Homogeniser offers production cost savings

Citation

(1998), "Homogeniser offers production cost savings", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 27 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.1998.12927bad.007

Homogeniser offers production cost savings

Homogeniser offers production cost savings

A new homogenising unit developed by the Nanojet division of Haskel Energy Systems claims considerable savings in production costs by eliminating the need for high pressure mixing solutions (see Plate 2).

The patented high/low design is capable of pressures of up to 2,000 bar and utilises the system of opposing jet stream action in a precisely engineered design zone of collision.

Traditionally, homogenisation, which can only be achieved by simultaneous mixing and droplet size reduction, is performed with a premixed raw emulsion of oil and water phases. To attain the required size reduction of the oil droplets, the complete emulsion must then be pumped to high pressure ­ a costly process requiring mixing tanks and high power consumption which limits homogenisation to very expensive products, or to products which do not require high stability and consequently use lower homogenising pressures.

The new Nanojet high/low system takes the product into the machine at zero pressure in the two different liquid forms which are fed through two hydraulically driven intensifiers.

The intensifiers discharge the oil phase at pressures between 400 and 2,000 bar, depending on the physical properties of the substance, while the water phase is pumped into the homogenising valve with a pressure of only 100 to 150 bar.

Plate 2 Nanojet's new high/low homogenising unit utilises the system of opposing jet stream action at pressures of up to 2,000 bar

Within the valve, the two fluid streams are shot into a common interaction zone, kept under a pre-set back pressure, where they collide at high velocities.

Henry Mason, managing director of Haskel, commented on the new system, "The great benefits of the system are that first, production costs are lowered as the need for mixing tanks and the pre-pressuring up of the water phase is eliminated. Second, particle reduction is actually enhanced (down to 15 nanometres) by the system, and third, the process only produces a 1.6ºC temperature increase for each resultant 100 bar increase in discharge pressure ­ far lower than traditional homogenising units."

For further information contact Haskel Energy Systems Ltd. Tel: +44 (0) 191 549 1212.