Wetting technology wins award

Ytron Process Technology won a top accolade in this year's PPMA Awards. The Denis Pearce Memorial Medal for Design and Manufacture (Overseas Supplier) recognises innovative design or application of machinery built outside the UK. The award was made for the Ytron Y Directed Jet Mixer with by-pass system, which speeds up the addition of hard-to-wet powders to a liquid and eliminates dusting.

The machine's rotating shaft is contained within a stator tube, avoiding the vortex and foaming created by a freely rotating shaft. The rotor or impeller is also shrouded by a cage, which converts the radial move-ment of the impeller into axial movement, allowing a rapid top-to-bottom movement of the product within the vessel.

Powder enters the mixer via a bypass tube that terminates below the surface of the liquid some 2 – 4mm from the impeller. The action of the impeller within the liquid creates a vacuum, drawing the powder down the bypass tube and into the mix. It can then be wetted into a solution at high velocity without lump formation.