Industrial Mixers

About Industrial Mixers and Industrial Mixing Equipment Including: Agitators, Batch Mixers, Blenders, Emulsifiers, Mixers, Mixing Blades & Static Mixers.

Industrial mixers combine different substances in order to create a uniform mixture suitable for use in a variety of industrial applications. Industrial mixers, or blenders, provide an adequate stirring and mixing area for the material. Industrial mixing equipment comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. The impeller is the component that imparts motion and shear to the fluid or solid, inducing mixing. The type of industrial mixer and impeller chosen depends entirely on the nature of the application. The impeller is more application-specific than the industrial mixer, as the industrial mixer can be used for a wide variety of tasks.
 
Industrial mixers are common in the food processing, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and toiletry, chemical, agricultural, pulp and paper, automotive and adhesive and sealant industries. There are countless substances that blenders are used for, including beverages, medicines, toothpaste, glue and petroleum products. Certain applications require specific types of industrial mixers, while other applications can be achieved by a variety of methods. Cost effectiveness and efficiency are the most important considerations. For example, static mixers or in-line agitators are good choices for neutralization or other chemical reactions involving liquid/liquid or liquid/solid constituents. If the mixture contains fluids of widely differing viscosities or agglomerates that need to be broken down, however, then a rotor/stator mixer, which provides high shear to disperse the fluids more finely, would be more efficient.
 
Multi agitator mixers are the cutting edge of industrial mixing equipment. They feature several independent agitators and a flexible controls system, allowing them to easily switch gears to accommodate a fast-changing variety of products. Multi agitator mixers are advantageous to companies that are focused on short campaigns and fast changeover. Significant advances have been made in this technology, specifically in the agitator design, power/liquid induction, heat transfer and controls. These mixers allow the operation of two or three different agitators in an almost infinite variety of functional combinations during the processes of charging ingredients, mixing and then discharging the end product. The addition of a third agitator greatly enhances the functionality of the mixer. Each agitator is independently controlled and separately powered by an electronic variable-speed drive.
 
There is a significant difference between the terms agitator and mixer. Agitators are basically process aids, because their main functions, including producing flow in a vessel and ensuring in-tank uniformity, are secondary to the whole process. Industrial mixers have primary functions, such as dissolving solids, dispersing powders into liquids, breaking down agglomerates and combining two immiscible liquids. Choosing one of the two for the application depends largely on batch size. Industrial mixing equipment that operates within the mixture performs the mixing task (e.g. disintegrating and solubilizing solids and creating fine emulsions or suspensions) and circulates the contents of the vessel. Simple agitators can be used in large batches but are not very effective outside of producing flow, promoting heat transfer and maintaining in-tank uniformity. Agitators can be combined with other in-tank mixer types, but as the batch size increases, so does the power requirement, making the immersion unit too costly. A cost-effective solution is to use an in-line mixer that operates from outside of the stirring vessel.

Industrial Mixers and Industrial Mixing Equipment Image Provided by Patterson Industries

Industrial Mixers and Industrial Mixing Equipment Image Provided by TAH Industries, Inc.

• Agitators commonly mix substances with low viscosities in low-shear applications. Agitators range in size from small agitators used in laboratory applications to large industrial agitators with 10,000-gallon capacities.
  
• Batch mixers mix one load of material at a time and are refilled with one load after another.
  
• Blenders usually mix miscible substances possessing comparable viscosities. Because substance properties remain similar, blending can usually be accomplished with relative ease.
  
• Continuous mixers are important parts of large production lines that typically have paddle type agitators with a series of mixing stages that progressively move and blend ingredients. Materials are constantly fed in specified proportions into continuous mixers, then are mixed, conveyed to the opposite end and discharged.
  
• Dispersers are single-shaft mixers that break apart or dissolve solid particles into liquid using a high-speed, rotating saw-tooth blade. The blade provides high shear forces that break apart the ingredients of low viscosity products, such as paints.
  
