Case Study: High-Shear Bottom-Entry Emulsifier Enhances Production Efficiency and Product Quality in Fine Chemical Processing
In the field of fine chemical production, the emulsification process is a core link that directly determines product quality, stability and production efficiency. For enterprises engaged in the production of polymer emulsions and composite materials, achieving uniform dispersion of immiscible phases, eliminating material sedimentation and reducing product defect rates have always been key challenges in the production process. This case study introduces how a fine chemical enterprise successfully solved long-standing production pain points by applying a high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier, and achieved significant improvements in product quality and production efficiency.
1. Background and Production Challenges
The enterprise is mainly engaged in the R&D and production of water-based polymer emulsions, which are widely used in coatings, adhesives and other fields. Before introducing the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier, the enterprise adopted a traditional top-mounted agitator for emulsification and mixing operations. With the expansion of production scale and the improvement of market requirements for product quality, the traditional equipment gradually exposed obvious limitations, which seriously affected the production progress and product competitiveness.
The main production challenges are as follows:
- Uneven Emulsification and Poor Product Stability: The traditional top-mounted agitator has limited shearing force, and it is difficult to fully disperse the oil phase, water phase and functional additives in the material system. The prepared emulsion has large particle size, wide distribution range, and easy phase separation and stratification during storage. The product qualification rate is only about 88%, and the defective products caused by poor stability account for more than 90% of the total defective products.
- Serious Material Sedimentation and Dead Zones: Due to the large volume of the production kettle (5000L batch), the stirring effect of the top-mounted agitator is difficult to cover the bottom of the kettle. A large amount of solid powder additives and high-viscosity materials are easy to settle at the bottom of the kettle, forming dead zones that cannot be stirred. Not only does this cause waste of raw materials, but it also affects the consistency of product components, resulting in large differences in product performance between batches.
- Long Production Cycle and High Energy Consumption: To ensure the emulsification effect as much as possible, the enterprise has to extend the stirring time to 8-10 hours per batch, which not only reduces the production capacity (only 2 batches can be produced per day), but also leads to high energy consumption. The power consumption of the agitator per batch reaches 350 kWh, which increases the production cost significantly.
- Difficult Cleaning and High Maintenance Cost: The traditional top-mounted agitator has a complex structure, and the stirring shaft and blades are easy to adhere to materials. The cleaning work after each batch takes 2-3 hours, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. At the same time, due to the large load of the equipment during operation, the wear of bearings and seals is serious, and the maintenance frequency is as high as once every 2 months, which affects the continuous production efficiency.
2. Equipment Selection and Technical Configuration
After in-depth investigation of the production process and repeated technical verification, the enterprise finally selected a high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier to replace the traditional top-mounted agitator. The equipment is designed for large-volume kettle production, with the working head installed at the bottom of the kettle, which can directly act on the bottom material and solve the problem of sedimentation and dead zones from the source. The key technical configurations are as follows:
- Power and Processing Capacity: The equipment is equipped with a 37kW high-efficiency motor, which is suitable for 3000-8000L batch processing capacity, fully matching the enterprise's 5000L production kettle.
- Rotor-Stator Structure: Adopting a multi-layer toothed rotor-stator assembly with a precision fit gap of 0.2-0.5mm. The rotor speed can reach 2940rpm, generating high linear speed and strong shearing force, which can effectively break the material droplets and solid particles.
- Material Quality: The contact parts with materials are made of 316L stainless steel, with a surface roughness Ra≤0.4μm, which meets the requirements of fine chemical production for material cleanliness and corrosion resistance.
- Control System: Equipped with an intelligent frequency conversion control system, which can adjust the rotor speed according to different material systems and process requirements, and realize real-time monitoring of operating parameters such as temperature and running status.
- Sealing Structure: Adopting a double mechanical seal design with cooling and flushing functions, which effectively prevents material leakage and ensures the stability of equipment operation under high-speed rotation.
