Equipment Round-Up: Mixing & Blending

Fast, versatile and sanitary

New Ultra Sanitary In-Line mixers perform the widest range of applications — mixing, emulsifying, homogenizing, disintegrating and dissolving — with efficiency, flexibility and sanitary construction. Designed to comply with FDA, 3A and GMP standards, these machines are suited for CIP and SIP installations. The design offers further versatility with multistage rotor/stator configurations as standard options, resulting in substantially faster mixing times by reducing the number of recirculation passes required, and offering greater particle size reduction.

Silverson Machines; East Longmeadow, Mass.
413-525-4825; www.silverson.com

Portable and submersible

The PSDM-55 Submersible Drum Mill is an economical, free-standing, stand-mounted, basket-type mill that has an independently powered milling shaft/basket assembly and separate single-mixing shaft. It is capable of processing milling batches 20-55 gal. in a single drum. Useful for low viscosity batches up to 20,000 cps, it has no floor anchors and is movable with a forklift or pallet jack.

Premier Mill/SPX Corp.; Reading, Pa.
484-331-7639; www.spxprocessequipment.com

Powerful blender

The LiquiShear provides the processing power of a bottom entry, high-speed blender with an optional integrated powder induction system to feed powders, solids and semi-solids into the blender. On its own, the basic blending module is a heavier-duty, higher-quality and more powerful blender. It uses a low-maintenance double mechanical seal, a removable manway dump grid, a combination filter and vent and a CIP spray ball.

Admix Inc.; Manchester, N.H.
800-466-2369; www.admix.com

Ribbon blending

A new family of ribbon blending tanks is being introduced in single-wall, double-wall insulated and triple-wall heated and insulated versions. Available in sizes 50-800 gal., the tanks feature variable frequency drives, controlled helical agitation blades, interlocked safety grates, personnel steps and hopper covers.

Hinds-Bock Corp.; Redmond, Wash.
877-292-5715; www.hinds-boch.com

Mixing, cooking and pumping

The steam-driven PDX sonic processing system can mix, pump, heat, cook and homogenize simultaneously, providing up to 50 percent energy improvement and low maintenance. This novel technology enables processing that is up to 15 times faster, burn-on is eliminated, clean-up is up to 80 percent quicker and payback can come within 12 months.

Pursuit Dynamics; Darien, Conn.
203-202-2125; www.pursuitdynamics.com

Prevents bridging

A family of automated powder batching systems provide efficient management of dry bulk, powdered, flaked and granular ingredients and produce exceptional batch consistency. The USDA polyethylene dispensers are designed to prevent the “bridging” effect, which is common in powder processing, and which complicates material flow. The dispenser design has integral, centralized dust collection, but also is designed to substantially reduce the generation of airborne dusts. Also, the systems use off-the-shelf hardware and software to prevent issues with proprietary equipment and platforms and facilitate easy maintenance.

Ingredient Masters Inc.; Cincinnati
888-345-4729; www.ingredientmasters.com

No moving parts

Kenics Sanitary Static Mixers provide efficient, cost-effective blending, dispersion and heating/cooling. Continuous, in-line mixing is achieved with no moving parts, no maintenance and no external power requirements. They feature sanitary stainless steel construction, clamp-style fittings and clean-in-place models. The patented, static helical mixing elements produce complete mixing uniformity with minimum pressure drop for any combination of liquids, gases and solids.

Chemineer Inc.; Dayton, Ohio
937-454-3200; www.chemineer.com

High shear = fine emulsions

Several new design features are offered on the X-Series High-Shear Mixer. The patented design includes a unique rotor-stator generator that creates high shear rates at tip speeds up to 17,000 ft. per minute. These mixers are offered in several standard industrial and sanitary designs up to 250 hp. All wetted parts are constructed of type 316-stainless steel and include double mechanical seals. Typically used for the production of fine emulsions and dispersions, submicron particle sizes are easily produced using this model.