A major international beverage manufacturer was building its first North American manufacturing facility in the American Southwest. They needed a state-of-the-art factory capable of producing energy drinks at high volumes.

The engineering and construction company partnering on the project brought in AZO to engineer the sugar handling system. The core challenge: how to move enormous volumes of bulk sugar from receiving through storage silos to process dissolvers, maintain it without compaction or clumping, and do it all while meeting combustible dust safety requirements.

The result? A system that delivers over a million pounds of sugar daily for the manufacturer’s syrup making process. Here’s how we did it.

The Challenge

Bulk sugar handling at this scale presents a series of interconnected problems.

First, throughput. The facility receives sugar from rail cars, each carrying 250,000 pounds, in addition to tanker truck deliveries of 55,000 pounds. Three parallel dissolvers running 24/7 meant the system had to deliver 10 tons of sugar per hour to each one without interruption.

Second, material behavior. Fine granulated sugar doesn't flow like water. When exposed to heat and humidity, fine particles stick together. In the arid southwest climate, sugar at the bottom of a storage silo would compact and harden from the weight of 250,000 pounds pressing down from above. The system had to keep sugar moving constantly with conditioned air, preventing clumping and ensuring it remained flowable from unloading straight through to the dissolvers.

Third, safety. Handling combustible powders at this volume introduces significant risk. The system had to be designed with NFPA 654 compliance in mind from the start, accounting for dust hazards and integrating explosion protection throughout.

The AZO Solution

AZO designed and engineered a complete bulk sugar handling system built around the specific demands of this facility.

The core system included two parallel vacuum conveying lines to unload rail cars, 15 storage silos each with 250,000-pound capacity (each could hold an entire rail car of product), and a series of pneumatic conveying lines with diverter valves that could route sugar from any rail car to any silo, and from any silo to any of the three production dissolvers.

The silos themselves — standing roughly 90 feet tall — required vibrating bin bottoms to activate the mass of sugar and prevent compaction from stalling flow. The entire storage area was conditioned with dehumidification and air-handling systems to maintain optimal moisture levels. Plus, the outdoor silos were insulated to protect stored material from temperature swings that could affect handling.

Combustible dust hazards were engineered into the design from the start. Every component — silos, lines, filters, diverter valves — was specified for NFPA 654 compliance with explosion protection.

Implementation

The project took 15 months from initial engineering through startup. That timeline covered design, procurement, construction, assembly, and the commissioning phase where AZO's team worked on-site to validate performance and train the facility's operations and maintenance staff. AZO stayed engaged through the ramp-up period, ensuring the system performed reliably as the facility came online.

The Results

The facility delivered precisely what the beverage manufacturer needed: safe, high-volume sugar handling to the tune of 90,000 pounds of sugar per hour across all three dissolvers. The conveying lines keep material flowing without compaction issues.

The system’s compliance foundation — explosion protection, dust control, and safe design principles — gives the operation confidence that they're protecting both their facility and their workforce.

AZO Delivers Beverage Manufacturing Solutions at Scale

AZO's reputation for technical expertise and quality engineering was the deciding factor for this project. The customer knew that bulk material handling at this scale required a partner who could design the entire system, not just sell equipment.

Contact AZO to connect with an engineer who can evaluate your operation and recommend solutions built around your production reality.