Background
With the severe global epidemic, increasing population, destruction of the earth’s environment and resources, the resolution of major problems of food and health, all hope for the progress of life science and biotechnology. From the 18th century, life science gradually sprouted and rose, and entered a stage of rapid progress and development in the 20th century. Diet, medicine, nutrition and health care products, animal feed and even air in our daily life are closely related to life science technology. S&L has provided hundreds of tailor-designed mixers for domestic and foreign enterprises researching life science technology. We select the best mixing equipment and offer solution according to the customer's production process and mixed materials.

Mixer Classification
1) Batch Mixer
Generally speaking, batch mixing equipment is mainly suitable for mixing process of master batch, auxiliary materials and trace element materials. Generally, 95% or more is the requirements for mixing homogeneity. Especially in the (food) flavoring, pharmaceutical intermediates, nutrition agents, bio pharmaceutical synthesis and other aspects, those all involve minimal amounts of trace elements, the addition amount is generally less than 1%, or even 0.1%. So for these kinds of product, it's quite challenging for mixer suppliers. It is necessary not only to ensure the mixing uniformity, but also to shorten mixing time and improve the production efficiency. In addition, it is required to add liquid during the mixing process for some projects. S&L has specific solutions and appropriate mixing equipment for problems such as liquid spraying effect, combination of liquid and powder, and how to solve the agglomeration of materials after spraying liquid. Nowadays, more and more customers tend to simplify production equipment and hope to integrate multiple processes into one step. In our actual case, we have encountered the requirements of mixing, reaction, drying and cooling together. Except for mixing, but also need material reaction inside equipment. In addition, other options are required like heating jacket for drying, cooling jacket after drying. This is typical process for materials like modified starch and stearic acid. Generally speaking, it is always higher requirements for batch-type mixing equipment in the field of food and pharmaceutical industries  

2) Continuous Mixer
Continuous mixer is different from the batch type, as it is synchronized for feeding and discharging. Through the control of feed metering at the front end and discharge at the end, continuous mixing is achieved. This kind of process is mainly suitable for mixing single material or materials with similar addition ratio. In the field of medicine, the front-end process is often centrifugal equipment, fluidized bed drying and other equipment. After drying the materials by fluidized bed, there will be problems of insufficient mixing and material agglomeration.  Therefore, mixing equipment is quite essential before final packing. Actually, the main reason for choosing a continuous mixer is that the output of the fluidized bed is not high while operation is continuous. After drying by fluidized bed, multiple batches materials will be loaded in the mixer for homogeneous mixing, which can achieve continuous feeding and discharging, improve packaging efficiency In addition, as the temperature of material came from the fluidized bed is high, cooling jacket is optional to our continuous mixing equipment. Some cases are that extra heating jacket for insulation and 2nd drying.

Mixer Selection
We will choose the most suitable mixer according to different materials. Each type has a unique mixing principle. According to the customer's material and process requirements, the most reasonable and suitable mixing solution will be provided. For this special high grade industry, batch mixer is still the most popular choice.

1) Vertical Ribbon Mixer-GPH Series
In recent years, vertical ribbon mixers are popular in food and pharmaceutical industries, mainly for its simple structure, easy cleaning, fully discharging and efficient mixing uniformity.

Vertical ribbon mixer shell is composed of a straight cylinder and a bottom cone structure. The driving system is isolated from the cylinder to avoid oil leakage and contamination to material. During mixing, material is lifted by multi-dimensional ribbon agitator from bottom to top, then fall freely by gravity to form a cycle. In addition, high-speed chopper is equipped at the cone bottom for breaking lumps. The side cleaning door is convenient for regular thoroughly cleaning. The bottom discharge valve has no dead space and can completely discharge the materials from the bottom. It has following advantages.
-High mixing uniformity
-Short mixing time
-Easy cleaning
-Fully discharging

2) Horizontal Ribbon Mixer WLDH-Series
Horizontal ribbon mixer is common type with a long history. It can be used in batch or continuous process. With the advantages of soft mixing, low energy consumption and simple operation, it is now widely used in food and pharmaceutical industries.

The equipment is composed of U-shaped cylinder, internal and external double-layer ribbon agitator, motor and reducer. The external ribbon pushes the material from both ends to the center, while the internal ribbon pushes the material from the center to both ends, so as to form convective mixing, and the material is gently mixed in the cylinder to achieve uniformity. The feature are clearly listed below.
-Suitable for batch or continuous processes
-Fully opened top cover for cleaning easily
-Soft mixing and dust-proof design
-Low energy consumption

3) Plough Share Mixer -LDH Series
Like the horizontal ribbon mixer, ploughshare mixer was invented years ago. However, the application is wider and suitable for more processes, such as reaction, drying, vacuum mixing and so on.

The ploughshare mixer is composed of circular cylinder, plough agitator, high-speed chopper, motor, reducer and discharge valve. During the operation of the high-speed shaft, the material forms a centrifugal throwing convection motion. For materials that are easy to agglomerate, the high-speed choppers can help break lumps. It can achieve the ideal mixing uniformity in a short mixing time, especially suitable for powder with liquid mixing. Following points are helpful during your mixing process
-Short mixing time and high efficiency
-Suitable for solid-liquid mixing
-Suitable for more complex processes and difficult materials
-High speed chopper break lumps easily

4) Double shaft paddle mixer -WZSeries
Generally speaking, double shaft paddle mixer is rarely used in the field of life science, but for some fragile materials, it can well maintain the physical properties of materials, such as three in one coffee, nuts, freeze-drying products, urea and fragile granular materials.

Paddle mixer consists of W-shaped cylinder, double shaft, paddle agitator, drive unit and bomb door discharge valve. The twin shafts throw up the material under the opposite movement of each other, so that the material can be mixed by cross convection under loss of weight. It can achieve better mixing effect in a very short time and reduce the temperature rise of materials. It is obviously a good choice for mixing
-Can be used to mix fragile materials
-Short mixing time
-Low temperature rise during mixing
-Completely discharge via bomb door

What Coming Next Week

The above is a detailed introduction to the equipment commonly used in the life science industry. In the next week, we will focus on several points that should be paid special attention to when designing the equipment used in this industry.