Abstract: A drum charging system (100) is disclosed, for alleviating ergonomic concerns and chemical exposure hazards associated with the manual addition of solid materials from drums into processing equipment. The drum charging system (100) is adapted to be utilized with drum containers (102) having solid materials contained within a material bag (104). The system (100) comprises a ventilation sleeve (110) and a drum manipulator (200). The ventilation sleeve (110) captures dust which may be generated during the addition of solid materials from the drum (102) and material bag (104) into a reaction vessel (106). The drum manipulator (200) is adapted to be portable and facilitates manipulation of drums during charging functions.