup.com