Custom Powders
About us
Custom Powders is a specialist provider of contract (tolling) powder and granule processing services, supporting multinational companies across the food, feed, animal health, cosmetics, plastics, and specialty chemicals industries.
With more than 45 years of experience, we help customers solve complex powder processing challenges, support new product development, and scale production efficiently and reliably.
Our customers typically approach us when powders or granules cause issues in their production processes or downstream applications. These challenges may include poor flowability, dust formation, segregation, inconsistent particle size distribution, or difficulties during handling, storage, or transport. By applying the right combination of processing techniques and conditions, Custom Powders helps improve product performance, process stability, and production efficiency.
Powder & Granule Processing Services
Our services include ambient & cryogenic milling, blending, sieving and classification, dry compaction agglomeration, and large-scale drying for suitable projects.
Dry compaction agglomeration is frequently used to convert fine powders into dust-free, free-flowing granules, improving safety, handling, and downstream processing. Typical processing rates are around 1,000 kg per hour, with batch sizes ranging from 20–100 tonnes up to multi-thousand-tonne annual volumes.
Industries We Serve
Custom Powders works with leading companies in:
• Food & Feed – additives, functional ingredients, nutritional components
• Animal Health – veterinary products and feed supplements (GMP compliant)
• Cosmetics & Personal Care – powders and actives requiring controlled handling
• Plastics – high-value plastic additives and functional compounds
• Specialty Chemicals – intermediates and performance materials
Quality, Safety & Segregation Philosophy
Quality, safety, and product integrity are central to everything we do. Custom Powders operates from a UK facility with 13 fully segregated processing suites, designed to prevent cross-contamination and protect customer products and intellectual property.
All operations are performed in accordance with GMP, ISO 9001, and FSSC 22000, ensuring consistent, compliant, and auditable processing.
What Sets Custom Powders Apart
What truly distinguishes Custom Powders is our broad range of processing capabilities under one roof, combined with a solution-oriented, partnership-based approach. We work closely with customers to understand their product challenges and objectives, whether this involves troubleshooting existing products, supporting the market introduction of new formulations, or providing additional or replacement production capacity.
Our well-trained, committed, and motivated workforce brings decades of hands-on experience across a wide variety of materials and applications. Customers value our ability to deliver reliable results without surprises, making Custom Powders not just a processor, but a trusted long-term partner in powder and granule processing.
Products
Food Grade Microfine Salt
For 30 years we have supplied fine milled salt into both the food and industrial sectors. Manufactured to FSSC 22000 standard our Microfine Salt is routinely used in both the dairy food sector and in dry seasoning applications. The standard pack is 25kg sacks, special pack sizes range from 12.5kg to 1,000kg big bags. We also supply a range of salt grades to be used in industrial applications ranging from the oil-well industry to specialist electronics manufacture.
Microfine Salt For Advanced Battery Technology
Next-generation batteries require materials that perform with absolute consistency. Purity, particle size and process reliability can make the difference between good results and outstanding performance. Custom Powders delivers ultra-fine, high-quality salt engineered for demanding industrial environments. Originally developed under strict food-grade standards, our salt now proves its value in multiple stages of advanced battery material production—where predictability, cleanliness and precision are essential. With state-of-the-art milling, classification and powder engineering, we supply salts that meet tight particle-size targets and support stable, scalable processing in today’s most innovative battery technologies.
Blending
The following processes are available in many of the 13 self-contained process units in our Crewe factory: 3 Low shear batch blending units. 4 High shear batch blending units. 3 Continuous blending systems. 1 Fluidised bed system. Low shear blending is offered using ribbon and U Trough blending equipment. These blenders achieve a gentle folding action with blend times typically 20 to 60 minutes. Feed to the blenders can be from big bags, sacks, drums or boxes. Feed material can be check screened prior to charging into the blender. Product is typically discharged to big bags but can also be packed to sacks or boxes incorporating check screens. With careful operation these blenders can disperse oils and waxes onto powder or granules in order to reduce the dustiness of the final product. High shear Ploughshare mixers are available with capacities ranging from 2000 to 4200 litres. They are capable of the accurate dispersion of low levels of chemicals in short blend times. Chopper units (running between the ploughs) permit dispersion of liquids into the blend and also serve to control oversize generation should this be an issue. Very high shear blending can uniformly disperse high viscosity liquids into powders with heating if required. Custom Powders in house designed loss in weight systems can continuously blend up to 4 powder streams and a liquid if required.
