Mineral processing relies heavily on precise blending, thorough mixing, and effective solid suspension to ensure efficient operations. These processes are crucial for optimising performance, maximising resource recovery, and maintaining consistency in product quality.
This guide delves into their importance within the industry, explains how they function, and offers insights on selecting the right equipment to meet your needs.
1. Z-Blade Mixers: Precision in Every Blend
The Z-Blade Mixer can be operated either manually or automatically, depending on the client’s needs and requirements.
In automated mode, the unit is controlled by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), allowing the blending cycle to start with a control button on the Human-Machine Interface (HMI).
Features and Benefits:
- Automation Capabilities:
- Programmable blending cycles with precise control over speed, direction, and duration, ensuring consistency and adaptability to varying process requirements.
- Customisable Design Options:
- Engineered for versatility in mineral processing and other industrial applications. Choose from materials such as stainless steel for superior corrosion resistance or mild steel with a rubber lining to withstand abrasive conditions. This flexibility ensures the mixer perfectly suits your unique operational needs.
- Enhanced Process Control:
- Optional heating jackets provide precise temperature regulation, ideal for processes involving temperature-sensitive materials or reactions.
- Built-in Safety Features:
- Equipped with advanced safety protocols such as emergency stop buttons, overload protection, and real-time monitoring to safeguard both equipment and personnel.
- Energy Efficiency:
- Designed with energy-saving features that reduce power consumption during operation, contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective processes.
2. Ribbon Mixers: Achieving Uniformity Made Simple
Ribbon mixers are designed to blend both dry and wet materials, ensuring consistent and uniform mixtures. In the mineral processing industry, these mixers play a crucial role in achieving product consistency and enhancing the quality of the final output.
Why Choose MechProTech’s Ribbon Mixers?
Longevity and Versatility:
Crafted from high-quality materials, MechProTech’s ribbon mixers are available in food-grade stainless steel for sanitary applications or durable mild steel with painted finishes for industrial use, ensuring long-lasting performance across diverse sectors.
Optimised Performance:
Our mixers, equipped with optional heating jackets, provide precise temperature control, making them ideal for processes that require regulated heat during mixing.
Unmatched Consistency and Reliability:
When uniformity and dependable performance are paramount, MechProTech’s ribbon mixers deliver exceptional results, enhancing product quality and process efficiency in any application
3. Agitators: Power and Adaptability
MechProTech’s Titan Agitators are engineered for heavy-duty mixing in industries like mining. With drive units ranging from 180 watts to 400 kW, these agitators are built to meet the most demanding industrial requirements.
Key Features of Titan Agitators:
Custom Mounting Arrangements
MechProTech’s mixers are designed with flexible mounting options to accommodate a wide range of applications. These include bridge-based setups, pedestal-mounted configurations, and clamping systems, allowing for seamless integration into various operational environments.
- Bridge-Based: Ideal for larger or more complex systems.
- Pedestal: This stable and reliable solution for positioning mixers above the vessel is ideal for space-constrained areas or when height and orientation adjustments are needed.
- Clamping Systems: Versatile and easy to install, clamping systems allow mixers to be mounted on container sides or rims, offering quick setup and removal, perfect for applications with frequent equipment changeovers.
Impeller ranges included:
MechProTech’s process, fluid dynamics, and mechanical simulation programs have yielded supplier impellor designs and configurations that are proprietary to the Titan Brand and benefit the client and mixing applications.
Examples include but are not limited to:
- Axial 330I (HydroFoil)
- Propellor
- Vortex
- 45 Degree PBT and 32 Degree PBT (Pitch Blade Turbine)
- Cowles Disc
- Rushton
Advanced Material Options
When selecting a material for our mixers, it’s essential to consider factors like chemical compatibility, durability, and cost. Stainless Steel (such as 304 or 316) is ideal for food, pharmaceutical, and chemical applications due to its corrosion resistance and ease of cleaning.
For more demanding environments, Alloy Steels (such as Mild steel S355) or Titanium provide enhanced resistance to both corrosion and high temperatures, making them suitable for aggressive chemicals or high-heat processes.
If abrasion is a concern, rubber linings or polyurethane coatings can offer excellent wear resistance, particularly for mining or slurry applications. For more economical solutions, carbon steel may be appropriate for less corrosive environments.
MechProTech considers your process’s specific requirements to choose a material that balances performance, cost, and longevity.
Durable Coatings
Zincodic Zinc-Based Epoxy Primer & Topcoat:
This provides excellent corrosion protection, especially in high-exposure environments like coastal or industrial settings. Certifications like ISO 2944 C5 VH and ISO 12944 IM ensure long-lasting protection against corrosion and rust.
Wear-Resistant Coatings:
- Natural Rubber: Offers high impact resistance and abrasion protection, ideal for mixers handling solid materials or slurries.
- Polyurethane: Known for abrasion resistance and flexibility, it is ideal for high-wear areas.
- Butyl Rubber: Provides chemical resistance to oils, acids, and alkalis, suited for harsh mixing conditions.
- PTFE: Offers non-stick and chemical resistance properties, perfect for sticky or viscous materials.
- Halard & Ultramar: Specialised wear-resistant coatings that provide excellent protection against abrasion, erosion, and corrosion, commonly used in mining or mineral processing applications.
Versatile Mixing Capabilities
MechProTech’s mixers are designed for a wide range of industrial applications. These capabilities include:
- Liquid-Liquid Mixing: Ideal for blending or emulsifying two immiscible liquids, ensuring uniformity across phases.
- Liquid-Solid Mixing: Perfect for dispersing solids evenly within a liquid, achieving consistent suspension.
- Solid-Solid Mixing: Effective for combining powders or granular materials with minimal segregation.
- Paste Mixing: Suitable for high-viscosity materials.
- Solids Suspension: Ensures consistent suspension of solid particles in a liquid.
- Swirl Flow Mixing: Creates a swirling motion that enhances flow dynamics, particularly in applications requiring a strong vortex effect.
- Hi-Attrition Mixing: Efficient for processes that require intense mixing to achieve fine particle size or break down materials.
- Gas Dispersion is ideal for applications that require gas to be effectively mixed into liquids, such as fermentation or chemical reactions.
- Heat/Mass Transfer: Facilitates efficient thermal and material transfer.
MechProTech’s proprietary impeller designs maximise mixing efficiency, ensuring optimal performance across diverse applications, whether for routine operations or specialised, high-performance mixing processes.
Why MechProTech?
MechProTech is proudly South African and makes standout mining and mineral processing equipment. We don’t just make great machines—we help you get the best results with expert project management by skilled professionals. Everything we build is designed to meet the specific needs of your industry.
We make things easier by assembling and testing all our equipment in-house before delivery. This reduces risks on your site and ensures top quality. Plus, by working with local engineering services, we help you save money while keeping your operations running smoothly. Contact MechProTech today to see how our equipment can improve your plant’s performance.