The Ultimate Guide to Industrial Mixers

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the various types of industrial mixers, how to select the best one for your needs, customize parts for enhanced efficiency, and maintain them for long-lasting, optimal performance. Whether you’re new to industrial mixing or looking to upgrade your equipment, this guide will equip you with the knowledge to make informed decisions.

Understanding the Most Common Types of Industrial Mixers

Industrial mixers come in many designs, each crafted to meet different mixing requirements. The choice of mixer depends heavily on the type of material you’re working with, the volume you need to produce, and the consistency you aim to achieve.

3 Most Common Types of Industrial Mixers

Let's dive right into the basics with the three most common types of industrial mixers:

1. Low-shear mixers

2. High-shear mixers

3. High-viscosity mixers

1. Low-Shear Mixers

Gentle mixing is necessary for processes requiring minimal impact on the combined materials. Low-shear mixers, also called low-speed mixers, blend delicate materials that could be damaged by aggressive mixing. They are commonly used in the food and beverage industry for mixing ingredients like fruits or sauces.

2. High-Shear Mixers

Designed for processes where intense shear forces are required, high-shear mixers are used to emulsify, homogenize, or break down particles in liquids. These mixers work by creating high-speed rotations, which result in fine dispersions. They’re frequently used in industries like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, where consistency and texture are critical.

3. High-Viscosity Mixers

High-viscosity mixers are designed to handle thick, challenging materials such as adhesives, sealants, and heavy pastes. These mixers typically offer high torque and slow speed to efficiently blend flow-resistant materials.

Low-Shear Mixers

Low-shear mixers and accessories for nearly every application.

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High-Shear Mixers

High-shear mixing equipment to optimize your processes.

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High-Viscosity Mixers

High-viscosity mixers for thick, difficult mixes.

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Exploring Mixing Further: Batch vs. Continuous Mixers

While the three most common industrial mixers can be found above, there are two primary subtypes - batch and continuous mixers.

Choosing between a batch and continuous mixer depends on your production scale and needs. Both offer unique advantages and understanding their differences will help you determine which is best for your operation.

Batch Mixers

Batch mixing is often used for small-to-medium production runs where flexibility is important. This method allows for precise control over individual batches, making it ideal for industries that need to change formulas frequently or produce products in limited quantities. One batch is completed before the next one starts, making it easier to trace and control quality.

Continuous Mixers

On the other hand, continuous mixers are designed for high-volume production where ingredients are fed into the system continuously. Continuous mixing is best suited for large-scale operations where the same product is produced over long periods.

	Batch Mixing	Continuous Mixing
Benefits
Control Mixing Times & Ingredients Batch mixers offer precise control over individual batches.
Efficient for Large-Scale Production Continuous mixers feed ingredients into the system continuously - allowing for mass production.
Reduces Labor with Automation Continuous mixing processes can be automated, while batch mixers are used for individual batches.
Allows for Advanced Quality Control With batch mixers, one batch is completed before the next starts, making it easier to trace and control quality.
Suited for Low-Shear Mixing Batch mixers are ideal when batch integrity is important. Continuous mixers are more efficient in high-shear mixing.

Customizing Your Industrial Mixer Parts for Optimal Performance

When it comes to industrial mixers, one size doesn’t fit all. Customizing your mixer and its parts ensures that the machine meets your specific process requirements, maximizing efficiency, product quality, and durability.

Why customize industrial mixer parts?

Although off-the-shelf mixers might work, they aren’t always the most efficient or long-lasting solution. Customizing an industrial mixer involves selecting the right components, materials, and configurations tailored to your unique production needs.

Whether you need to mix highly viscous materials, require specialized mixing speeds, or deal with delicate ingredients, customization can enhance your mixer's performance and extend its lifespan.

Common Mixer Customization Options

Customizing your mixer to meet the demands of your process will improve efficiency and help reduce downtime and maintenance costs by ensuring that the mixer is built to last.

Three main mixer customization options include:

1. Blades and impellers

2. Mixer design

3. Material choices

Blades and Impellers

The heart of any mixer, blades and impellers come in various designs to suit different mixing needs.

