Homogenizing

Kates produces homogenizing agitators with a broad range of possible applications in various industries.

Apart from the typical process of homogenizing, i.e. making a product – whether a liquid, thick liquid, paste, gel, cream, etc. – the same throughout, it is possible to produce suspensions, emulsions, as well as break up solid particles insoluble in the liquid to a size imperceptible organoleptically.

A homogenizing agitatoris a turbine with a rotor and a stator in the shape of combs. Both the rotor and the stator may be multiple ones, resulting in a few shearing slots working simultaneously. There are also simpler turbines – e.g. rotors with perforated shields.

Depending on the manner of installation, turbines may be divided into two basic types:

• internal open turbines, where the entire agitator is located within the working volume;
• closed turbines, which are always installed under the bottom of the mixer; In turbines of this type, the product is collected from the working volume and, having been pushed through a slot, returns to the mixer via an external pipe, whose outlet is located at a chosen height, usually below the surface of the liquid so that to intensify the mixing process without aerating the substance. The external cycle has one more advantage – it may be connected to a wash bowl (wash turbine) eliminating the need to use external CIP systems, as the device becomes self-cleaning. Furthermore, the homogenizing turbine may work as a pump discharging the tank, at a speed adjusted with an inverter, which renders the use of any other pumps unnecessary.

Another variant of an external turbine is a horizontal homogenizing agitator. It is characterized by the possibility to add shearing disks and its design permits installation on existing mixers.

A special variant of the horizontal turbine is a homogenizer with a conical rotor.

Paremeters of homogenizing agitators

A very important parameter of every homogenizing agitator is the size of the shearing slot. Most often, a slot of 0.3mm is used, which is quite versatile and finds application at a wide range of rotational speeds.

Another significant parameter is the maximum rotational speed. However, this parameter is misleading and should actually be defined as the shearing speed, which specifically defines the speed at which the required effect of breaking the product up occurs. The problem is that in comparison to larger ones, small turbines need to rotate faster to achieve a particular speed at the end of the shearing comb. This is particularly important when transferring the technology from smaller mixers, e.g. those used in tests, to mixers of larger capacities used in the actual production process. In such situations, KATES provides a comparative diagram showing the rotational speeds at which homogenization is obtained. It is assumed that for most products the speed is 20 m/s.

• a paddle agitator in action,

• a paddle agitator and a homogenizing agitator in action at the same time, without an external cycle.