Introduction
PRIMIX sanitary mixers are utilized in the food industry to homogenize product flows, ensuring a uniform composition and stable temperature measurements. These mixers are designed to improve operations and profitability by being CIP suitable, providing reliable measurements, and requiring no maintenance.

Background
In liquid food production plants, large heat exchangers are often used for heating or cooling. However, due to product viscosity, laminar flow patterns can occur, leading to non-homogeneous product composition. This can complicate process control and cause quality issues, as seen in industries like tomato ketchup, ice-cream, and chocolate.

The Challenge
The main challenge is to design a static mixer that can homogenize product flow while offering optimal cleaning capabilities.

Design
The static mixer housing is designed according to common food industry practices, with couplings specified based on requirements. The element-chain is removable for inspection and is electro-polished, with several retention methods available. The surface roughness of the mixer is typically below Ra < 0.8µm.

Solution
A PRIMIX static mixer is installed directly after the heat exchanger. The type and number of mixing elements are determined by PRIMIX engineers based on the specific application. The mixer’s cleanability is ensured through round element edges, electro-polished mixing elements, and a removable element chain.