Each bulk material is different and the differences are vital to understanding the handling requirements of the material. A material that is transferred in a Dilute-Phase system must be mixed with the conveying gas to be freely airborne. The velocity of the material in the air stream is the "saltation" velocity. The saltation velocity is unique to the particular material characteristics, such as bulk density, particle size and other factors.

Conveying well below the saltation velocity in the Dense-Phase regime will avoid the high material velocity that causes particle degradation or system wear. It also allows the transfer of lumpy or large materials that could not realistically achieve a saltation velocity in a pipeline.

Other advantages of Dense-Phase conveying are the avoidance of segregation of a mixture comprising various particles sizes and particle densities.

Low velocity of materials also provides considerable energy savings because there is no need to achieve the saltation velocity. The velocity differences are considerable depending on the material and very significant and Macawber retains a data bank of material characterizations to support their specialization in this field of modern bulk materials handling.