Static or Motionless Mixers

Static or motionless mixers use stationary shaped elements inside pipes or conduits to divide, divert, twist,
and recombine flowing material. The dividing, stretching, and recombining processes lead to thinner and thinner
striations in viscous materials to achieve uniformity. Molten polymers usually are in laminar how and have
no radial exchange when flowing. Thus temperature gradients can form and be propagated. Heating and cooling of
these materials through the wall is very difficult because of the residence time distribution associated with the
laminar velocity profile. Material at the center moves much faster than the material at the wall, and in addition,
has less contact time because of the poor conductive heat transfer at the center. These devices would reduce
radial thermal gradients that occur in polymer processing.

One of the first commercial units was the Kenics device. In the Kenics mixer, a set of twisted elements with
left- and right-hand twists caused the material to move from the wall to the center and from the center to the wall.
After traveling through a number of these elements, the fluid is homogenized with respect to age, composition,
and temperature. These devices were called motionless mixers or static mixers because the mixer did
not move, although the liquid did. The term static mixer was originally copyrighted by Kenics Corporation, but
the term is now commonly used for all such in-line motionless mixers.

Over the years a large number of companies have produced static mixers all based on the principle of moving
the streams radially by a series of metal baffles. These baffles may consist of twists of metal, corrugated sheets,
parallel bars, small-diameter passages, or tabs sticking out from the wall. They are essentially plug flow devices
with some small degree of backmixing, depending on the exact design.

Today static mixers are established in many different market segments and are used for a wide range of
different applications. A common application for static mixers includes mixing two component adhesives
(e.g. epoxy) and sealants. Other applications include wastewater treatment and chemical processing. Static mixers
can as well be used in the refinery and oil & gas market for example for the desalting of crude oil. In the polymer
production static mixers can be used for homogenization of polymer melts or for the uniform mixing
of liquid additives to the molten polymer.

Some of the leading manufacturers of static mixers are listed below:

1. Chemineer Inc. (Kenics)

2. Sulzer Chemtech
3. Charles Ross & Son Company
4. Komax Systems Inc.
5. Koflo Corporation
6. Stamixco
7. Statiflo

Some well known static mixer models of the leading manufactiurers are described below:

Chemineer, Inc. (Kenics)

Chemineer, Inc. (Kenics), manufactures the models "KM", "KMX", "HEV" and "WVM" series of mixers
Product catalogs can be viewed at the following links:
http://www.chemineer.com/images/pdf/bulletin_800.pdf

http://www.chemineer.com/images/pdf/kmx_mixer.pdf

http://www.chemineer.com/images/pdf/bulletin_811.pdf
Sulzer Chemtech
Sulzer manufactures the models "SMI", "KVM","SMV", "SMX", "SMXL", "SMF" and "SMR" series of mixers
Product catalogs can be viewed at the following links:

http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-569/734_read-1362/

http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-569/

http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-567/732_read-1346/

http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-567/732_read-1348/

http://www.sulzerchemtech.com/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-567/732_read-1345/

Charles Ross & Son Company

Charles Ross manufactures the popular "ISG" model of static mixer
Product catalogs can be viewed at the following links:

http://www.mixers.com/Proddetails.asp?ProdID=80

Komax Systems Inc.

Komax manufactures "Ultra Mixer" for polymer melt applications. Other applications are covered by different
models manufactured by them.
Product catalogs can be viewed at the following links:

http://www.komax.com/drawings/ultra_mixer_technology.html

http://www.komax.com/triple-action-mixer.html

Koflo Corporation
Koflow manufactures a wide range of static mixers. Overall product catalog is available at the following link:

http://www.koflo.com/static-mixers.html

Stamixco
Stamixco manufactures a wide range of static mixers. Overall product catalog is available at the following link:

http://www.stamixco.com/static-mixers/overview.php

Statiflo
Statiflo manufactures a wide range of static mixers. Overall product catalog is available at the following link:

http://www.statiflo.net/
A pictorial representation of some of the static mixer models is given below:

Static mixer design options. From left: vortex mixer (type KVM), corrugated plate (type SMV),
wall-mounted vanes (type SMF), cross-bar (type SMX), helical twist (type KHT), cross-bar (type SMXL)

Reference:
"Handbook Of Industrial Mixing Science and Practice" by Edward Paul, Victor Atiemo-Obeng and Suzanne Kresta

Disclaimer:
The information in this workbook is provided as an introduction to "Static Mixers", their application and pressure
drop guidelines for some commercial static mixer models. References for the information compiled is mentioned.
The information provided in this workbook in no way substitutes the data provided by Static Mixer manufacturers
and hence no warranties explicit or implicit are provided for the accuracy of the data. Users of this worksheet are
advised to verify the data with actual manufacturers.

