Why the Silverson Flashmix is pivotal for powder-heavy formulations: a case study on Indonesian manufacturers
Adding powder to a liquid sounds simple, but it is one of the hardest steps in making many liquid products. Ingredients such as gums, thickeners, and preservatives need to be wetted, spread evenly, and fully dissolved. If this does not happen properly, the batch can contain lumps (also called agglomerates), have an inconsistent thickness, or take longer to make.
In many cases, the problem is not the formula but how the powder is added. It also tends to get worse as batches get larger, because more powder has to be handled and a bad batch costs more to fix.
Plants often solve this with extra equipment and extra steps, such as premix tanks and heating. This article explains how the Silverson Flashmix (FMX Series) takes a different approach and shows two cases from Indonesian manufacturers.
Why Powders Form Lumps
Many powders do not sink right away. Light powders and powders that the liquid does not wet easily can float on the surface for some time (Ong et al., 2017). While the powder sits there, only its outer layer gets wet. When a clump finally breaks away, it is wet outside and dry inside, which is what we call a lump. For many thickeners and gums, the wet outer layer also turns sticky and keeps liquid from reaching the dry powder.
The problem can also grow during the batch. As a thickener dissolves, the liquid becomes thicker, and the next addition becomes harder to mix in.
Case study 1: carbomer in a cosmetics and pharma plant
A manufacturer of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products in Bandung needed to add carbomer to its liquid products. Carbomer is a thickener known for forming lumps, often called fish-eyes, when it is added to liquid.
They chose the Silverson FMX-25, a powder/liquid mixer. The result is a homogenised mix with faster mixing time (no sieving of lumps needed).
How Plants Usually Handle It
A common solution is to dissolve the powder first in a smaller premix tank, often with heated water, and then transfer it into the main mixing tank. Some materials do dissolve more easily in warm or hot water, so this approach is practical, and it works.
The trade-off is cost. More tanks mean more transfers, more heating, more cleaning and more time per batch. For some formulations, this is the part of the process most worth reviewing.
Case study 2: a pharmaceutical manufacturer
A pharmaceutical manufacturer had to heat their raw materials to get them to mix. Their process used three premix tanks and one hot water tank, all feeding into one main mixing tank.
Before: 3 premix tanks + 1 hot water tank → main mixing tank
After: FMX-50 with main mixing tank
With the Silverson FMX-50, they now need only the FMX-50 and the main mixing tank.
What this means for the plant: four fewer vessels, fewer transfers, and fewer cleaning steps mean great energy savings and up to a 25% reduction in process time.
How the Flashmix works
The Flashmix is a powder/liquid mixer built on Silverson’s high shear rotor/stator technology. Its key part is a specially designed pumping rotor, which creates a very fast flow of liquid through the mixer and pumps it back into the tank.
Silverson describes the process in three steps:
The pumping rotor drives liquid from the tank through the mixer’s workhead at high speed.
When the powder valve opens, the powder passes straight into the high shear workhead, where powder and liquid are mixed together.
The mixed product goes back to the tank, and the cycle repeats until the batch is uniform.
Unlike many powder/liquid mixers, which use vacuum to pull in powders, the Flashmix literally forces powder into the liquid stream. (Silverson)
Three points matter in practice:
Little time for lumps to form. The powder goes directly into the high shear zone, so it does not sit on the surface waiting to be wetted. Silverson states that this allows “no time for agglomerates to form.”
All the powder goes through the workhead. Silverson says powder cannot bypass it, so all of it is dissolved and spread evenly, which helps the batch reach its full thickening effect.
Easier handling. Powder can be added at ground level, and Silverson reports less dust. An optional suction hose can draw powder straight from its bag or container.
The range runs from the laboratory-scale FMX5 to production models such as the FMX25, FMX50 and FMX75.
Try it with your own material
The FMX-25 is available for trial at Jayapak’s facility. Bring your own materials and see the result before deciding on equipment for production. To book a trial or discuss your application, contact the Jayapak Team:
Email: sales@jayapak.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pt-jayapak-sinar-abadi
Website: www.jayapak.com
Reference: Ong, X. Y., Taylor, S. E., & Ramaioli, M. (2017). Rehydrating food powders and avoiding lumps: Effect of powder properties and liquid flow. Chemical Engineering Transactions, 57, 1939–1944.
