DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE MIXING/ AGITATORS AND PERSITALTIC HOSE PUMPS
F3 IMPELLERS
F3 agitator impellers are also known as a hydrofoil impeller; is used in applications where high flow velocity is required and is one of the most commonly used impellers throughout various industries, The F3 is called upon in many applications because f its robust and efficient structure. The impeller can meet the demands of the process at lower installed power than most other impellers within the range. Widely employed throughout the various industries, these impellers are used where the generation of flow determines the agitator selection. The F3 impeller has multipurpose use, varying the blade pitch angle will alter the impeller’s flow and shear characteristics and can prove high axial flow with show shear whenever required.
The impeller is industry proven and boasts a solid track record with thousands of successful installations in multiple industries. Some industry applications and example include:
- Mining: CIL & CIP, ore (copper and gold), leaching, lime makeup and storage, solid suspension, chemical reaction tanks, slurry tanks.
- Agriculture: Fertilizer makeup tanks, water storage tanks, plastic tank mixer.
- Pharmaceutical: Batch mixers, laboratory mixers, homogenising reactors, pressured vessel agitators.
- Waste and Water Treatment: Flocculent plants, water treatment plants, chemical reaction application.
- Paint & Ink: Mixing tanks, batch and blending tanks, pre-mix within 210 litre drum, large and small scale application.
- Chemical Industry: IBC bin agitator, soaps, cleaners and detergent mixing, fine powders and liquid blending, household cleaning products .
FS4 IMPELLERS
FS4 agitator impeller also known as a pitch blade turbine impeller is used in applications such as blending, high viscosity blending applications requiring shear and re-pulping where some flow and addition of power is still required. The FS4 agitator impeller pitched blade turbine, consists of four blades and is very limited to its performance tasks within process application parameters. This type of impeller is used for application which require higher power draw and lower efficiency in terms of mixing. There is still a demand for this type of impeller through some applications needing high flow and some shear.
Some industry applications and examples include:
- Mining: Re-pulping applications.
- Agricultural: Blending applications with some solids needing to be broken up and dispersed throughout the tank.
- Pharmaceutical: Lower impeller in high viscosity batch mixers.
- Waste & Water Treatment: Aerators, sludge tanks to break up the “cake” crud collection.
- Paint & Ink: Viscous mixing tanks, batch and blending tanks, addition of solids into batches.
- Chemical industry: Addition of solids into solutions where high power is required to assist with breaking down the solids
P3 IMPELLERS
The P3 agitator impeller is also known as a high solidity hydrofoil impeller like the P4 impeller but with three blades instead of four. These types of impellers are used in applications where a macro flow is required, specifically in high viscosity, low Reynolds number fluids. They are also used when effective dispersion as well as blending and solid suspension is required. These impellers have been adopted in application where close clearance impellers, such as scrappers, spirals and gate anchors have traditionally been used. They are capable of blending in liquids where the viscosity is more than 40,000 centipoise (cP).
Some industry applications and examples include:
- Pharmaceutical & Personal Care:Shampoos and conditions, hand wash liquid soaps as well as relaxers (thixotropic products).
- Paint & Ink: High viscosity resins, high viscosity paint blends, bulk addition of solids to a viscous solution.
- Chemical Industry: Chemical reactions where the solutions thicken with time (anti-thixotropic)
P4 IMPELLERS
P4 agitator impeller also known as a high solidity hydrofoil impeller has been designed especially for the induction of large volumes of gas. Having a solidity value greater than 90%, these impellers ensure that the gas being introduced is not able to bypass the impeller. The result is increased absorbed power under gassed conditions. This is opposite to that of the Rushton impellers or Smith Turbine, both of which experience a reduction in power under gassed applications.
These high- efficiency axial gas dispersion impellers are used within the following applications:
- High-pressure autoclaves
- BIO oxidation reactors
- Bacterial leaching
- Fermentation and hydrogenation
- Iron removal
- Cyanide detox application
S1 IMPELLERS
These agitator impellers, also known as a shear disc or sawtooth impeller provides very high shear compared to other open bladed mixing devices. It can be used for the purpose of incorporating powders into liquids, breaking down or shearing agglomeration or to form stable emulsions. Result of the S1 impeller are increased with the used of the F-type impeller to aide circulation within the tank.
