Mixing Vessels

Mixing vessels, mixing tanks or process vessels as they are also known are used for mixing of liquids, sauces, powders and gels. They are used in beverage, chemical, cosmetic, food, pharmaceutical and other processing industries. They can be constructed from different materials including stainless steel, mild steel, glass lined and plastic.

Mixing vessels or process vessels are often vertically mounted cylindrical vessels, the ends of the vessel may be flat, dished or conical depending on the process requirements. The vessel is either suspended in flooring, stood on its base or mounted on legs. Generally the vessel contains a top entry agitator to which impellers are attached to assist in the agitation of the material. However side or bottom entry impellers can also be fitted to vessels. The agitator is driven by a top mounted drive and electric motor. They can have various impellers fitted to the agitator these include propellers, turbines, paddles and anchors.

Mixing vessels can also be fitted with more than one agitator and these tend to be called contra-rotating mixing vessels these generally consist of a turbine agitator with a scrape wall or anchor type agitator. The turbine blends the product whilst the scrape wall agitator keeps the product moving around the vessel. The choice of impeller fitted to an agitator within a mixing vessel depends on the viscosity of the product being mixed. Other options include adding baffles to the walls of the vessel to prevent gross vortexing or fitting with jacket or internal coils if the product requires heating or cooling.

Mixing vessels are mainly constructed by metal fabricators such as Ardeth Engineering, Briggs of Burton, Bibby’s, T Giusti, Fillworth, Netzch, Sinclair Stainless and many more.