.Static mixers are finding wide applications in the food and beverage industry.  Heat exchangers have long been a vital tool for pasteurization, sterilization, and other food processing needs.  This guide will showcase technology uses within the industry and how food would not be the same without either of these products.

What are Static Mixers?

Static mixers are highly engineered motionless mixing devices that allow for the continuous blending of fluids within a pipeline.  Therefore, with no moving parts, static mixers utilize the energy flow to produce, consistent, cost-effective, and reliable mixing.  Which is why they are the preference in the food and beverage industry.

They blend two or more materials perfectly together.  They are predictable, and the results are significantly consistent.

The Benefits of a Static Mixer to Food & Beverage Plants

Static mixers are easily removable and cleanable in a short time frame and they offer clean in place (CIP) applications.  Within the food and beverage industry, CIP, smooth and polished surfaces, and sanitary fittings are of high importance to achieve the lowest possible germ count.  The Komax sanitary static mixer is the perfect example of a static mixer to meet industry standards.

The Types of Food and Beverages Static Mixers Help

In plants that process pastes, adding CO2, or mix viscous materials, find it could not be done without an inline static mixer.  It can mix liquids with gases to make aerated drinks and mix multiple materials together to get different blends.  A few examples are:

• Adding CO2 to fruit juices, soft drinks
• Heating and cooling chocolate
• Margarine and butter
• Syrups and jams
• Tomato paste and ketchup

What is a Heat Exchanger?

They use a heat exchanger to transfer heat between two or more fluids.  A heat exchanger usage can be to heat or cool products prior to filling, drying, concentration, or other processes.

Heat exchangers are often used to reduce or eliminate microbial, they’re by making products safe for consumption and extending shelf life.

Specific Foods that Require These Devices

• Marble Chocolate – Static mixers have proven to be very useful when it comes to marbling chocolate. A milk or dark chocolate flow blending with a smaller current of a white chocolate flow.  Because it stays in the laminar flow area, layers give the beautiful marble effect.  A static mixer is also capable of mixing air into chocolate.  Which is an example of two-phase mixing?
• Pasteurization of Concentrated Fruit – Preserving taste in the pasteurization and sterilization processes is realized by bringing the product to a high temperature quickly, keeping it there, and then cooling it down quickly again.
• Pasteurizing and Cooling Sauces – Whether you need them separated or mixed, oil, water, and it brings the starch mix to the desired temperature by means of indirect steam heating. The hold phase may take place three times more quickly as a result of the fact that the mixing runs continuously.  Thus, not a single particle can escape the heat treatment.  Cooling the packaging temperature takes place by cold water.