- Thursday, December 1,
If you're going to start a pharma company, or if you want to learn more about nutraceutical manufacturing, you'll then have to figure out one thing at the very beginning - The blending process.
Blending is a critical process in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical production. Operations include mixing raw materials, dissolving solids and powders, and grinding APIs and excipients, to name a few.
Today, there are many different types of blending equipment out there. Among them, double cone blenders are a highly efficient option for mixing solid ingredients. But do you know how they work? What are the benefits of using this type of blender?
In this article, we'll take a look at the double cone blender working principle and other things you need to know about this machine.
What is a double cone blender?
To know what is a double cone blender, you need to first look at its overview. A double cone blender is a kind of tumble blender, and ss its name implies, the main body of the equipment is composed of two cone-shaped parts that are welded at their bases to form a cylindrical section between them.
Are you looking to blend fragile and delicate materials? Do you want to mix heavy and abrasive particles? A double cone blender will be the best option since materials are set in motion by a gentle, low-energy tumbling action.
This piece of blending equipment is often used for mixing free-flowing solids. It's more suited for ingredients that need to be gently tumbled rather than stirred, as it can create a homogeneous mixture.
Further, the double cone typically features contact parts made of stainless steel, complying with GMP and cGMP requirements.
Feel free to check this article, and you will learn the details of other pharmaceutical blender types.
Construction of double cone blender
Before diving into the principle of the equipment, let's start with the design and construction of double cone blender.
As mentioned above, the blender features a stainless steel vessel that comes in two cones welded together. The vessel has openings at both ends. The opening at one end is designed with a removable cover for easy loading and cleaning of materials. At the same time, a butterfly valve is mounted at the other end, allowing for quick discharging of the mixture.
The interior of the blender is also fully welded and well polished. The blender comes without dead angles inside the vessel thanks to the unique double-cone shape.
Besides, there is a shaft running through the body of the double cone vessel. Depending on the properties of materials, some blenders come with paddle-type baffles along the shaft to enhance mixing efficiency.
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The blender is powered by a motor coupled with a gearbox to achieve an optimal speed for mixing.
Double cone blender working principle
Now that you have a rough idea of this type of blender, you might be curious about the double cone blender working principle. Double cone blenders are the most commonly used equipment for mixing dry ingredients such as powders and granules. The principle of the equipment is quite simple.
(Image Credit: ScienceDirect.com)
The materials to be blended are transferred into the double cone vessel using manual loading or a vacuum system. Keep feeding the materials until two-thirds of the volume of the blender is filled.
When the materials are ready, the blender starts to work. The double cone rotates about a horizontal axis on the shaft. The particles are constantly tumbled and intermixed in the vessel to achieve a homogeneous blend.
The blender performs a 360-degree continuous rotation to get homogeneous mixtures. Typically, the mixing time varies between 10 and 15 minutes, depending on the complexity of the blends.
After that, the mixture is discharged via a hermetically sealed butterfly valve. The valve can be operated manually by a hand lever or pneumatically controlled.
As you can see, the double cone blender working principle is not hard science. The key is finding the right equipment to achieve a better blending of solids.
What are the benefits of using the right double cone blender?
In the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, the double cone blender is widely used for the dry mixing and blending of powders and granules. It's best suited for free-flowing solid materials thanks to its effective diffusion mechanism.
Double-cone blender provides a broad range of benefits, as stated below.
- The blender is a versatile device with an airtight design for uniform, efficient tumble mixing.
- The blender comes in a conical shape at both ends, allowing for homogeneous mix results and reliable powder discharge.
- The double cone is statically balanced, which guards against excessive load on the motor and gearbox.
- In such a blender, material loading and discharge methods are separated so as to prevent cross-contamination.
- The blender offers various mixing structures to choose from depending on the properties of the materials to be blended.
- The blender is capable of handling large volumes of particles.
- The blender is easy to load and discharge thanks to the double-cone design.
- All contact parts are made from stainless steel to keep corrosion and contaminants at bay.
- The compact design and construction of double cone blender only need a small footprint.
- Simple to operate, easy to clean, and low-maintenance.
- The blender is compatible with other support equipment such as spray systems, loading systems, hoppers, and more.
What are the uses of double cone blenders?
Aside from the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, a wide variety of industries use this type of machine, such as food, chemical, cosmetics, plastics, etc.
Food: The blender is used to prepare cake mixes, flavors, spices, cereals, dairy powders, coffee mixes, and other solid ingredients. Chemical: The blender is employed in the chemical industry to mix chemicals, dry powdered detergents, pesticides, herbicides, glass or ceramic, fertilizers and many more.
Cosmetics: The equipment can also blend the materials used in cosmetics, such as pressed powder and loose powder.
Plastics: The blender plays a big part in the first step of making plastic products. This crucial step will determine how well the final design and use of the plastic material turn out.
The bottom line
This article was an attempt to provide all the facts to answer your question, "How does a double cone blender work?" First, we introduced the construction of double cone blender. After that, we moved on to the double cone blender working principle. We then talked about the applications of this efficient piece of equipment.
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