Cyclomix high-shear mixer

• High intensity mixing and agglomeration of cohesive powders
• Excellent temperature control
• Multiprocessing, like coating, heating, rounding, and bonding possible
• Seals above product zone
• Available in sizes ranging from 100 ml to 2000 litres

Processes

When the Cyclomix is used for intensive mixing of slurries, the powder/liquid ratio can vary from 20-80% to 99-1%. Especially the combination of viscous liquids and the addition of small amounts of powdery additives can cause great difficulties with the existing dissolver mixing systems. The mixing time can be long and the reproducibility between batches is mostly poor.

Ultra short batch times

As an example we can calculate with a process time in a 250 litre mixer of approximately 3 minutes. This process time is including a cleaning cycle after every batch, charging and discharging. The use of one single Cyclomix 250 litre results in a capacity of 5000 litres per hour. In this example the capacity of the Cyclomix was 5 times higher than a dissolver system.

Constant quality

Due to the unique flow pattern in the Cyclomix the complete content of the mixer is in intensive motion, i.e. no dead spots can be found. Therefore no solids will be deposited in dead zones in the vessel and a minimum of product will remain on the wall and cover. Result: a constant mixing quality and no disturbance by agglomerates which might be reintroduced in a certain stage of the mixing process.

Flexibility

An important goal of most of our customers is flexibility in serving their market, which results in many different recipes and various batch sizes. The Cyclomix is fully capable to fulfil these requirements. It can be used from 25% up to 100% filling rate resulting in a constant mixing quality.

The Cyclomix high shear impact mixer is suitable for a wide range of process applications, including:

• Intensive mixing of cohesive powders, slurries, and liquids
• Agglomeration by temperature or moisture addition
• Coating of powders with powders or liquids
• Dispersion of pigments
• Metallic bonding processing of powder paints
• (Vacuum) drying at low temperature with liquid recovery
• Low-speed mixing of cohesive powders, slurries, and liquids
• Densification of powders
• Spheronisation of particles
• Grinding & de-agglomeration
• Heating and cooling
• Chemical reactions

Slurries

In 1996 Hosokawa Micron developed a new revolutionary high shear mixer which could not be compared with any other high intensive mixer available on the market. Through the years, we dicovered that this mixer is not only excellent in mixing and dispersing cohesive powders like pigments, toners and pharmaceuticals but it can also mix slurries very well. As an example the Cyclomix can be used for intensive mixing of liquid-like recipies and can optimise mixing lines for low viscous and high viscous slurries. The Cyclomix can for example be used for replacing central drive dissolver or eccentric pan mixers which are typical for these kind of applications.

The Cyclomix high shear impact mixer/agglomerator is available in a wide range of sizes, starting at 100 ml (Mini Cyclomix) up to 2000 liters product volume. A few standard industrial sizes with their typical characteristics are specified below. Please note that these values are indicative only. Detailed information on these and other sizes and configurations is available on request.

• Suitable for vacuum applications by means of special seal design and addition of a vacuum filter
• Jacketed vessel and cover for heating or cooling
• Lubricated or dry-running mechanical seal
• Liquid injection
• Sampler
• ISEM ball segment outlet valve
• Heating and/or cooling skids
• Torque measurement
• Lifting device for easy cleaning (special trolleys for the vessel and the rotor are optional)

The conical shape of the mixer and the small gap between rotor and vessel ensures an easy and full discharge. Due to the sticky nature of products some homogeneous mixed product remains after discharging. In dissolver systems this layer at the vessel wall needs to be removed frequently and needs to be removed manually. This is a time consuming and difficult operation. Every time the dissolver needs to be dismantled, in some cases solvent connections need to be blocked and the system needs to be cleaned manually. In the Cyclomix process, mostly one of the liquid components of the recipes can be charged first to the mixer. The Cyclomix will run for about 5 seconds at a speed of 20-30 m/sec. During this cycle the Cyclomix is cleaning itself with the process liquid.

After completion of this cycle, the mixer can be charged with the remaining liquids and solids after which they will be mixed. This procedure will remain after every cycle. By using the ability of the self-cleaning system of the Cyclomix, cleaning becomes an integral part of the process saving a lot of time and effort.