Recommended Blending Equipment For Sauces And Dressings

In the mass production of dips, sauces and dressings, manufacturers rely on high speed mixers to accomplish a variety of processing objectives including emulsification, homogenization, liquefaction and particle size reduction. High Shear Mixers, for instance, are widely used throughout the food industry for preparing stable emulsions, thickened solutions and solid dispersions under 10,000 centipoise (cP). The basic single-stage design features a four-blade rotor that turns at tip speeds around 3,000-4,000 ft/min within a close tolerance fixed stator. It creates mechanical and hydraulic shear by continuously drawing product components into the rotor and expelling them radially through the openings in the stator. As the operator charges soft solids and powders into the batch, these ingredients are subsequently pureed, dispersed or dissolved usually within a very short cycle time.

Products that undergo high peak viscosities are batched in Multi-Shaft Mixers equipped with two or more independently-driven agitators working in tandem to deliver a robust combination of high shear agitation and laminar bulk flow. The simplest design is the Dual-Shaft Mixer which features a low-speed anchor and a high-speed saw-tooth disperser blade. The wings of the anchor agitator normally include adjustable scrapers for wiping the vessel bottom and sidewalls. Users thus benefit from tighter temperature control in addition to enhanced product turnover.