• Disposable mixers are low-cost plastic spouts containing plastic mixing elements. Disposable mixers are as efficient as most metal mixers but are not appropriate for in-line use at high pressures.
  
• Drum mixers have adjustable blades in a swing-blade design that maximize liquid movement at all speeds.
  
• Dual-shaft paddle mixers are fast mixers that use horizontal rotating shafts with fixed arms and attached paddle-shaped feet to impact the solids and throw some of them onto the second shaft, while pushing the rest toward one end of the device. The paddles on the other shaft push the solids toward the opposite end and toward the other shaft and paddle set.
  
• Emulsifiers provide high speed rotation and centrifugal force through a perforated screen to achieve emulsification. Emulsifiers are very effective where a high shear is required, as they can provide fast mechanical and hydraulic shear
  
• High shear mixers utilize counter-current mixing, which places very high parallel forces upon substances. During counter-current mixing, the mixing pan and the mixing tools rapidly revolve in opposite directions, resulting in substance uniformity.
  
• High speed dispersion mills are continuous mixers that break down particle masses to efficiently provide fine dispersions and stable emulsions.
  
• Homogenizing mixers are high-shear mixers that subject mixtures of varying viscosities to intense mechanical and hydraulic forces, reducing mixing time and assuring uniform blend.
  
• Horizontal mixers have three or four augers and are used for quick mechanical mixing of particular substances, especially in feed processing.
  
• In-line mixers are being used more and more in large volume operations, as they can handle an extremely large batch with much lower horsepower and with predictable batch turnover. Dynamic in-line mixers utilize a combination of pump pressure and high-speed rotating elements, while static in-line mixers have specially contoured stationary mixing elements located in a tubular housing that serves as part of the pipeline.
  
• Laboratory mixers are an integral part of any laboratory or processing environment, as they can perform a variety of functions, such as mixing, emulsifying, homogenizing, disintegrating and dissolving. Types of lab mixers include compact, dual-shaft, constant-torque and high viscosity.
  
• Mixers create a uniform mixture from various combined substances.
  
• Mixing blades push materials around the mixer.
  
• Motionless mixers, also known as static mixers, inline mixers and pipeline mixers, are continuous mixers that operate inline and have no moving parts. Motionless mixers allow for the blending of two or more fluids and disperse treatment chemicals into fluid streams.
  
• Pharmaceutical mixers are used in processing a variety of liquids, powders and crystalline solids in the pharmaceutical processing industry. Common applications that utilize pharmaceutical mixers include the mixing of medicine, such as cough syrups and the creation of tablet coatings for pills.
  
• Production mills are efficient, high-speed dispersion mills that can quickly disperse, emulsify, suspend, cook, aerate and deaerate masses of particles. Material can be put in the production mill through radial slots where they are hurled off the slot tips against the stator slots, which produces efficient wetting-out of the solid phase and the quick achievement of stable suspensions, dispersions and emulsions.
  
• Proportional mixers properly mix concentrations of water to produce working and make-up solutions for applications that include coolants, cleaners, strippers, degreasers, fertilizers and fungicides. Venturi proportional mixers use water passing over an orifice to create suction to draw the concentrate from the container and mix it with water, while water-driven mixers use water to drive a piston, which then pumps concentrate into a mixing chamber where the concentrate is mixed with water.
  
• Ribbon mixers create an extremely diverse velocity field by using a counter-transport mechanism consisting of an outside right-hand ribbon and an inside left-hand ribbon, both connected to the same horizontal shaft. Ribbon mixers provide fast blending and mixing in the vertical plane, as they can transport an entire mass of solids a short distance in both directions of the axis of the shaft while lifting a portion of the solids a short distance in each direction; however, they are slow when mixing end to end.
  
• Rotary drum mixers contain blades that spin around the axis of the drum, mixing the substances, such as concrete. Drum mixer axes may be either horizontal or inclined.
  
• Rotor stator technology includes high-speed mixers that utilize a rotor and stationary stator to produce high rotor tip speeds. The differential speed between the rotor and the stator in these mixers imparts extremely high shear and turbulent energy in the gap between the rotor and stator.
  
