Mixing (process engineering)

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Mixing (process engineering)

In industrial process engineering

Process engineering

Process engineering is often a synonym for chemical engineering and focuses on the design, operation and maintenance of chemical and material manufacturing processes....
, mixing is a unit operation

Unit operation

In chemical engineering and related fields, a unit operation is a basic step in a process. For example in milk processing, homogenization, pasteurization, chilling, and packaging are each unit operations which are connected to create the overall process....
that involves manipulating a heterogeneous

Heterogeneous

Heterogeneous is an adjective used to describe an object or system consisting of multiple items having a large number of structural variations. It is the opposite of homogeneous, which means that an object or system consists of multiple identical items....
physical system, with the intent to make it more homogeneous. Familiar examples include pumping of the water in a swimming pool to homogenize the water temperature, and the stirring of pancake

Pancake

A pancake is a thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Pancakes exist in several variations in many different local cuisines....
batter to eliminate lumps.

Industrial mixing
At an industrial scale, efficient mixing can be difficult to achieve.

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In industrial process engineering

Process engineering

Unit operation

Heterogeneous

Pancake

Industrial mixing

At an industrial scale, efficient mixing can be difficult to achieve. A great deal of engineering effort goes into designing and improving mixing processes. Mixing at industrial scale is done in batches (dynamic mixing) or with help of static mixer

Static mixer

A static mixer is a device for mixing two fluid materials. Most commonly, the fluids are liquid; however, static mixers are used to mix gas streams, disperse gas into liquid or disperse immiscible liquids....
s.

Typical example of a mixing process in the industry

Industry

An industry is the manufacturing of a Good or Service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw materials into goods and products....
is concrete

Concrete

Concrete is a construction material composed of cement as well as other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, construction aggregate , water , and Chemistry admixtures....
mixing, where cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance which sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together....
, sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
, small stone

Stone

Stone may refer to:...
s or gravel

Gravel

Gravel is rock that is of a specific particle size range. Specifically, it is is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters in its largest dimension and no more than 64 millimeters ....
and water

Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
are commingled to a homogeneous self-hardening mass

Mass

In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
used in the construction industry. Another classical mixing process is mulling foundry molding

Molding

Molding or moulding can be:*Molding , feature formed from marble, plaster, wood, etc. and used in interior design*Molding , process used in manufacturing to shape materials...
sand, where sand, bentonite

Bentonite

Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium Silicate minerals, generally impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are a few types of bentonites and their names depend on the dominant elements, such as K, Na, Ca, and Al....
clay

Clay

Clay is a naturally occurring material composed primarily of fine-grained minerals, which show plasticity through a variable range of water content, and which can be hardened when dried and/or fired....
, fine coal

Coal

Coal is a readily combustion black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. The harder forms, such as anthracite, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure....
dust

Dust

Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 20 Thou . Particles in the Earth's atmosphere arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution....
and water are mixed to a plastic

Plasticity

Plasticity generally means ability to be shaped or formed. More specific meanings include:In science* Neuroplasticity, entire brain structures can change to better cope with the environment....
, moldable

Mold

Molds include all species of microscopic fungi that grow in the form of Multicellular organism filaments, called hyphae. In contrast, microscopic fungi that grow as single cells are called yeasts....
and reusable mass, applied for molding and pouring molten

Melt

Melt can refer to:*Melting, in physics, the process of heating a solid substance to a liquid*Melt , a term referring to the working material during steelmaking or thermoplastic forming...
metal to obtain sand casting

Sand casting

A sand casting or a sand molded casting is a casting produced by forming a mold from a sand mixture and pouring molten liquid metal into the cavity in the Molding ....
s that are metallic parts for automobile, machine

Machine

A machine is any device that uses energy to perform some activity. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work....
building

Building

In architecture, construction, engineering and Real estate developer the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
, construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of multitasking....
or other industries.

The opposite of mixing is segregation

Separation process

In chemistry and chemical engineering, a separation process is used to transform a mixture of substances into two or more distinct products. The separated products could differ in chemical properties or some physical property, such as size, or crystal modification or other separation into different components....
. A classical example of segretation is the brazil nut effect

Brazil nut effect

The Brazil nut effect is the name given to a phenomenon in which the largest particles end up on the surface when a granular material containing a mixture of objects of different sizes is shaken....
.

Mixing (process engineering)

Industrial mixing

See also