What is the Importance of Mixing in Chemical, Food, & Pharmaceutical Industries ?

Most production processes in the chemical process industry, pharmaceutical industry, food industry, and associated industries rely on mixing. It is critical in the polymer, glass, ceramics, building materials, pulp and paper, petroleum, and power sectors, as well as industrial waste treatment systems.

By definition, mixing is the process of thoroughly combining different materials to produce a homogeneous product. The resulting mixture in most cases is a combination of dissimilar materials. In some cases, a chemically homogeneous material may be mixed to produce a uniform blend of a desired weight or volume with consistent particle-size distribution, colour, texture, or other required attributes. Mixing is a critical process because the quality of the final product and its attributes are derived from the quality of the mix. Improper mixing results in a non-homogeneous product that lacks consistency with respect to product desired attributes.

The wide variety and ever-increasing complexity of mixing processes encountered in industrial applications requires careful selection, design, and scale-up to ensure effective and efficient mixing. A mixer is no longer a generic production tool, but a critical and decisive business tool because :

1. Improved mixing efficiency leads to shorter batch cycle times and operational costs.
2. Competitive production systems necessitate robust equipment that are capable of faster blend times, lower power consumption, and adaptability of equipment for use with multiple products.
3. Modern mixers are designed to combine different processing steps in a single piece of equipment: for example, coating, granulation, heat transfer, and drying.
4. Good mixing is imperative for minimizing investment and operating costs providing high yields, and thereby enhancing profitability.
5. Profitability and competitive advantage are dependent on subtle improvements in product quality through gains in mixing performance and efficiency.