TOPIC: MIXING OF LIQUIDS

Presented by:
Mr. A. Rajesh pavan., M.Pharm,
(Ph.D)
Asst. Professor (Adhoc)
Department of Pharmaceutics
JNTUA-OTPRI,
Anantapuramu
MIXING OF LIQUIDS
 Liquid-liquid mixing is considered as a simple operation
compared to that of solid-liquid mixing.
 It involves the formation of a homogenous system.
 Similar to solid-solid mixing, fluid(or liquid ) mixing also
involves the application of shear.
 Agitation & mixing are not synonyms.
Agitation:
 It is induced motion of material in a specified way, usually in a
circulatory pattern inside a container.
Mixing:
 Random distribution into or through one another of two or
more separate phases.

 The nature of liquids mainly determines the ease of mixing

 According to theories of solutions, liquid mixtures are
classified as follows
1. Miscible liquids
2. Partially miscible
3. Immiscible

1.Miscible liquids
 These are miscible in all proportions.
for ex: ethyl alcohol & water are miscible in all proportions
 These liquids can be mixed easily by employing the
mechanisms of bulk transport & shear.
 Cosmetics (after shave lotion), elixirs etc., belong to this
class.
2.Partially miscible:
 These are miscible in one another at one particular proportion.
 Their miscibility depends on temperature & pressure.
For ex: p-cresol & water are miscible in a certain proportion.
3. Immiscible liquids:
 As the name indicates, these are not miscible.
for ex: vegetable oils & water are not miscible or their
miscibility is very low.
 Normally, they form emulsions & mixing of these liquids is
very difficult.
 A homogenous dispersion may be obtained by adding
emulsifying agents.
 Mixing these liquids require high shear.
Applications:
 Liquid mixing promotes heat transfer between liquid & a
heating source. This step is essential in the crystallization of
drug substances.
 Uniform heat transfer in the solution yields crystals of same
size. For example agitated batch crytallizer works on this
principle.
 Liquid mixing process is essential in the manufacture of a
number of dosage form as.
Preparations Phases mixing Examples
Suspensions Solid- liquid Calamine lotion
Emulsions Liquid-liquid Benzyl benzoate emulsion
Solutions Soluble solid-liquid B Complex Elixir
Solutions Soluble liquid-liquid Alcohol-water (elixir)
Chloroform water(Preservative)
Aerosols Liquid-gas Salbutamol inhaler
 Mechanisms of liquid mixing

1. Bulk transport
2. Turbulent mixing
3. Laminar mixing
4. Molecular mixing
BULK TRANSPORT:
 Bulk transport is defined as the movement of a large
portion of a material from one location to another
location in a given system.
 For this purpose mixing devices like rotating blades
& paddles are used, which moves the material in
different directions.
 TURBULENT MIXING
 It is defined as mixing due to turbulent flow, which results
in random fluctuation of the fluid velocity at any given
point within the system.
 In the turbulent flow, fluid velocity at a given point
fluctuates continuously in three directions x, y & z.
 However, the liquid moves in one direction depending on
the dominant component.
 In general, the liquid had different velocities at different
locations at the same time.
 Turbulent flow is a highly effective mechanism for
mixing.
 Laminar mixing
 It is mixing of two dissimilar liquids through laminar
Flow, i.e. the applied shear stretches the interface between
them.
 In this mechanism, layers fold back upon themselves.
Thus no of layers increases.
 Hence, the interfacial area between them also increases
exponentially with time.
 Mixing may also result in simple stretching of the fluid
layers without any significant folding action.
 This is suitable for liquids, which require moderate
mixing.
 Molecular mixing
 It is the mixing at molecular level in which molecule
diffuse due to thermal motion.
 It is explained by the Fick’s law, which depends on the
concentration gradient at different regions.
 Concentration gradient decreases with time & reaches
zero when mixing is completed, i.e. equilibrium mixing.
 When molecular diffusion & laminar flow occur
simultaneously, molecular diffusion reduces the sharp
discontinuities at the interface between the two layers.
 Simultaneously more than one mechanism may operate
during mixing.
 Liquid mixing devices-flow pattern
 Mixing devices are used to supply energy to the
system so long as to bring about reasonably rapid
mixing.
 Flow currents are responsible for transporting
unmixed materials to the mixing zone.
 Pitch is defined as the distance the impeller would
move through the fluid per revolution, if slippage
does not occur.
 Mixing devices technically called as impellers.
 Impellers are classifies on the basis of the shape &
pitch of the blades that are attached to the central
shaft.
 Types of impellers
Three main types of impellers are used as follows:
1. Propellers
2. Turbines
3. Paddles
 1.Propellers
•It consists of number of blades,
generally 3 bladed design is most
common for liquids.
•Blades may be right or left handed
depending upon the slant of their blades.
•Four bladed/ toothed are used for
special purposes.
•In deep tank, push pull propeller is
used in which two or more propeller
may be attached to the same shaft.
•These work in opposite directions to
create a Zone of turbulence.
•Size of propeller is small and may
increased up to 0.5metres depending
upon the size of the tank.
Small propellers turn at full speed motor speed up to 8000 RPM
 Some tangential flow produced, but the primary effect is due to
axial flow.
Advantages of propellers:
• Used when high mixing capacity is required.
• Effective for liquids which have maximum viscosity of
2.0pascals.sec & Slurries up to 10% solids.
• They can be used up to 3500 litres.
• Effective gas-liquid dispersion is possible at laboratory scale.
• Multivitamin elixir , disinfectant solutions are prepared.
Disadvantages of propellers:
• Propellers are not normally effective with liquids of viscosity
greater than 5pascal.sec such as glycerin, castor oil, etc.,
 2.TURBINES
• A turbine consists of a circular disc to
which a number of short blades are
attached & these blades may be straight ,
curved, pitched or vertical.
• The diameter of the turbine ranges from
30-50% of the diameter of the vessel.
• Turbines rotates at a lower speed than the
propellers (50-200rpm).
• Different forms of turbines are available.
• Flat blade turbines produce radial and
tangential flow but as the speed increases
radial flow dominates
• Pitched blade turbine produces axial flow.
• Near the impeller zone of rapid currents,
high turbulence and intense shear is
observed.
• Shear produced by turbines can be further enhanced using a
diffusion ring (stationary perforated ring which surrounds the
turbine).
• Diffuser ring increase the shear forces and liquid passes
through the perforations reducing rotational swirling and
vortexing.
Uses:
 These are effective for high viscous solutions with a very
wide range of viscosities up to 700 pascal.sec a few ex are
syrups, liquid paraffin & glycerin.
 In low viscosity materials of large volumes, turbines
generate strong currents (intense shear) which spread
throughout the tank destroying stagnant pockets.
 They can handle slurries 60% solids.
 It is suitable for liquids of large volume & high viscosity , if
Limitations:
 It gives greater shearing forces than propellers, though
pumping rate is slow.
Therefore turbines are suitable for emulsification.
 3.Paddles

