Customers who have installed and used OptiMix reactors for a period of time have compared their process output versus their previous conventional reactor and have shared their results:
- Improvements in mixing efficiency
- Elimination of the problem of solid particles flotation at the surface of the reaction medium
- The absence of a baffle flange mounted on the reactor head has freed room for a large nozzle for other usage.
- Design makes for easier cleaning between batch operations.
- The combination of these improvements has resulted in an overall productivity increase.
DDPS has extended the range of the OptiMix reactor to provide improved heat transfer and reduced processing times. This new design, OptiMix-HE, circulates the thermal fluid contained in the half-coil reactor jacket through the baffles. This results in an increased heat transfer area up to 25% enabling more homogeneity, faster thermal management and shortened cycle times.
The following two videos demonstrate a side by side comparison of the advantages OptiMix baffles have on mixing. The vessels feature identical parameters to one another except the vessel on the right contains three wall-mounted baffles and the vessel on the left has no baffling system.
In the first video the unbaffled vessel is not as efficient in dispersing solids whereas the presence of baffles produces axial flow in combination with pitch-blade impeller, resulting in the uniform distribution of solid particles. The second video clearly shows the dramatic effect the OptiMix baffles have on reducing the vortex that is created at the surface level of the liquid at the agitator as well as the improved cleanability that is created due to a decrease in product splashing on the vessel wall.