Some industry applications and examples include:
- Chemical: Fermentation of stable emulsions shearing of powder agglomerations.
- Paint: Dispersion of pigment fermentation of emulsions for paint.
FOLDING IMPELLERS
AFX offers a broad range of unique folding axial flow impellers. These impellers have been adapted to suit applications whereby the missing process takes place inside the vessel which has a limited opening diameter. Before the development of folding impellers, application such as were approached by using impellers with fixed blades that had a diameter small enough to pass through the vessel opening. This meant that the agitator would run at speeds much higher than those whose impeller’s DT ratio has been created to meet the desired specification thus increasing the power requirements of the agitator and reducing its overall efficiency.
Nowadays, as we have adapted our axial flow impellers to incorporate the moving or folding blades, we can select the impeller which wold be the closest fit in terms if your vessel dimensions and application demands. These impellers provide an economical and energy efficient agitators solution suitable to your applicatio
R6 IMPELLERS
The R6’s radial flow agitator impeller is designed for pumper mixer applications. The impeller discharges the fluid radially outwards to the vessel wall. This particular type of radial impeller provides a more informal radial flow pattern when compared to the radial impellers that do not feature a disc. The progressive design ensures advanced flow, maximum shear generation and turbulence. Radial flow impellers are most commonly used in gas-liquid or liquid-liquid dispersion applications.
These impellers are used in applications such as:
- Solvent extraction (SX Mixing)
- Thickener dilution systems
FCE3 IMPELLERS
AFX’S application engineers have been working alongside the Research and Development department to find improved solutions for wastewater treatment plants. A common problem called “ragging” has been identified in the industry causing many process failures and mechanical breakdowns of flocculation, chemical make-up, storage, sludge mixing and neutralization mixing tanks. “Ragging” is the collection of fibrous solids in and around the hub and leading edges of the impellers.
Historically, a few impellers have been used to achieve mixing in these processes. These impellers include the axial flow impellers, hydrofoil impellers, pitch blade turbines and radial flow back swept impellers.
The axial flow and hydrofoil impellers were the most recent introduction in terms of mixing turbines in the industry duet to their high pumping number (Nq) and low power number (Np). These impellers could deliver the required mixing efficiency in the tank for the process requirement which is keeping solids in suspension. The bioreactor process is typical of this requirement as this process requires high efficiency mixing to avoid solids settling.
To remove the entangled collection of fibrous materials (the result of ragging) from around the impeller, wastewater treatments plants resort to reversing the mixers after daily operations and emptying the bio-reactor tanks every three to four months to manually detangle and strip the hub and impeller of the entangled mass. This is known as a fouled impeller. Rag build up around the impeller not only restricts the process flow which results in settled solids but also increases the load on both the motor and gearbox. This increased loading reduces the expected bearing life as well as inducing a possible motor overload, resulting in premature failure of the mechanical agitator.
The most commonly found agitator solutions employ radial back swept turbines which have a large power draw with a very low pumping/flow delivery. It was assumed that the back swept, curved blade design would assist in limiting the rag buildup around the turbine. The radical back swept impeller demands high power inputs to provide a marginal pumping delivery into the mixing tanks, but rag buildup still occurs around the impeller blades and hub.
AFX was driven to fin the “perfect” solution. Keeping our focus on efficiency for the process demands as well as offering cost savings to the plants, AFX developed a clean edge impeller also know as a rag less or non-stringing impeller. The FCE3 boasts an impressive design, eliminating areas where common rag build occurred but still produces the desired output pumping rate. This impeller ensures that the high- efficiency demands of the process are met and provides a solution which is energy efficient. The inputted power required for the FCE3 is far less than the typical bio—reactor agitators with outdated turbine technology.
The welded hub and blade design in conjunction with the blade geometry ensures that any fibrous solids and materials that meets the impeller surface are pushed over the top edge and en trained back into the high-velocity zone by the leading blade. The impeller has a high pumping number (Nq) like the F3 axial flow hydrofoil impeller. The power number (Np) is almost five times less than that of a radial flow back swept blade impeller. The FCE3 impeller slots into AFX’s energy saving endeavour providing you with the best possible mechanical solution that saves you both time and money.