 A paddle consists of a hub centrally with long flat

blades attached to it vertically.
 Paddles with two blades or four blades are common.
 Some times, the blades are pitched.
 In some paddles, blades have a larger surface area in
relation to the tank in which they are used.
 Because of this shape, paddles pass close to the tank
walls & effectively mix viscous liquids, avoiding
dead spots & deposited solids.
 A shaft carrying hub-blades rotates at a low speed of
100-rpm.
 They push the liquid radially & tangentially with
almost no axial motion unless blades are pitched.
 In deep tanks several paddles are attached one above
the other on the same shaft.
 At very low speeds it gives mild agitation in an
unbaffled tank, where as for higher speeds baffles are
necessary. Other wise, the liquid is swirled around
the vessel with little mixing.
USES OF PADDLES
Paddles are used in the manufacture of;
 Antacid suspensions(Aluminium hydroxide gel &
magnesium hydroxide)
 Agar and pectin related purgatives
 Antidiarrheal mixtures such as bismuth-kaolin.

Advantages:
 Vortex formation can be prevented with paddle
impellers because of low speed mixing.
Disadvantages of paddles
 Mixing of the suspension is poor therefore baffled
tanks are required.
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 FLOW PATTERN DURING MIXING
 Liquids are mixed usually by impellers, which
produce shear forces for inducing necessary flow
pattern in the container
 Mixing occurs due to the resultant effect of 3
components acting on liquid:

1. Tangential / Circular component

2. Radial component
3. Axial / Longitudinal component

PITCH: distance covered by liquid during axial flow

23
1.Tangential component (Circular)

 Direction:
Acts in the direction tangent to
the circle of rotation around the
impeller shaft.

 Effect:
If shaft is placed vertically &
centrally, tangential flow follows
a circular path around the shaft &
creates a vortex in the liquid.
24
 2. Radial component

 Direction:
Acts in the direction
perpendicular to the impeller
shaft.

 Effect:
Excessive radial flow takes the
material to the container wall,
and then the material falls to the
bottom and rotates as a mass
beneath the impeller.
25
 3.Axial component
Direction:
 Acts in the direction parallel to
the impeller shaft.

