For high-value starch derivatives and specialty powders, every product transfer matters. Separate equipment for reaction, drying, cooling, and discharge adds handling effort. It can also create additional cleaning tasks, product hold-up, and process interfaces.
An amixon® mixer-dryer-reactor can combine several process steps in one closed batch unit. Depending on the application, it can mix, thermally treat, react, vacuum-dry, and discharge the product.
Starch modification steps depend on the reaction route and the desired final product. For starch derivatives, amixon® identifies adjustable parameters including system pressure, temperature, mixing intensity, and the timed addition of dry, liquid, or gaseous components. The subsequent vacuum mixing-drying step can take place in the same unit.
Fewer product transfers can simplify the plant layout and reduce handling-related product losses. Whether this can be achieved in a particular application depends on the formulation, product consistency, process design, and peripheral equipment.
In the VMT, the vessel, mixing helix, mixing arms, and shaft can be temperature-controlled. This enables controlled heating or cooling while the product is being mixed. The unit is vacuum-tight and pressure-resistant and is suitable for powders, suspensions, pastes, and dough-like products.
Under vacuum, water or solvents evaporate at lower temperatures than under atmospheric pressure. amixon® specifies vacuum levels below 50 mbar and—depending on the application—below 5 mbar. This can support fast and effective drying at low product temperatures.
The required temperature, pressure, and residence-time profiles must be defined individually for every formulation and verified through trials.
For high-value products, residual material in vessels, piping, or filters can have a meaningful economic impact. Achievable discharge performance depends on product properties and the selected discharge solution.
amixon® offers specialized discharge technologies that, on request, can achieve complete discharge of free-flowing, dry products. For wet, sticky, or highly viscous materials, residual quantities must be evaluated using the original product.
A mixer-dryer-reactor can combine reaction, vacuum drying, and additional process steps in one closed unit. This can reduce product transfers, simplify process control, and improve product recovery.
The economic assessment should always be based on trials with the original product. These trials can validate mixing quality, temperature control, drying time, residual discharge, and the actual savings achievable. amixon® offers trials with original materials and different equipment concepts.