Dedusting
In 35 years of contract processing powders and granules, Custom Powders Ltd has faced a huge range of exceptional requirements for finished product performance. Many of these have included requirements for low dust content whether required for aesthetic reasons, customer or user experience or critical to the end product performance. Sieving has an important use here but is not always the answer. Air classifying has been extremely effective but depending on the raw material may be impractical. As a result of this Custom Powders Ltd has developed a range of bespoke de-dusting systems and unique product tests, to ensure we have achieved consistent performance to the most demanding low dust products. The most common application for de-dusting systems is within a value adding process eg agglomeration or compaction. Here the de-dusting not only has to achieve the end product requirement, it must be compatible with the speed of the process being operated. De-dusters operate with both mechanical and air agitation to ‘knock’ fines off the product particle and then to remove the dust particle via air conveying. Whenever possible, dust extracted is recycled continuously to the process, for example in compaction or agglomeration. A further option available to some products is by post treatment of a granule or powder with low levels of a suitable liquid, often oil. A suitable dosing and blending system is required often followed by a sieve system to remove or break down any agglomerates formed prior to packing.
Air classifying
Air classifying is suitable for high volume processing where a single product cut is required, to remove oversize or fines, typically between 10 and 300 microns. It is therefore capable of a smaller particle size cut than sieving. The accuracy of cut achieved is very material dependent and requires extended development time. Material is air conveyed into the classifier. This process is best suited to free flowing powders but sometimes it can accommodate cohesive powders. The vigorous air conveying and classifier action makes this process less suitable for hygroscopic or friable materials. Once the material enters the classifier an adjustable but static baffle system combined with variable speed classifier wheel achieves the separation. Fine material passes out of the classifier with the air flow and is separated in a filter unit, from where it can be packed into big bags or sacks. Oversize drops out of the air flow in the classifier and is discharged via a rotary valve. Air classifying is commonly used in Protein Shifting where precise particle size control is essential to provide consistent high protein content in the fine fraction. Air classifying is offered from three process units with standards from industrial to FSSC22000 food grade.
Sieving
Materials can be sieved from 10mm down to 75 microns. This can be used to remove oversize or undersize particles or to remove outsize contaminants. Sieving is frequently used as a final Critical Control Step in food processing. Air swept sieves can be used to remove coarse particles or to sieve low density fine materials, they generally only provide two fractions oversize and undersize. Oscillating and vibrating sieves can operate effectively down to 50 microns using ultrasonic cleaning. They offer the advantage of gentle action for friable materials and can provide more than one sieved fraction in one process step. Custom Powders Ltd can offer more than 10 different sieving processes with oscillating sieves with brush or air jet cleaning, vibrating sieves with Ultrasonic or mechanical cleaning and a range of air swept sieves. Process standards range from Industrial chemical, to food, to full GMP
Roll Compaction Agglomeration
There are a number of reasons that a roll compaction process is required: to increase the particle size of a powder, dedusting, to increase the density of a powder, to combine several different powdered materials so they do not separate on transport and for many other reasons. The powder to be compacted is metered into the compactor ‘vertical screws’ where pre-densification and de-aeration occurs. The vertical screws force the powder into the compactor rolls. The rolls are pressed together by hydraulic rams, the rolls then extrude the compact as a sheet, or series of ‘pencils’, or even briquettes. A range of roll profiles are available, with different profiles required for different raw material compaction properties. Similarly the compactors have a range of different pressure capabilities, this is required both to achieve compaction with the different materials and also in some instances to control dispersion property of the final product. The compact sheet is then milled and then sieved through a multistage process incorporating a single, double or even triple deck sieve. The aperture of the sieve screens is used to control the final product particle size. The selection of the mill type, size and screen design is critical to achieving an efficient compaction process. Custom Powders Ltd offer roll compaction in 5 separate process units in sizes ranging from 50kg/hr to 1,500kg/hr and for qualities ranging from Industrial, Food, Medicated Animal Health and GMP.
Air Classified Milling
There are many reasons for milling materials: to increase solubility speed, to combine materials into a fine milled product, to give good 'mouth feel' & taste impact. Air classifier mills can achieve particle size reduction down to 4 to 15 microns. This depends on the mill selection and the characteristics of the material to be milled. Spray dried powders mill finer than crystalline powders. There are principally two types of mill process: mechanical impact milling & air jet milling. In mechanical impact mills, milling is achieved by impact between a high speed rotor fitted with hammers or pins and a stationary grinding track. Contact components are stainless steel. Materials harder than Mohs 3.5 are unsuitable for processing on these mills. Air jet milling uses compressed gas to impact the particles against each other. The advantages are higher energy input thus potentially finer milling and milling of abrasive materials. The disadvantage is often very high energy input for the compressed gas. In both types of mill particle size is controlled using an internal rotating classifier. Cryogenic freezing of raw material can permit milling of tough materials which become brittle when frozen. Depending on the requirements of the process and product temperature, controlled milling is also possible with either cooling of the mill or with introduction of heat into the mill air stream. Some products are sensitive to air oxidation during milling. At Custom Powders Ltd it is possible to run air classifier mills under an inert nitrogen atmosphere. Throughput on these mills is highly dependent on the raw material properties and the final particle size required. With 35 years experience in air classifier milling we can usually make a reasonable estimate for a new product based on historical data. Custom Powders Ltd offer air classified milling in 4 production suites ranging from FSSC22000 food grade, industrial and even to medical grade plastics.