Effect:
 Inadequate longitudinal
component causes the liquid and
solid to rotate in layers without
mixing.
 Adequate longitudinal pattern is
best used to generate strong
vertical currentsparticularly
while suspending solids are
present. 26
 Flow pattern of impellers
IMPELLER TYPE FLOW COMPONANT
Propellers Axial
Turbines Axial or tangential
Paddles Radial& Tangential not
axial
Paddles with pitch Radial , Tangential &
axial
VERTEX FORMATION
A strong circulatory flow pattern sometimes
manifests into formation of a vertex near the impeller
shaft.
Vertex can be formed when:
1. Shaft is mounted vertically
in the centre of the tank, i.e., symmetry.
Such a mounting tend to induce
tangential flow.
2. Blades in the turbines are arranged
perpendicular to the central shaft.
3. At high impeller speeds.
4. In unbaffled tanks.
Limitations :
 Vertex formation reduces the mixing intensity by
reducing the velocity of the impeller relative to
the surrounding fluid.
 When vertex reaches the impeller, air from
surface of the liquid is drawn which is undesirable
situation, because air bubbles are difficult to
remove.
 The entrapped air causes oxidation of the
substances in certain cases.
 The air bubbles in the fluid can create uneven
loading of the impeller blades.
 Prevention of vertex formation:
1. Impeller should be mounted in any one of the
positions.
Propeller placed centrally
Propeller placed in inclined position
Propeller placed at side
2. Baffled containers should be used.
3. Arrangement of push pull mechanism
4. Tanks other than cylindrical shape
Prevention of vertex formation:
1. Impeller should be mounted in any one of the positions
to avoid symmetry. At the same time, it should be deep in
the liquid.
Propeller placed off centrally:
Due to this a small amount tangential flow in induced.
This discharge stream will offset the swirl induced by its
rotation.
Propeller placed in inclined position:
• A similar effect can be observed by placing the impeller in an
inclined position.
Propeller placed at side :
• This geometry provides a baffling effect & results in
circulation of material from top to bottom in a vessel.
Limitation:
Leakage, therefore packing around the shaft must be
secured.
Side entry is a source of contamination.
2.Baffled containers should be used.
• By this impeller can be mounted vertically at
the centre
3.Arrangment of push pull
mechanism:
 Two or more impellers are
mounted on same shaft in a
Tank, Where greater depth is
desired. This system is called
push pull Mechanism.
 With such an arrangement each
impeller acts as a separate
mixer.
 Two types of flow are produced
from impellers.
 The bottom impeller is placed
about one impeller diameter
above the bottom of the tank..
 It creates a zone of high
4.Tanks other than cylindrical shape:
Tanks other than cylindrical shape are
used to prevent vortex formation.
However, such shapes may facilitate the
formation of dead spaces.
 Factors influencing the mixing of liquids
These also help in selecting the equipment
1.Material related factors
Properties of liquids:
Physical properties of the material to be mixed
Density
Viscosity( Newtonian & Non-Newtonian)
Miscibility (intermolecular attractions)
2. Process related factors
Speed of rotation of the impeller
Time required for mixing
Amount of the powder can be expended
Ease of operation
Batch size
3.Equipment related factors:
Shape of the impeller:
Propeller type , straight, vertical , curved or
pitched.
Position of the impeller:
Central, off-centre, side entry , vertical /inclined
Shape & size of the container:
Cylindrical or other geometric forms
Presence or absence of baffles
Cost of equipment & its maintenance
 MIXING EQUIPMENTS
Batch mixing
 Mixing a specific and limited quantity of material

1. Air jet mixer

2. Jet mixer
3. Flow mixer or line mixer or pipe mixer
Continuous mixing
 Equipment used for both are different. The two
components are common in the equipment used for
batch and continuous mixing processes which are;
Tank of suitable size to hold material.
Means of supply of energy to the system so as to
enhance the speed of mixing.
 MIXING VESSELS
 The mixing apparatus consists of a
container (tank) and a mixing device.

The general construction of the mixing

tank:
 Impeller, a mixing device, mounted with the
help of a shaft, which is driven by a motor.
 The tank is made up of stainless steel.
 The top of the tank may be open or
closed.
 The size of the tank depends on the
nature of the agitation method.
 The tank bottom is round (not flat) to
eliminate sharp corners into which the
fluid can accumulate.
 It also carries an outlet, coils, jacket,
temperature measuring device etc.
 Baffles:
 Containers can be either baffled/unbaffled.
 Baffled containers are those in which metal strips (baffles)
are placed vertically to the internal surface.
 When bulk transport is required in mixing baffles are used.
 These are required in initial stage of mixing when
segregation is present on a large scale.
 These facilitate mixing of liquids even from remote regions
of the mixer.
 In most of the cases 4 baffles are sufficient even 1 or 2
provide strong effect on mixing.
 Width of the baffle may be from 1/10th to 1/18th of tank
diameter.
 If solids are present in the liquid to be mixed, baffles are
fixed with a gap of 25mm between baffle & tank surface