Prepared by: Ankur Srivastava

Chemical Engineer
E-mail: ankur_2061@hotmail.com
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Rough Application Guide for Popular Static Mixer Models

Flow Regime Model Designation

Laminar KMS KMX HEV SMV SMX SMXL SMR KVM SMF ISG
Mixing / Blending Best Choice Can be used - - Best Choice Best Choice - - Can be used Can be used
High-Low Viscosity - Can be used - - Best Choice Can be used - - - Can be used
Dispersion Can be used Can be used - - Best Choice Can be used - - - Can be used
Heat Transfer Best Choice - - - Good Choice Best Choice Best Choice - - -
Best Choice
Plug Flow Good Choice - - - Best Choice Good Choice (Note 1) - - -

Turbulent
Best Choice
High turbulence Can be used - Best Choice (Note 2) - - - Best Choice - -
Low turbulence Best Choice - - Best Choice Can be used Can be used - - Can be used -
Dispersion Best Choice - - Best Choice Can be used Can be used - - Can be used -
Best Choice
Liquid-Liquid Best Choice - - Best Choice Can be used Can be used (Note 1) - Can be used -
Can be used
Gas-in-Liquid Best Choice - - Best Choice Can be used Can be used (Note 1) - Can be used -

Notes:
1. Use where temperature control is required.
2. Use where very large pipe diameters or non-round cross-sections are encountered.

Reference:
"Handbook Of Industrial Mixing Science and Practice" by Edward Paul, Victor Atiemo-Obeng and Suzanne Kresta
Pressure Drop Estimation in Static Mixers
In both laminar and turbulent cases, the addition of the baffles of motionless mixers increases the pressure drop,
and therefore extra energy is required to get the additional mixing effect. Twisted-ribbon and structured
packing static mixers will increase pressure drop per unit pipe length over standard open pipe by as much as a
factor of 7 to several hundred, depending on the Reynolds number. Vortex-generating designs operate with less
flow resistance, but the pressure drop is still significantly higher than it is for the same pipe size without elements.

The pressure drop in a static mixer of fixed geometry is expressed as the ratio of the pressure drop through the
mixer to the pressure drop through the same diameter and length of open pipe K L for laminar and KT for
turbulent flow.

Psm  K L  Ppipe for Laminar Flow (Re < 2000)

Psm  K T  Ppipe for Turbulent Flow (Re > 4000)

where:
ΔPsm = Pressure drop in static mixer of fixed geometry
KL = Pressure drop ratio for laminar flow (Refer Table 1 for various commercial static mixer models)
KT = Pressure drop ratio for turbulent flow (Refer Table 2 for various commercial static mixer models)
ΔPpipe = Pressure drop in open pipe using the standard Darcy-Weisbach pressure drop equation

Notes:
1. For calculating the ΔPpipe consider length of the pipe as the combination of the standard static mixer model
and available and selected length for that model
2. Use consistent set of units for solving the above equations

Table 1: Pressure Drop Ratios of standard commercial static mixer models for Laminar flow
Model KL
Empty Pipe 1
KMS 6.9
SMX 37.5
SMXL 7.8
SMF 5.6
SMR 46.9

Table 2: Pressure Drop Ratios of standard commercial static mixer models for Turbulent flow
Model KT
Empty Pipe 1
KMS 150
KVM 24
SMX 500
SMXL 100
SMV 100-200
SMF 130

Reference:
"Handbook Of Industrial Mixing Science and Practice" by Edward Paul, Victor Atiemo-Obeng and Suzanne Kresta