The core working principle of the equipment is: when the rotor rotates at high speed, a strong negative pressure is formed in the precision gap between the rotor and the stator, which sucks the bottom material and the upper material into the shearing area together. The material is subjected to comprehensive effects such as strong shearing, centrifugal extrusion, liquid layer friction and turbulence in the gap, so that the large particles are quickly broken and refined, and the immiscible phases are fully dispersed and emulsified, finally forming a uniform and stable emulsion system. At the same time, the high-speed flow generated by the bottom working head drives the overall circulation of materials in the kettle, eliminating stirring dead zones and avoiding material sedimentation.
3. Application Effect and Data Comparison
After the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier was put into use, the enterprise carried out a one-month comparative test between the new equipment and the traditional agitator. The production process parameters were kept consistent, and the product quality, production efficiency and energy consumption were comprehensively evaluated. The application effect was significantly better than expected, and the main performance indicators were greatly improved.
3.1 Significant Improvement in Product Quality
The particle size of the emulsion prepared by the new equipment was tested by a laser particle size analyzer. The results showed that the average particle size of the product was reduced from 50μm (traditional equipment) to 2-5μm, and the particle size distribution range was narrowed by 70%. The emulsion stability test showed that after 6 months of static storage, there was no phase separation or stratification, and the product stability was significantly improved. The product qualification rate increased from 88% to 98.5%, and the defect rate caused by emulsification problems was reduced to less than 5%.
In addition, the consistency of product components was significantly improved. The detection data of functional indicators such as viscosity and solid content of products in different batches showed that the coefficient of variation (CV) was reduced from 8.2% to 1.5%, which effectively ensured the uniformity of product performance between batches.
3.2 Greatly Improved Production Efficiency
Due to the strong shearing efficiency of the equipment, the emulsification time per batch was shortened from 8-10 hours to 3-4 hours, a reduction of 62.5%. The daily production capacity increased from 2 batches to 5 batches, and the monthly output increased by 150% without expanding the production site and increasing the number of operators. At the same time, the cleaning time after each batch was shortened from 2-3 hours to 40 minutes, which further improved the continuous production capacity of the equipment.
3.3 Significant Reduction in Energy Consumption and Maintenance Cost
Although the power of the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier is 37kW, which is slightly higher than that of the traditional agitator (30kW), the significant shortening of the working time makes the power consumption per batch reduced from 350 kWh to 148 kWh, a decrease of 57.7%. The annual energy cost can be saved by more than 180,000 yuan.
In terms of maintenance, the double mechanical seal structure and high-quality material selection reduce the wear of equipment components. The maintenance frequency is reduced from once every 2 months to once every 8 months, and the maintenance cost per year is reduced by 65%. The equipment has been running stably for 6 months after being put into use, with no failure shutdown, ensuring the continuity of production.
3.4 Elimination of Material Sedimentation and Waste Reduction
The bottom-mounted working head of the equipment can fully stir the bottom material, completely eliminating the stirring dead zone at the bottom of the kettle. The sedimentation problem of solid additives and high-viscosity materials is solved, and the utilization rate of raw materials is increased from 92% to 99.2%. The annual waste of raw materials is reduced by more than 8 tons, which further reduces the production cost.
4. Summary and Experience
For the fine chemical enterprise, the application of the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier not only solved the long-standing production pain points such as uneven emulsification, material sedimentation and low efficiency, but also achieved a comprehensive improvement in product quality, production efficiency and cost control. The successful experience shows that for large-volume, high-viscosity and multi-phase material emulsification processes, the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier has obvious advantages that traditional mixing equipment cannot match:
Firstly, the bottom-mounted design can directly act on the bottom material, eliminate stirring dead zones and avoid material sedimentation, ensuring the uniformity of the entire material system. Secondly, the high-speed rotor-stator assembly generates strong shearing force, which can quickly refine particles and improve the stability of the emulsion. Thirdly, the intelligent control and optimized structure design reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs, and improve production efficiency.
At present, the enterprise has promoted the high-shear bottom-entry emulsifier to all its 5000L and 8000L production lines, and has achieved good economic and social benefits. It provides a valuable reference for similar enterprises in the fine chemical industry to solve emulsification process problems and realize industrial upgrading.
Your message must be between 20-3,000 characters!