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Glossary of Mixing Terminology
In powder processing, agglomeration is defined as a process of accumulating fine material into cohesive units such as pellets or granules. In simple terms, powder agglomeration shifts fine, powdery particles to a coarser size range that facilitates handling and storage.
The word "aseptic" is derived from the term "sepsis". The organism of mammals and humans develops counter-reactions when blood poisoning is present. A severe counter-reaction is called sepsis. It can even destroy the body's own tissue and organs. The "a" at the beginning of the word symbolizes the opposite.
CIP (Cleaning In Place) is a process for the automated cleaning of process equipment. The definition and objective of CIP can be described as follows: Creating clean internal surfaces of a production unit without significantly changing the internal elements required for production. Depending on the water pressure during cleaning, a distinction is made between low-pressure cleaning (up to 3 bar), medium-pressure cleaning (up to 10 bar) and high-pressure cleaning (25-65 bar). The process is sometimes also referred to as "washing in place" (WIP).
The coating process for powder processing is based on the principle of particle agglomeration as a side operation of the powder mixing or fluid bed process. Interparticle adhesion effects of small particles can be particularly large. They result from Van der Vals forces and electromagnetic forces. If the particles are only a few nanometers in size, they can coat active ingredient particles particularly well. Coating attempts to enlarge the mixture particles in a shell-like manner. In short, coating processes optimize properties of a bulk material in terms of shelf life, optical appearance, solubility, dust binding, flow behavior, durability, chemical reaction and much more.
Powder drying removes liquid components from a bulk material. Liquids can adhere very firmly, especially if the powder particles have small pores. These are called capillaries. Capillary-bound liquid is evaporated by thermokinetics.
Other designations are continuous mixer or flow mixer or online mixer. Continuous mixers or flow mixers are almost always used in continuous operation. Continuous-flow mixers have relatively small dimensions. However, they can mix large volume flows. Flow mixers require accurately working dosing systems. If the dosing systems work incorrectly, then it is difficult to find out how much mixing material has already been produced incorrectly.
When two or more immiscible liquids such as oil and water are present and you try to mix them together, this process is called emulsification. Normally, oil and water cannot be mixed. However, if you succeed in breaking the oil into extremely fine droplets (diameter 10 nm-0.1 mm), then the oil can be dispersed in the water. ... or vice versa the water in oil.
A powder is fluidised when all particles are surrounded by a gas. The powder particles no longer touch each other. The friction between them is eliminated. Fluidised powder behaves like a low-viscosity liquid. The smallest openings in the vessel (such as an incomplete weld seam, leaky fitting) lead to unwanted dust leakage. Fluidisation occurs more easily the smaller the particles are.
The correct term is "agglomeration" or "build-up granulation". The term granulation can also describe a crushing process, for example when a solid is broken down into smaller particles.
Please read our detailed glossary article "Agglomeration" and our blog post on "Agglomeration".
In bulk material handling, “mixing” and “homogenization” are essentially synonyms. However, among processing experts, homogenization refers to a specific type of mixing.
While mixing processes always involve the incorporation of diverse components, the definition of homogenization is achieving an even distribution of diverse components within a mixture or pile. A homogenous mixture is one that is uniform in particle size, moisture, color, and temperature.
Instantising is used to provide powdery substances with high wettability, dispersibility, solubility and flow ability
Creation of spherical particles from a powdery mix by using a liquid additive. Pellets generally have a higher density than agglomerates and are very compact.
Qualifying of process engineering equipment such as mixers and mixing-dryers refers to documented testing to establish whether the equipment meets the requirements specified for the process.
This parameter usually describes the quality of the product-contacting and external surfaces of process equipment.
Introduction of solid particles into a liquid, where they are held in suspension through mechanical forces. A heterogeneous mixture that has a tendency of phase separation.
An area within a process engineering apparatus that is not reached during a process step.
Contact drying, convection drying, reaction control, stripping, separation of fluids under pressure-, vacuum excitation and temperature control
Validation provides documented proof that a process or system satisfies the specified requirements during practical application. To this end the devices used (e.g. mixers) have to be qualified in advance.