Powder & Bulk Solids '99 Opens in Chicago

When the 180,000-sqft exhibit hall at the Rosemont Convention Center in Chicago opens today, an estimated 10,000 visitors are expected to visit nearly 600 exhibits - to view the machinery, equipment, containers, supplies and information systems used in the processing, handling, testing packaging, transportation or storage of dry particulate matter.

But before the hall opens, visitors are invited to attend an early morning Keynote address given by Dr. Thomas Meloy, the principal investigator of the Mars Environmental Compatibility Assessment (MECA) Instrumentation Package on NASA's Mars 2001 Launch. Dr. Meloy will discuss the technologies used to evaluate surface soil from Mars and the Moon. Complimentary samples of simulated Martian and Lunar dust will be distributed to the first thousand attendees.

The show's conference program, which opened yesterday, is organized into seven tracks, including: Solids Handling & Processing; Solids Characterization & Properties; Automation & Instrumentation; Packaging; Hazards/Safety/Loss Prevention; and Plant Maintenance and Management. More than 75 application-oriented sessions focus on a range of topics from Agglomerating Equipment and Process to Explosion Protection and Prevention in Material Processing.

Powder & Bulk Solids '99, sponsored by the Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association (PEMA), runs through Thursday, May 13.