For example, propeller blades work best for liquid-liquid mixing, while dispersion blades are designed for high-shear applications like breaking down particles in suspensions.

Mixer Design

The design of the mixer—whether it’s tank-mounted, portable, or inline—affects how it integrates into your production line.

Tank-mounted mixers are often used for large batches, while portable mixers offer flexibility for smaller operations. Inline mixers are ideal for continuous processes, allowing materials to be mixed as they flow through a pipeline.

Mixer Material Choice

The materials used in the mixer must be compatible with the chemicals, abrasiveness, or temperature of the particles being mixed.

Stainless steel is common for food and pharmaceutical applications due to its corrosion resistance, while special alloys may be necessary for more aggressive materials.

stainless steel impeller in stainless vessel

Industrial mixers are designed to handle a variety of materials, and the mixing process can be categorized based on the types of ingredients being combined - liquids, solids, and gases.

Understanding the classification of your materials will help you select the right mixer for your application and achieve the desired consistency and product quality.

Liquid-Liquid Mixing

Liquid-liquid mixing can involve miscible liquids, like flavorings and water in beverages, or immiscible liquids, such as oil and water.

For more challenging immiscible mixes, high-shear mixers or high-speed dispersers are often used to create stable emulsions, where small droplets of one liquid are suspended in another.

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Solid-Liquid Mixing

In this process, solid particles are dispersed into a liquid to create a solution or a suspension. If the solid dissolves completely, a uniform solution is formed. When the solid doesn’t dissolve, the process creates a suspension, referred to as a slurry.

Industries such as food processing or wastewater treatment frequently use batch mixers and continuous mixers for solid-liquid mixing.

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Liquid-Gas Mixing

For products that require gas to be incorporated into a liquid—like carbonated beverages or foamed products—turbine mixers or high-shear mixers are used to disperse gas evenly throughout the liquid.

The goal is to ensure that gas bubbles are consistently and uniformly distributed, creating a stable mixture without causing excessive foam or instability.

In the food industry, achieving consistent, high-quality products is essential to meet consumer expectations and maintain a competitive edge. Industrial mixers ensure uniformity, efficiency, and scalability across various food production processes. Among the most effective mixing technologies, high-shear mixers have become indispensable for food manufacturers, offering a range of benefits that enhance product quality and streamline production.

High-Shear Mixers:
High-shear mixers are widely used in the food industry for processes that require intense mixing forces to break down particles and emulsify ingredients. These mixers are essential for producing products with smooth textures and uniform consistency, such as sauces, dressings, and dairy items. High-shear mixers also reduce processing times, helping food manufacturers boost efficiency while preserving nutrients.

Planetary Mixers:
Planetary mixers are ideal for blending high-viscosity products, such as dough, creams, and pastes. The unique planetary mixing action evenly combines ingredients, making these mixers a favorite for production where uniformity is key to product quality. Their versatility allows them to handle a wide range of textures and ingredients.

Ribbon Blenders:
Ribbon blenders are commonly used for dry ingredient blending in the food industry. They are particularly effective for mixing powders, granules, and spices, ensuring even distribution of ingredients.

Ribbon blenders are perfect for producing bakery mixes, seasoning blends, and powdered beverages, where consistency and homogeneity are essential.

As the cannabis industry rapidly expands, manufacturers need to keep pace with the growing consumer demand for cannabis-infused products, including edibles, tinctures, and medical marijuana. Industrial mixers play a vital role in maintaining the high quality and consistency required for these products, ensuring efficient and scalable production.

High-Shear Mixers

High-shear mixers are critical for breaking down particles and distributing ingredients uniformly throughout cannabis-infused products. Whether it’s creating lotions, creams, or edibles, these mixers ensure cannabis oils and other active ingredients are thoroughly integrated, preventing separation and enhancing product consistency.

For example, in cannabis-infused lotions, high-shear mixers ensure that cannabis oils are evenly dispersed throughout the cream base, ensuring the final product has a smooth, uniform texture.

