Application

On a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant the existing operating procedure involved moving bags of dextrose powder from ground level onto access platforms adjacent to the top of batch mixing tanks. Settled powder ‘dumped’ into the tank was gradually resuspended and mixed until thoroughly dissolved by a propeller mixer. Transvac’s process design brief was to provide a simple and reliable system which would effectively mix dextrose powder with warm water with minimal manual powder handling. The unit must also be hygienically design with all welds ground smooth and a sateen finish.

Solution

Following successful trials on Transvac's test rig a system was installed which included Transvac Liquid Jet Solids Pump, powder hopper, recirculating pump, hopper washdown assembly and Jet Mixer.

The powder hopper was designed to accept standard bags of dextrose powder manually loaded. Some of the pressurised motive liquid was also used to provide washdown liquid to the powder hopper to ease powder flow into the Jet Solids Pump. The washdown ring assembly was also used during C.I.P. cleaning.

Hygienic Liquid Jet Solids Pump

All the powder was rapidly entrained and dissolved within the Liquid Jet Solids Pump and the resulting mixture discharged into the tank contained no solids. Once all the powder was entrained the flow was diverted to the Jet Mixer to thoroughly mix the tank contents. By improving the mixing operation and reducing manual handling of the bags of dextrose batch times were significantly shortened.

Operating Principle

A high velocity jet of pressurised liquid discharged from the motive nozzle produces a region of low pressure that entrains the powder or liquid. Complete mixing is ensured by the turbulence generated within the unit. The resulting mixture is then passed through a diverging cone to regain some pressure in order to overcome system discharge heads.

Transvac Jet Mixer

Advantages

• Reduced powder handling
• No moving parts
• Complete mixing of powders and liquids
• Simple hygienic design in 316 SS
• Low level operation
• Reduced batch times
• No maintenance
• Existing pumps can often be used