Working and Uses of High Shear Mixers

A high shear mixer dissolves, or transports ingredients like liquid, solid, gas into a main continuous phase. This mixer is a very multipurpose mixing vessel, as it is used for emulsification, homogenization, particle size reduction and dispersion in the adhesives, chemical, cosmetic, food pharmaceutical and plastics industries.

Let's briefly talk about the working of these mixing tanks:

A high shear mixer usually operates the fluid (creating flow and shear) by using a rotating impeller or high speed rotor, or a series of such impellers or inline rotors, powered by an electric motor. The velocity at the centre of the rotor is lower than the velocity, or tip speed of the fluid at the outside diameter of the rotor and it is this that creates shear.

Stator is a stationary component that is used in combination with the rotor and it creates a close clearance gap between the rotor and itself and forms an extremely high shear zone for the material as it leaves the rotor. The combination of rotor and stator are generally known as the mixing head, or generator. A number of generators can be fitted easily in a large high shear rotor-stator mixer.

The diameter of the rotor and its rotational speed, the distance between the rotor and the stator, the time in the mixer and the number of generators in the series are some of its key design factors.

Some of the main uses of high shear mixers

These mixing vessels are immensely used throughout the chemical process industries, wherever it is required to produce standardized mixtures of ingredients that do not naturally mix. These include:

• Paper manufacture, bleaching and preparation of paper pulp
• Pharmaceuticals, preparations of suspensions and granular products
• Food preparation, emulsions for sauces and dressings
• Manufacture of cosmetics and toiletries