High-Speed Dispersers:
In cannabis processing, high-speed dispersers handle viscous ingredients and efficiently disperse solids into liquids, such as cannabinoid extracts into tinctures or beverages.

These mixers improve the texture and quality of the final product by ensuring that ingredients are evenly distributed, free of clumps, and thoroughly mixed. High-speed dispersers are ideal for cannabis tinctures and beverages, where consistency and quality are key.

Multi-Shaft Mixers:
Combining both high-shear and low-speed mixing capabilities, multi-shaft mixers are versatile tools used in the cannabis industry. They are great for creating complex products like cannabis salves.

These mixers gently blend base ingredients at low speeds before switching to high speeds to incorporate active cannabis extracts, ensuring a smooth, homogenous product.

In the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, precision and consistency are non-negotiable. Industrial mixers are integral to drug formulation, ensuring uniformity, stability, and the preservation of sensitive ingredients.

From creating fine suspensions to mixing high-viscosity creams and gels, mixers are essential in every phase of pharmaceutical production. The most common types of industrial mixers used in the pharmaceutical industry include:

High-Shear Mixers

High-shear mixers are commonly used in pharmaceutical manufacturing to blend materials of varying viscosities and densities. They apply intense shear forces to break down particles and create uniform emulsions and suspensions.

These mixers are essential for producing liquid formulations such as creams, gels, and syrups, ensuring that active ingredients are evenly distributed for consistency and efficacy.

Planetary Mixers
Planetary mixers are designed for high-viscosity products like ointments, creams, and gels. Their unique mixing motion, where the blades orbit around the bowl while simultaneously rotating on their axis, ensures thorough blending. This mixing action is important for achieving uniform consistency in semi-solid formulations, making them indispensable in producing pharmaceutical topical treatments.

Ribbon Blenders and V-Blenders
Ribbon blenders are widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for dry powder blending. These mixers ensure the even distribution of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) with excipients.

Their radial and axial mixing action provides a homogenous blend, which is essential in tablet manufacturing, where uniformity of the powder mix directly affects the consistency of each dose.

In the chemical industry, mixing is vital for ensuring product consistency, process efficiency, and safety. Industrial mixers help blend raw materials, facilitate chemical reactions, and ensure the uniform distribution of ingredients.

From adhesives and coatings to fine chemicals and detergents, mixers are essential for maintaining high-quality chemical products.

Tank-Mounted Agitators:
Tank-mounted agitators are versatile mixers used in chemical manufacturing for mixing liquids, gases, and slurries. These mixers are often mounted to a vessel or designed to be portable, allowing flexibility in handling various batch sizes.

Tank-mounted agitators ensure that chemical reactants are evenly mixed, preventing hot spots and ensuring process stability.

Static Mixers:
Static mixers are used for continuous mixing in pipelines, where fluids are mixed as they flow through fixed elements in the mixer. Static mixers are ideal for processes that require precision and uniformity, such as blending gases with liquids or performing heat-sensitive chemical reactions.

They are commonly used in chemical processes like removing CO2 and SO2 from gases or blending chemicals in compact spaces.

High-Shear Mixers:
High-shear mixers generate intense shear forces to break down particles, create emulsions, and ensure uniform dispersion of ingredients.

In the chemical industry, these mixers are essential for producing fine chemicals, coatings, and adhesives. High-shear mixers are also used for processing materials that require rapid mixing and uniform particle size distribution.

Ribbon Blenders:
Ribbon blenders are used for blending dry powders and granules, ensuring consistency in chemical formulations. Their efficient radial and lateral movement makes them ideal for mixing powders, fine particulates, and granular materials without damaging them.

Ribbon blenders are commonly employed in the production of powders, detergents, and other dry chemical products.

Drum Mixers:
Drum mixers are designed to mix liquids, solids, or powders directly in large drums, eliminating the need for transferring materials between vessels.

Drum mixers are often used for chemical processes that involve large batch sizes and multiple phases of mixing, offering flexibility and efficiency in blending chemicals directly in storage or shipping containers.

