From tiny quantities to tons: Dosing technology at POWTECH TECHNOPHARM

Dosing technology for bulk solids and liquids is an important product category at POWTECH TECHNOPHARM. Gravimetric dosing systems are just as much a part of this as volumetric systems. In the first year of the TECHNOPHARM revival, hygienic solutions represent a significant part of the offerings.

Written by Dr. Ulla Reutner

Stainless steel and glass machine filling a small jar with yellow pills — Correct dosing is essential for quality, efficiency, and safety in the process industry—both during production and filling.

When speed and simplicity are more important than absolute precision, volumetric dosing is the best option. However, the material must have consistent density. Powders, granules, and high-viscosity liquids can be dosed effectively in food, plastics, and building material manufacturing applications.
In process industry applications, where accuracy is required, however, gravimetric dosing is preferred. Gravimetric dosing compensates for fluctuations in material density and bulk material properties. It is particularly used in the pharmaceutical industry, where maximum control and repeatability are necessary. The same is often true in the chemical industry and in certain food industry processes. POWTECH TECHNOPHARM offers a comprehensive range of products for both dosing principles.

Gravimetric precision for well-controlled production

At booth 9-466 in hall 9, Zemic Europe will present a wide range of industrial weighing solutions, including solutions for silo weighing with double-sided shear beams, weighing tools for belt scales, and hopper scales for continuous and batch processing. The company also offers a wide range of single-point load cells for low-capacity applications, as well as complete weighing sets with load cells, mounting accessories, junction boxes, indicators, and weighing transmitters.

Wika (Hall 12.0, 12-282) is also announcing force measurement technology made of stainless steel and other high-quality materials as trade fair exhibits. The selection ranges from measuring axes, ring force transducers, and pressure and tension transducers to bending bars, shear bars, and load cells. IIoT weighing technology will be the focus of a Wika presentation on increasing efficiency when retrofitting silos on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at the POWTECH FORUM.

Witalij Galustian from Systec will provide an insight into the principles of freely programmable weighing terminals on Thursday, September 25, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the POWTECH FORUM. He will explain, how programmable and calibratable weighing terminals can be used to meet current and future requirements in industrial dosing processes. Several weighing terminals, including smart versions, will be presented at the Systec booth in Hall 9/9-518.

Stainless steel container on blue conveyor belt is filled via a funnel in an industrial machine — The new AZO eDos dosing device, shown here in the RoLog system, doses with an accuracy of up to one gram. The device prevents metal abrasion.

Precise dosing of small quantities

As in previous years, visitors to Azo's booth in Hall 12.0, Booth 12-488, will find a variety of solutions for dosing small and very small quantities of bulk solids in 2025. Among the new products is the flexible AZO eDos dosing device, which can be used in conjunction with several Azo systems, such as the RoLog robot solution and the Componenter batch dosing system, as well as in compact dosing stations with stationary drives. It can be used for almost all bulk materials in the food, plastics, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries and doses with an accuracy of up to one gram. The operating principle is also based on weighing technology in combination with a variable dosing gap. The system operates without moving metal parts in the product flow, thus avoiding metal abrasion, even with abrasive raw materials such as quartz sand.

A new micro-flow dosing system for the continuous dosing of free-flowing powders in the range from 0.3 to 1 g/min can be seen at Alba (Hall 9 / 9-338). It is ideal for laboratory environments or small-batch production where ingredients need to be added slowly and precisely. Thanks to its compact design, the system can be easily integrated into a laminar flow chamber, making it suitable for controlled environments. ATEX certification for zones 21 and 22 is available for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

The Powderflex system from F. Ili Sacchi (Hall 11.0 / 11-220) is also suitable for the fully automatic dosing of small and micro components, ensuring complete traceability of all ingredients. It can also be used in collaborative robot operation. Gram-accurate weighing of pigments, flavors, additives, active ingredients, and numerous other small quantities improves product safety and at the same time increases production efficiency by minimizing manual work steps.

Volumetric and gravimetric dosing from a single source

Three-Tec (Hall 9, Booth 9-306) also has micro-dose dispensers for throughputs from 5 grams per hour in its range. However, versions for up to several tons are also available. At POWTECH TECHNOPHARM, the company will present dosing devices that can be used to efficiently dose even poorly flowing materials. Suitable devices, including controls, are available for both gravimetric and volumetric dosing. The components that come into contact with the product are made of 1.4404 (AISI 316L) stainless steel. This means they can be cleaned easily and efficiently with a wide range of liquids and solvents. Automated cleaning systems such as WIP (washing in place), CIP (cleaning in place), or SIP (sterilization in place) are available on request.

TransiTec Anlagenbau (Hall 9/9-330) will present stations for simple volumetric big bag filling through to calibratable gravimetric filling. In addition to technology for precise dosing and conveying, the company also offers complex, tailor-made silo systems.

Rendering of a large silo system with several small and large silos and a cube-shaped smaller container on top of the small silos — The honeycomb structure of the OAS silo module system makes it easy to expand when requirements change. It can be used to dose large, medium, and small components.

