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Statiflo Motionless Mixers are
Driving the Costs out of Food & Pharmaceutical Industry

Food & Pharmaceutical 

The food & pharmaceutical industries strive to provide the highest quality products and achieve a high level of consistency.  Statiflo Static Mixers play an important part in this process.

Due to their proven high level of performance they are used in a wide variety of food applications such as pasteurisation of raw cocoa mass, blending fruit pieces into yoghurt, live steam pasteurisation. Other typical applications include production of coffee, beer, molasses and chocolate.

In the pharmaceutical industry typical applications would include cooling and/or heating steps, drug trial productions and producing pharmaceutical intermediate products. 

statiflo
Modern machinery in a pharmaceutical production plant

Whilst the Food and Pharmaceutical industries have clear differences in terms of requirements the inline static mixers supplied by Statiflo have many aspects in common.

Our Series 200 range for these industries would be supplied with removable mixing elements within metric or imperial tubing with a high level of surface finish – finishes up to 0.38 micron Ra are available. Specialist sanitary connections such as IDF, RJT,DIN or tri-clamp ferrules would come as standard, but flanged designs are also available. Integral injection or sample branches can be supplied in order to fine tune the mixing performance and achieve the best possible process control. Injectors and heating/cooling jackets are also available to complete the installation.

Cleaning in Place (CIP) is made easy with the crevice-free design which prevents unwanted build up of bacteria within the static mixer.

In assessing the benefits of Statiflo Inline Static Mixers it is important to remember:

  • Overall length can be varied to suit space limitations.
  • Element geometry can be designed for both high and low head loss systems.
  • Large diameter – no theoretical upper limits.
  • Elements for rectangular or other unusually shaped ducts and open channels
  • Special designs for incorporating in bends, offer space saving and minimal disturbance to piping systems.
  • Guaranteed highly efficient mixing.
  • No moving parts provide a maintenance free operation.
  • Reduction in operational energy costs, as no direct power is required.
  • Ease of installation.
  • Minimal space requirements with no upstream or downstream pipe lengths required. Providing short control process times in applications where quick process response control is critical.
  • Short process chemical dosing control loops provide optimum performance in response to rapidly changing process conditions, as well as reducing chemical costs.
  • Available in a wide ranges of sizes and material to suit most applications.
  • Each unit is custom designed benefiting from Statiflo’s long term experience in designing and manufacturing static mixers to the highest of standards.
  • Total support is provided by highly trained engineers situated in Statiflo regional country offices and a world wide representative network.
Hygienic/Sanitary Static Mixer (Series 200)
Series 200 Food or Pharmaceutical Static Mixer Complete with Sanitary Standard End Connections

Application Examples and Case Studies

In the early stages of chocolate refining, cocoa beans are ground to a pulp called cocoa mass, which is prone to rapid biological degradation. This is avoided by pasteurising the cocoa mass shortly after the grinding operation. The cocoa mass is a viscous non–Newtonian slurry with high solids content making it extremely difficult to process.

Traditionally, chocolate manufacturers have used stirred tanks with steam heating coils to raise the temperature of the cocoa mass which is then held for a predetermined period of time to complete the pasteurisation. This is a batch operation involving large tanks with expensive agitators. Rapid build up of cocoa mass on the steam coils results in very low heat transfer coefficient and an expensive cleaning stage between batches. Residence time control is poor.

Following close consultation with the customer.  Statiflo engineers quickly designed a custom engineered total process solution.

The heating stage was performed by direct steam injection using a small diameter Statiflo motionless mixer to ensure rapid dispersion of steam to avoid the noise and vibration normally associated with inline steam injection. Due to the completely mixed flat temperature profile, steam injection rates could be controlled by the downstream temperature sensors.

Having raised the cocoa mass temperature high enough for pasteurisation to occur. It was then essential to provide residence time to complete the process. This was achieved by several stages of large diameter Statiflo motionless mixers designed to provide ‘plug flow’ for the specified residence time.

The system has now been running for over 10 years and has been successfully duplicated on other chocolate refining process. A continuous inline process superseded the original batch operation.

Continuous pasteurisation 24 hrs /day, 365 days/yr, at very high heat transfer coefficients and with excellent control of residence time has been possible.

For further information see case study.

A leading producer of bottled water was experiencing problems using a conventional glass bead carbonator for dispersing and dissolving gas in water. Consistent gas bubbles sizes were impossible to achieve without frequent maintenance and loss of production.

A further problem with the conventional equipment, which was designed without any particular attention to mixing, was that flavours were periodically accumulating in the carbonator and were then released in slugs resulting in very high flavours concentration in the carbonated water and customer dissatisfaction. Regular cleaning was necessary to minimise this problem.