In the petroleum industry, industrial mixers are essential at every stage of production, from upstream drilling operations to downstream refining processes.

Whether it's stabilizing drilling fluids, preventing sludge buildup in storage tanks, or ensuring uniform blending of additives, industrial mixing technologies enhance the efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness of petroleum production.

Tank-Mounted Agitators:
Tank-mounted agitators are widely used in upstream petroleum operations to mix drilling fluids. These fluids, consisting of water, oil, and clay, are crucial for keeping the drill bit clean and preventing overheating during drilling.

Industrial agitators ensure that the water and oil are thoroughly mixed, stabilizing the fluid and enabling effective oil extraction.

Static Mixers:
In downstream processes, static mixers are commonly used for refining operations. For example, when removing CO2 and SO2 from natural gas in offshore refineries, static mixers are favored due to their ability to operate in compact environments.

They are also essential for desalting crude oil by mixing it with emulsifiers and water, helping to remove salts before the oil is further refined.

High-Shear Mixers:
High-shear mixers play an important role in reducing the viscosity of crude oil during upstream operations, making it easier to transport through pipelines.

These mixers are also key to deasphalting processes, where propane is mixed to remove asphaltene and other heavy resins, optimizing space and efficiency in refineries.

Propeller Mixers and Submerged Jet Nozzles:
In downstream crude oil storage, propeller mixers prevent sludge from settling at the bottom of storage tanks. Continuous mixing keeps the oil moving, preventing the buildup of solidified sludge.

If sludge does settle, submerged jet nozzles dislodge it, ensuring smooth pumping and minimizing downtime.

What to Consider When Choosing the Right Mixer for Your Project

Selecting the right industrial mixer involves more than just picking a machine off the shelf.

The ideal mixer will depend on several key factors, ranging from your production requirements to the physical properties of the materials you're working with.

Mixing Objectives

Understanding the primary objective of your mixing process is the first step in selecting the right mixer.

For example, high-shear mixers are essential for breaking down particles and creating uniform emulsions, while low-shear mixers are better for gently combining delicate ingredients.

Material Choice

Viscosity, density, and chemical reactivity all affect how the materials interact with the mixer’s components.

Stainless steel mixers, for instance, are ideal for corrosive materials or industries with strict hygiene standards, such as food and pharmaceuticals.

Capacity & Size

Overestimating your needs can lead to inefficiencies and wasted resources, while underestimating could limit your production capacity.

The mixer you choose must be able to handle your current and future production volumes.

Power & Efficiency

A powerful motor ensures that your mixer can handle high viscosity and volume. However, efficiency should also be a consideration, as it directly affects operational costs.

The right-sized mixer with the correct power output can optimize energy usage without sacrificing performance.

How to Choose the Best Industrial Mixer Manufacturer

Once you’ve determined the type of mixer you need, selecting the right manufacturer becomes a critical step. A reliable manufacturer will offer more than just a machine—they will provide support, customization options, and ensure that their products meet industry standards.

Expertise and Experience

Look for manufacturers with a proven track record in supplying mixers for your industry. Their experience ensures they understand the challenges of your specific application and can offer tailored solutions.

Product Range and Customization

The best manufacturers provide a wide range of mixers and offer customization to meet your unique needs. Whether it’s the size, design, or materials used, they should be able to adapt their products to fit your requirements.

Quality and Durability

Ensure the manufacturer adheres to high-quality standards, using durable materials and manufacturing processes. Certifications like ISO or UL can indicate a commitment to quality.

Customer Support

Post-sale support is essential for maintaining equipment and troubleshooting issues. Choose a manufacturer with a reputation for excellent customer service, including readily available spare parts and maintenance support.

Bringing It All Together: Optimizing Your Mixing with MXD Process

Choosing the right manufacturer is as important as choosing the right mixer. A trustworthy mixer manufacturer fosters a long-term partnership that supports your operational success.

If you're ready to get started, our team of engineers are here for you.

Contact MXD Process