Chemical Mixing Simulator

There is a fundamental difference between the mixing of chemicals and the mixing process. The mixing of chemicals refers to the selection of chemicals we want to use in order to generate a desired end product. Indeed, our final product depends on the physical properties of the final material, the starting materials that we’re using, and the chemical or physical connection between them. in the manufacturing of creams, lotions, and many other final products that are in liquid phase.

When we’re talking about mixing simulation, we’re talking about how the mixing operation needs to be applied to our materials and the ideal conditions needed to achieve an excellent interaction.

To provide the ideal conditions, we must consider the potential properties of the input and resultant materials.
Mixing simulation addresses conditions such as hemodynamics, mixing parameters, shear rate, the energy of dissipation, and the many mixing parameters related to flow dynamics. If the materials are not compatible, then they will not generate the formulation, Hence, the selection of materials comes from your company’s knowledge regarding each of the materials you are using, why you’re using these materials, and their added value in the formulation. Now you are able to achieve the best environment to realize the potential interaction between the compatible materials that you are using.

So, take care on this very thin and important difference, where you know the compatibility between materials, and we know the environment we need to provide to the materials to manifest the interaction in a good way.

Element Mixer Simulator

By consequence of the questions people ask about how we can simulate chemical reactions, we
have an excellent question about mixing that everyone in the industry is asking. When I meet
professional people in the industry and discuss the sophisticated unit operation of mixing in the
industry, the question that eventually arises is, What is the best way to mix chemicals? Or, what
is the optimal number of mixings for chemicals in the process? The answer that I provide is that
we don’t know; we never know. And the reason we never know is that mixing is not in itself
something that we can generate some generic answers about.

Mixing is a tool. We use mixing to manufacture materials. So, our goal in the industry is to
manufacture materials. When we manufacture materials, we put some of them in a vessel and
we start to steer them under some conditions that we find in the laboratory or in previous
studies in literature. And we need to succeed. What is success when it comes to these
activities? It’s being able to generate a material, a product that will be of good quality and
doesn’t have problems in operation. It’s being able to generate a level of productivity that will
be good enough that the product of this process generates money for the company.
So, this mindset gives us the best way to mix chemicals. Now, it is opposite our normal thinking
because when we think about mixing, the ingrained idea we usually have is that mixing is high
homogeneity, high shear rate, fast velocity. And all of this is true when the mixing is the goal. If
my goal is to have mixing, to understand the mixing, then all the aforementioned criteria are
okay. But when we go to the industry, our main goal is the process, the product, and the mixing
becomes only a tool, a very important tool. The tool should be adapted to the process. So, we
need to provide the process, the environment that is required to generate a good process,
meaning of fit, good productivity, no problems in operation, and acceptable quality according
to the specifications for every step.

So, when we talk about what is the best way to mix chemicals, we need to disconnect between
good mixing and a good process; they are not similar. Good mixing is the capability to generate
the conditions to have a good process. This is described by the purity quality in operation, and
not only with homogeneity, high shear rate, and velocity. Now, once we have achieved this
disconnection between good mixing and process, we will discover that sometimes, when we try to solve our problems by increasing the mixing, we generate worse results. Why? Because we
did not have in mind the concept that when we accelerate the mixing, we accelerate the
malfunction for our process. And we have many examples of this. For instance, a company may
increase the velocity, and as a function of this increased velocity, the distribution of one of the
materials may get better in the tank. But because it gets better, the company may accelerate a
secondary reaction or secondary phenomenon that reduces the quality of the material and put
it outside of the spec. Only when we see good mixing and a good process as separate entities
can we understand that we need to reduce velocity and reduce homogeneity. Otherwise, we
may end up in the situation with the accelerated mixing and the secondary phenomenon that
generates the impurities or the site reaction. The mindset we need is exactly the opposite of
what we have deeply ingrained in our minds.


Once we discard the old mindset, we start to discover solutions we’d never thought of before.
We recognize that high-velocity homogeneity may not be the best process. High-velocity
homogeneity may describe the mixing well, but when the mixing is not the goal and only the
tool, our goal should be the process. And even if the mixing is non-homogeneous and not high
velocity, it’s generating a better result for the process, and this view is what we should adopt.
So, in conclusion, what is the best way to mix chemicals? In the industry, the answer is to
establish the conditions needed to generate good quality according to the specification of the
product at every step, in order to ensure good productivity and avoid problems in the
operation.

VisiMix Video

The Influence of Mixing in the Process
New methodology using VisiMix software for the purpose of checking the influence of mixing in the processes.

VisiMix Demo Operation
Learning how to input data into the VisiMix software and get results the will help us understand the influence of mixing in our processes.

Lab Experiments
Learning how to set up the relevant experiments at the lab scale, to develop the processes from an engineering point of view.