The existing system was removed and replaced with a Statiflo Series 200 Sanitary Inline Mixer. The mixer was fitted with removable elements, RJT couplings and integral injectors for both carbon dioxide and flavour.

The installation of the Statiflo Motionless Mixer was an instant success. It was soon apparent there was no accumulation of flavour as the the mixer is a self cleaning device. Consistent gas bubble sizes were achieved due to efficient mass transfer. Complete and uniform flavours were guaranteed. Over dosing was eliminated.

The Statiflo mixer operates without moving parts, without spares and virtually no maintenance. The high running costs of the agitator and carbonator were concerns of the past.  The company immediately installed Statiflo Motionless Mixers on all its product lines, after which there were no more customer complaints.

For further information see case study.

A well-known manufacture of yogurt was using conventional inline dynamic mixing equipment to blend colours and fruit flavours into yogurt, but was experiencing poor control and colour streaking in the finished product.

For unknown reasons, some colours were more difficult to mix than others and as three or four different flavours and colours were packaged simultaneously, this resulted in very high product wastage and equipment downtime.

Statiflo Series 200 Static Mixers in sanitary steel construction were recommended to replace the existing dynamic mixer. Complete mixing was assured as a result of the flow division mixing mechanism which is independent of flow rate and viscosity. The low shear mixing characteristics was proposed to avoid degradation and break up of fruit particles in some product lines.

Installation of the Statiflo Motionless Mixers was an immediate success. Colour streaking was eliminated with consistent product quality and no wastage. Having proved the technique, additional Statiflo Motionless Mixers were installed on other product lines on different flavours and colours. Simultaneous dispensing and packaging was then possible with complete confidence. The customer also benefited as a result of the Statiflo mixer operating without moving parts, without spares and virtually no maintenance requirements.

For further information see case study.

A manufacture of a well known cosmetic cream was faced with a problem that the filling operation was unable to fill the jars satisfactorily. Due to the higher than anticipated cream viscosity, air spaces were forming in the bottom corners of the containers. Although the correct weight of cream was being dispensed, consumer trails indicated that customers were unhappy with the appearance of the product in the jar.

The manufacturers determined that the high viscosity of the cream was responsible for poor flow into the jars. Heating the cream would reduce the viscosity, but there was serious concerns because the cream was heat sensitive. Conventional heating methods were ruled out because of high viscosity, laminar flow condition and the certainty of developing hot spots.

Statiflo was approached to design a custom engineered Static Mixer/heat exchange based on the Series 200 range of sanitary units with removable elements and incorporating a steam heating jacket. A short delivery was vital – full scales production was scheduled to commence in less than two weeks.

The radial mixing action of the Statiflo Static Mixer is responsible for the elimination of internal film boundaries which are the biggest resistance to efficient heat transfer in laminar flow, intense mixing also prevents hot spots occurring in the heat sensitive cream.

The equipment arrived early, well in time to meet the schedule.

The cream exited the Statiflo equipment at the controlled elevated temperature and reduce viscosity. Flow into the jars was improved sufficiently to completely eliminate the unsightly air spaces. The customer was happy knowing that full production had not been delayed and adverse user reaction had been averted.

For further information see case study.

Chocolate Refining

Food and Pharmaceutical

Problem In the early stages of chocolate refining, cocoa beans are ground to a pulp called cocoa mass, which is prone to rapid biological degradation. This is avoided by pasteurising…

See Full Case Study

Colour & Flavour Mixing

Food and Pharmaceutical

Problem A well known manufacturer of a leading brand of yogurt was using conventional inline dynamic mixing equipment to blend colours and fruit flavours into yogurt, but was experiencing poor…

See Full Case Study

Viscosity & Temperature Control – Laminar Flow Heat Exchange

Food and Pharmaceutical

Problem Manufacturers of a world famous cosmetic cream were faced with an unexpected problem just days before a new facility was due on full scale production. The filling operation was…

See Full Case Study

Carbonating Mineral Water

Food and Pharmaceutical

Problem Carbonating Mineral Water: A leading producer of bottled mineral water was experiencing problems using a conventional glass bead carbonator for dispersing and dissolving carbon dioxide gas in water. Consistent…

See Full Case Study

Related Products 

Hygienic/Sanitary Static Mixer (Series 200)

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Statiflo General Industrial Inline Static Mixers suitable for all process industries supplied with fixed or removable mixing elements. Usually supplied…

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Statiflo Inline Static Mixers suitable for the water and wastewater treatment industries supplied with fixed mixing elements. Flanged or plain…

Contact us for more information

The above is a brief example of applications for Statiflo Motionless Mixers in the Food and Pharmaceutical Industries.

For further details and information on other applications, please complete the attached contact form or visit our contact us page to get in touch with us.

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