Modular silo system doses and mixes

You can discover OAS's versatile portfolio at booth 11-141 in hall 11. This includes a patented silo module system for large, medium, and small components, including dosing and conveying to the mixing plant. It is constructed in a honeycomb pattern on an area of 10x12 m and can be between 18 m and 30 m high, depending on the silo volume. The centerpiece is a double-chamber master silo, which can be supplemented by up to eight daughter silos. The design allows for rapid expansion as raw material requirements increase. The basic module integrates dosing units, weighing, conveyor station, control system, and process control technology, which controls transport to the mixing plant. Optionally, a small and medium component station with up to twelve additional silos can be installed to integrate bagged goods or big bags and convey them to the mixing plant via a central transmitter.

Two systems from the Italian company Color Service (Hall 12.0 / Booth 12-358) ensure precise recipe execution and full batch integrity. CS Icon doses many micro and macro components in powder form. Its modular design allows for easy expansion. CS Calibro is the compact version of the powder weighing system, which can be used as a micro-batch solution for manual filling in production or in the laboratory.

Volumetric dosing with rotary valves

There is traditionally a wide range of rotary valves on offer at POWTECH TECHNOPHARM. They play a central role in the volumetric dosing of bulk solids. A rotating rotary valve with several chambers transports the bulk solids and ensures a uniform flow. Barl Maschinenbau (Hall 9 / 9-201) will present a number of designs for use in a temperature range from -40 °C to +900 °C, including knife, tangential, blow-through, clearing wheel, pharmaceutical, and pyrolysis valves. They can be used both for dosing dusty and fine-grained bulk solids and as air seals.

Gericke (Hall 11.0/11-206) also offers volumetric and gravimetric dosing units with a wide range of capacities in its comprehensive portfolio for bulk material handling and processing, and develops complete dosing solutions for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries. One of the latest additions to the rotary valve product range are quick-clean versions with USDA Dairy and EHEDG certification.

The name Jaudt Dosiertechnik (Hall 11.0 / 11-233) already reveals its core competence: devices for dosing, shutting off, and discharging bulk materials. Here, too, rotary valves in combination with slide valves, rotary dampers, silo blowers, etc. form the core of the dosing solutions. Jaudt has a lot to offer, especially for potentially explosive areas. In February, the company introduced the new ZS ATEX 250/450 rotary valve, which is designed to dose bulk materials particularly evenly thanks to a rotary wheel with 22 small pockets.

Exhibitors who come from far away are always an asset to the trade fair business. Anval International (Hall 12.0 / 12-511) from Singapore is one of the companies contributing to the international character of the trade fair. The company specializes in valves, dosing devices, and sluices. Another manufacturer of rotary valves is the Dutch exhibitor VDL Industrial Products (Hall 10.0, Booth 10-417). In Nuremberg, the focus is on rotating HAT and MD rotary valves. VDL offers Easy-Clean, ATX, and heat-resistant versions, as well as models with special surface treatment of the rotor and housing.

A person in a white coat and face mask is holding a small container in a disposable containment bag that is being filled with yellow granules — Toxic and sensitive bulk materials, such as those found in the (bio)pharmaceutical industry, can be dosed and filled using special containment systems.

Disposable system for the highest containment level

The Flecotec containment system (up to OEB 5), which Rommelag Flex will present in Hall 12, Booth 12-582, meets the diverse challenges of the (bio)pharmaceutical industry in dosing, emptying, and transporting. Classic applications include sampling and dosing powders and bulk materials, in-process sampling, and emptying and filling bags, for example in the production of active ingredients or tablets, or in biopharmaceutical buffer and media production. The system includes special disposable bags, containment boxes, and various connection and transfer systems. It can be adapted to existing processes and in some cases does not require recertification.

Thanks to its functional design and stainless steel construction, the DosyPack dosing station from NetterVibration (Hall 12.0 / 12-471) is suitable for the precise dosing of bulk materials in the food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as for chemical applications. It consists of a bulk material container and a conveyor chute mounted on leaf springs. It is driven by pneumatic vibrators, which enable precise throughput of the conveyor volume as well as fast starts and stops.

Outlook: Processing meets Packaging and parallel trade fair FACHPACK offer further solutions

Special note: Steriline (hall 3C, booth 3C-550), a European manufacturer of complete lines for the aseptic processing and filling of injectable and ophthalmic products, will be participating in the special show Processing meets Packaging. It develops and manufactures a wide range of mechanical and robot-assisted solutions that are compatible with vials, ampoules, cartridges, and syringes. Steriline's product range includes equipment from washing machines, depyrogenation tunnels, filling and sealing machines to external decontamination machines and barrier systems such as LAF, oRABS, cRABS, and isolators.

But it is not just at the special show that complete solutions for dosing and filling are on display. Visitors interested in such systems should also be sure to stop by the neighboring FACHPACK. There, they will find a wide variety of dosing systems for powders, granulates, lumpy and liquid products, often in combination with a filling and packaging solution. Other aseptic filling systems will also be presented there. FACHPACK takes place at the same time as POWTECH TECHNOPHARM. Access to both trade fairs is possible with the same admission ticket.

Are you interested in this topic? Then come to POWTECH TECHNOPHARM and experience this and many other topics live at the trade fair. Secure your ticket here using the following code: PTTP25Insights

Author

Dr. Ulla Reutner

Chemist and freelance specialised journalist