Bagging, Shipping, and Handling

Most bagging operations create dust when fine particles are handled. Safe practices require that personnel who are bagging and shipping phosphate fibers should wear protective clothing, and use approved respiration and ventilation equipment. At the product s destination it is also required that safe practices be observed. All dust must be considered undesirable when breathed, and phosphate fiber is no exception in this case. 

No special precautions are required to protect the product during transit. It is insoluble, nonhygroscopic, nontoxic, and is chemically stable. Most drums or bulk bins should be satisfactory, since normal care is provided in storage and shipment to insure that the storage area is clean and dry. 

The price of phosphate fibers and most manufactured substances can never compete with mined products such as asbestos, nor can it compete in performance in many areas where indestructibleness is a desirable property. Mined products have had to withstand the ravages of time to have survived. They have had centuries to approach a minimum free energy and, until disturbed, they are likely to maintain their current status. This, of course, excludes organic materials that have been 

The safety of phosphate fibers and their unique properties not possessed by minerals would allow them to receive a higher selling price in areas where they can compete without competition from minerals. The food and medical areas are examples of these markets. Very often it is desirable that a product is degradable. 

Scale-up when properly done is a function of engineering and development, and is not a direct part of research. The research work should be completed, or nearly so, before engineering is undertaken. If this is not the case a great job will be done while painting the wrong house. If things do not work out as required it may be necessary to do additional research, but this should be the exception and not a standard operation. 

---