Re: How To Add Minor Ingredients ?
Originally Posted by incmachine
The way in which you add the materials also affects the mixing quality. For best results, regardless of the mixer type, first add one-half of the bulk materials (your diluent), then add the minor ingredient (the active ingredient) into the batch’s center, then add the remaining materials (the rest of the diluent). If you add the minor ingredient first, it can adhere to the vessel walls and deposit itself in a slow-moving portion of the mixer (for instance, near a tumble blender’s axis of rotation) or material bed or get caught in a slow-moving, symmetrically rotating area of the material bed where mixing is slower.
To reinforce on what was written at this time, you can have a look to the following ressources which are highlighting the importance of mixer loading for a good homogeneisation of small ingredients : in general https://www.powderprocess.net/Mixing/MixerLoading.html and for the tumblers mentionned https://www.powderprocess.net/Equipm...VBlender.html. Do not had 1st the small ingredients. ■
Re: How To Add Minor Ingredients ?
When adding fertilizer to my soil mixer (typically about 1 kg per cubic meter of soil) I will first dilute it with a 5 gallon pail of one of the soil ingredients.
One of the ways you can test your mixing: Use a material that remains discrete but stands out. I found that sulfur pellets have this characteristic. They are bright yellow, so you can readily see if they are mixed evenly. Take samples with a glass jar, and count how many are visible. ■
How to add Minor Ingredients ?
The kind of intimate mixing you’re describing typically requires a high-speed processing bar or impeller. In general, a tumble blender with a high-speed processing bar will do the best job of mixing minor ingredients, but you should test your material in the unit to be sure its shear rate doesn’t degrade the particles. You can also use an impeller-driven mixer, particularly if equipped with a plow blade, for mixing minor ingredients.
The way in which you add the materials also affects the mixing quality. For best results, regardless of the mixer type, first add one-half of the bulk materials (your diluent), then add the minor ingredient (the active ingredient) into the batch’s center, then add the remaining materials (the rest of the diluent). If you add the minor ingredient first, it can adhere to the vessel walls and deposit itself in a slow-moving portion of the mixer (for instance, near a tumble blender’s axis of rotation) or material bed or get caught in a slow-moving, symmetrically rotating area of the material bed where mixing is slower. ■