A Nauta mixer is a low-shear conical screw mixer for gentle, precise blending of powders, pastes and slurries. Invented in 1939 by Johannes Ewardus Nauta, the design became the benchmark for batch solids mixing. His firm Nautamix was acquired in 1982 by Hosokawa Micron. Nauta® is a registered trademark of Hosokawa Micron B.V.
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BATCH MIXERS
for Powders & Bulk Solids
Nauta® Mixer
Conical Screw Mixer
The Nauta conical screw mixer delivers gentle, low-shear batch mixing of powders, pastes and slurries, preserving particle integrity while achieving high homogeneity. Its conical vessel with an orbiting, cantilevered screw ensures precise, energy-efficient mixing with predictable scale-up from lab to production. Nauta®—a registered trademark of Hosokawa Micron—remains the industry benchmark worldwide.
Key Benefits
- Gentle mixing of free-flowing, fragile or segregative powders
- Consistent mixing quality at 15–100% fill levels
- Heating, cooling, drying and humidification capabilities
- Bottom discharge valve for complete emptying
- Optional CIP/SIP cleaning
- Optional operation under vacuum or pressure
- Optional operation as live (agitated) hopper for cohesive and/or segregative materials
- Outstanding energy efficiency with low power consumption
- Fully ATEX-compliant for all explosion zones
- Available in sizes from 5–100,000 L
Principle of Operation
The Nauta mixer is a convective, low-shear batch mixer that combines axial, radial and tangential flow to achieve thorough, precise homogenisation. A rotating, cantilevered (free-hanging) mixing screw conveys the product upward along the wall of the conical vessel, while an orbiting arm moves the screw around the cone. Gravity-driven recirculation delivers uniform, energy-efficient, low-shear mixing while preserving particle integrity.
Product is loaded from the top—manually, by big bag, or via pneumatic/mechanical transfer. Typical speeds are ~70 rpm for the screw and 1–2 rpm for the orbiting arm; screw tip speed can range from 0.5–2 m/s, depending on the product characteristics.
A bottom discharge valve enables complete emptying, reduces manual intervention/cleaning and minimises cross-contamination between batches (standard on most executions; ball segment valve options available). After discharge, product proceeds to packaging or the next step (e.g. tableting, extrusion, sieving).
Beyond mixing, the system can be configured for heating/cooling, drying (including vacuum), and humidification, and can operate as a live (agitated) hopper to feed downstream equipment such as fluid bed dryers—with or without back-mixing.
Process Flexibility
Nauta mixers are suitable for a broad range of processing operations. Typical applications include:
- Gentle, low-shear mixing of free-flowing and segregative powders, pastes, slurries and liquids
- Humidification of powders
- Coating of solids with liquids (using an intensifier)
- Granulation
- Heating / Cooling
- Drying at atmospheric pressure or under vacuum, with optional solvent recovery
Models & Capacities
Indicative values; performance depends on product properties and process parameters. Detailed information is available on request.
| Size | [L] | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vessel diameter | [cm] | 145 | 180 | 210 | 285 | 355 | 440 | 570 | 700 |
| Vessel height | [cm] | 175 | 225 | 280 | 380 | 500 | 600 | 825 | 900 |
| Height incl. motor | [cm] | 225 | 290 | 350 | 470 | 620 | 730 | 965 | 1,030 |
| Typical motor power | [kW] | 2.2 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 15 | 22 | 37 | 55 | 90 |
Options & Ancillaries
Enhance your Nauta conical screw mixer with a range of ancillary options tailored to fit your process needs. Hosokawa Micron provides customised solutions designed to maximise productivity and efficiency in your production plant. Our team of skilled engineers is ready to guide you in selecting the perfect ancillary equipment for your application, ensuring optimal performance and seamless integration with your mixer.
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Nauta® Minimix Lab Mixer
Following the concept of the famous classical Nauta mixer, this small scale model has been made available for lab environments. Although small in size, the advantages remain: high mixing accuracy, gentle mixing, complete discharge and flexible filling range. The Nauta Minimix is able to provide reliable results from only 0.3 litres powder content.
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Batch Mixing Systems
Hosokawa Micron has been developing innovative solids processing systems for more than a century. As a result, we can draw on an unparalleled amount of know-how when designing new powder mixing systems. In a powder mixing system, the equipment, process steps and interacting parameters must all work together as an integral solution in order to ensure the optimal functionality, quality and efficiency of your total system. That's why we carefully select, configure and integrate all the components and processes when designing a powder mixing system.
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Test Before You Invest
Before investing in new equipment, test your materials under real process conditions at our Test & Process Development Centre in the Netherlands. Our experienced specialists help you determine the most efficient mixing, agglomeration or drying process, from laboratory trials to full-scale production testing.
Whether you want to evaluate a single machine or a complete processing line, we provide tailored testing and process optimisation to ensure reliable scale-up and proven performance.
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Talk to our experts
Let our experts help you configure the right Nauta mixer for your powders and bulk solids — optimised for efficiency and performance.
Applications
The Nauta mixer is ideal for a wide range of products. Here are a few examples:
FAQ – Nauta® Mixer
What is a Nauta mixer?
How does a Nauta mixer work?
A helical screw rotates along the vessel wall while orbiting around the cone’s centre. This motion lifts the product upwards, creating a continuous convective flow with minimal shear. The result is highly uniform mixing, even with ingredients differing in bulk density, particle size or concentration.
What materials can be processed in a Nauta mixer?
A Nauta mixer handles powders, granules, pastes and liquids. It is widely used for food ingredients, dairy powders, catalysts, polymers, pharmaceuticals, and metal powders, especially where product integrity, hygiene and temperature control are critical.
What are the main advantages of a Nauta mixer?
A Nauta mixer offers gentle but efficient mixing, low energy consumption, and excellent product homogeneity. It provides full discharge, minimal product degradation, and easy cleaning, ensuring reliable batch quality and low total cost of ownership.
What sizes and scale-up options are available?
Nauta mixers are available from 5 litres to over 100,000 litres. Laboratory and pilot units ensure smooth scale-up to full production, supported by testing at Hosokawa Micron’s Process Development Centre in the Netherlands.
Is Nauta a protected Hosokawa brand?
Yes. Nauta® is a registered trademark of Hosokawa Micron B.V. The conical screw mixer was invented by J.E. Nauta in 1939; his company Nautamix was acquired by the Hosokawa Micron Group in 1982. Since then, Hosokawa has further developed and supplies the original Nauta mixer worldwide, ensuring authentic design and reliable scale-up.
Sustainable process technologies
Hosokawa Micron B.V. is committed to sustainable and responsible process technology. Our ISO 14001 certification covers key environmental aspects such as air, soil, energy, waste, water, noise and hazardous substances. With an EcoVadis Silver Medal, we rank among the top 3% of EcoVadis-rated companies in the special machinery industry.