• Static mixers, also referred to as in-line mixers, are motionless mixers that operate continuously. Static mixers remain quite efficient and generally require very little maintenance.
  
• Vacuum mixers have either top- or bottom-mounted mixers and are used to eliminate air pulled into the material during mixing, which increases product quality.

Common Terms Related to Industrial Mixers

Agglomeration – The recombination of finely dispersed particles into larger particles, typically caused by a disturbance of surface forces resulting from a change in environment.
 
Alginate – Salt found in the cell wall of brown algae. Alginates are used in food processing to stabilize certain mixtures (e.g. emulsions), to seal in moisture and to thicken texture, among other things.
 
Axial Flow – The movement of fluid from the top to the bottom of a tank.
 
Batch Mixing – Mixing process that involves the weighing and measuring of ingredients, the creation of a mixture from separate ingredients, the removal of the mixture and the cleaning of the mixer and mixing tools before the start of a new batch.
 
Brine – Mineralized water consisting of sodium chloride, metallic and/or organic contaminants. Brine solutions are utilized in food processing procedures.
 
Colloid – Fine particles of a substance that remain between the dissolution phase and the suspension phase. Colloids neither dissolve into other substances, remain suspended within the other substances nor settle out of the substances.
 
Continuous Mixing – Mixing process, involving the automatic creation of a series of mixtures, in which the mixer contains a metering mechanism, such as a pump, and measures, combines and mixes the ingredients. Because smaller amounts are mixed continuously, cleaning of the mixer and mixing tools usually remains fast and easy.
 
Density – The ratio of substance mass to substance volume, measured in g/cm3 (grams per cubic cm).
 
Dispersion – Small particles of a substance evenly distributed throughout another substance. Dispersed particles are small, but remain larger than colloids.
 
Emulsion – A suspension in which one substance is suspended within the other. They are unable to be blended or mixed but can be combined, though not dissolved (e.g. oil and vinegar).
 
Heterogeneous – Consisting of different components that may not be distributed evenly throughout a mixture. The components, while mixed together, still remain separate entities.
 
Homogenous – Consisting of identical components distributed uniformly throughout the mixture. The components no longer remain separate entities, but have become one entity, as in a solution.
 
Impeller – The part of the agitator that imparts force to the material being mixed. Examples of impellers are propellers, turbines, gates, anchors and paddles.
 
Kinetic Energy – The use of motion to create and transmit power.
 
Mechanical Seal – A device consisting of two rings, one stationary and one rotating with the agitator shaft, which is used to seal against pressure where the shaft enters the vessel. Springs or tank pressure forces the accurately machined faces of these rings together.
 
Micrometer or Micron – A unit of measurement equivalent to one-millionth of a meter.
 
Mixture – A substance containing two or more substances that may not be distributed evenly throughout and do not bond together chemically. Substances in mixtures, although combined, maintain separateness.  
 
Paddle – A two-bladed impeller whose diameter is somewhat larger than the radius of the tank.
 
Residence Time – The average time a component remains in a continuous-process mixing environment.
 
Size Reduction – The breakdown of immiscible particles in a mixture that cannot be dissolved.
 
Solution – A homogenous formation created by the dissolution of a substance or substances into another substance.  
 
Solute – In a solution, the liquid, gaseous or solid substance or substances that dissolve into a liquid or gaseous substance, called a solvent. Solutes usually consist of smaller quantities than the substance into which they are dissolved.
 
Solvent – The liquid or gaseous substance into which a liquid, gaseous or solid substance, known as a solute, is dissolved.
 
Suspension – A heterogeneous mixture in which fine particles of a solid neither dissolve into a liquid or gaseous substance nor settle out, but remain within the substance supported by buoyancy. In suspension, both substances remain separate entities.
 
Viscosity – The resistance of a fluid, whether liquid or gas, to flow easily. Fluids with high viscosity, such as molasses, flow slowly; low viscosity fluids, such as water, flow easily.