It can be tricky to decide which powder mixer is going to work best for you. So many questions…..
- What will work best with my ingredients?
- What will give me the shortest mixing time?
- Will this mixer damage my products with shear?
- How long is this mixer going to take to clean?
When choosing a powder mixer the following factors should be considered:
- Capacity – We are not all huge manufacturers. For facilities catering to contract manufacturing the necessity for some manual processes combined with mixer flexibility can be the key to keeping costs down and remaining agile for customers.
- The tendency of your product to segregate – the more a mix contains powders that differ in density the greater the risk for segregation. There is also a risk when decanting these mixtures and the placement of the mixer closer to filling line should be considered too.
- The tendency of your product to agglomerate – The addition of liquids for flavour or process, in the case of wet granulation, can cause product to agglomerate. It is necessary to have mixers such as paddle mixers with choppers, or high shear mixers to attend to this challenge in order to produce a homogeneous mix.
- The purpose – is it a pre-blend or a batch mix. The addition of micro-ingredients into a bulk mix is common practice in a variety of industries from construction to food.
Certainly a lot to think about.
Well, the people at Permix have devised an easy to read table outlining the basics and you can download it here for free. Hope this helps.