Result quality and process efficiency are of high importance in industrial mixing and dispersing. Especially for demanding liquids, gases, or solids, Askia now offers tailor-made solutions with the static mixers and mixer-heat exchangers from Sulzer. The tube internals with rigid mixing elements ensure optimal mixing results — even for highly viscous pharmaceuticals and chemicals that are also sensitive to temperature or shear forces. They also enable the mixing of several additives at the same time, even when media have very different viscosities.
With mixers and mixer heat exchangers from the fluid dynamics specialist Sulzer, the company is now expanding its extensive product portfolio of industrial safety technology to include components from process technology. As with pressure relief, control valves, or high-pressure connectors, the engineering company also offers a competent all-round service from a single source for the mixers.
“In Askia, we have found a good partner for the service and distribution of our static mixers and mixer heat exchangers for Germany and Austria. Their extensive experience in chemical and process engineering, the food industry, or in the pharmaceutical and petrochemical sectors ensures that the static mixers are always designed precisely for the specific challenge and meet our high quality standards in the application.”
- Marcel Suhner Global Product and Application Management
Wide range of viscosities
With the mixers, almost all media — from pure gaseous substances to very low-viscosity, water-like substances to high-viscosity masses — can be processed into homogeneous mixtures in a continuous process. Granulates and powders can also be mixed reliably. “The Sulzer products complement our portfolio excellently,” says Managing Director Torsten Mankertz, pleased about the cooperation. “Sulzer has been the technology and market leader in this field for almost 50 years and offers the most energy-efficient static mixers with the lowest pressure drop.”
Users will also be impressed by the compact dimensions and maximum flexibility of the installation position. The tubular elements can be installed in virtually any position in production plants and are generally maintenance-free. All variants are CIP- and SIP-capable; cleaning and sterilization without disassembly simplifies the process, even with hygienically sensitive media, and reduces operating and maintenance costs. The self-cleaning design allows even faster product changes without additional intermediate rinsing.
The mixers are always selected and designed according to fluid group, flow rate and throughput, density and viscosity, temperature range and residence time, and desired coefficient of variation. Two basic types are available for reliable, continuous mixing. Vortex formers generate turbulence that rapidly mixes the medium across the entire cross-section. In layer formers, the medium is repeatedly split and brought together until a homogeneous result is obtained; they are particularly suitable for very slow flow rates.
Mixing and temperature control combined
Mixer heat exchangers additionally combine rigid mixing elements with shell-and-tube heat exchangers, thus enabling fast and at the same time uniform and reliable temperature control. Here, regular mixing ensures very good heat transfer with controlled residence times and homogeneous heat distribution without hot spots on the contact surfaces or heat exposure over too long a period. During cooling, the mixer-heat exchangers effectively prevent an insulating layer from forming on the cooling surface due to the viscosity change during cooling.
Depending on the application and process medium, V4A or AISI 316 stainless steel are available as materials for all mixing elements and the associated mixing tubes. In addition, the mixers can also be manufactured from customer-specific materials on request. Frequently used diameters with connecting flanges according to DIN or ASME standards can be supplied at short notice at any time.
