Shampoo manufacturer doubles capacity with impeller mixing upgrade10 August 2010

By upgrading the agitator assembly in an existing two-tonne process vessel, shampoo processor Herb UK reckons it will see a return on its investment in less than eight months.

Factory manager Brian Crouch explains that the improvement also reduces energy consumption and solves product aeration issues.

"Our shampoo was taking three days to mix and is the most challenging product to produce," comments Mark D'Arcy, Herb UK's operations manager.

"Our existing mixing equipment, with large blade impellers, was also leaving too much air in the product, causing delays at the bottling stage."

He says the firm experimented with recirculation pumps but increased power consumption, product aeration and inconsistent results led it to look at improving the agitator.

Ekato UK managing director John Smith says his company used CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to asses the options, and recommended its Viscoprop agitator.

The unit provides for variable speed and reverse, effectively 'pulling' liquids off the floor of the vessel and distributing them evenly through the batch.

"Variable speed gives the operator better control," insists Smith. "And for smaller batch sizes it helps minimise splashing."

Crouch confirms the improvements. "We have been able to reduce process time by 50%,. We can achieve 100,000 tonnes per manufacturing year. In addition, the new process is removing much of the air, reducing bottling time and the need for a recirculation pump."

Interestingly, Ekato's Smith says that the multi stage Viscoprop impellers also helped to solve another issue at the Herb UK plant. Correcting the pH value is normally done by adding an adjuster at the end of the process but being thinner and lighter, this tended to float on the liquid surface. Typically, more would be added to ensure consistent values through the batch.

But Ekato's multistage impellers distribute the adjuster through the entire batch, resulting in better consistency from top to the bottom of the vessel. "Mixing different densities of constituents can be a real issue, increasing mixing time that is not value added," says Smith.

Herb UK is benefitting in other ways, too. "The new impellers are much smaller," says Crouch. "This makes the tank more accessible for removing the product, and a shorter cleaning process reduces changeover times when we switch from shampoo to activators."

Brian Tinham

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