Batch Mixer Enables Precise Powder Formulations for Nutraceuticals

Because Munson’s 50-ft³ rotary batch mixer was geared toward the baking industry to spray bakery products, the NRS R&D team tweaked the Munson mixer to work with some of the oils they were using. “We had to do a lot of R&D to figure out what spray nozzles and spray pressures worked best for us. It took a couple months to figure that part out, but once we did, it all came together,” Martin says, adding that a dehumidifier was also attached to the mixer to remove excess moisture from the machine between batches.

Continuous blending

Prior to NRS purchasing a Munson rotary mixer, the company was using a V-shaped blender, which had several limitations related to what NRS was trying to achieve in production. “The way the [Munson mixer] is shaped, it actually scoops and tumbles our product, where the V blender kind of splits it apart and then brings it back together,” notes Martin. “A rotary mixer is constantly flipping the powder, so, the rotary gives us a more consistent blend compared to a V.”

That continuous blending also allows NRS to reduce downtime during production. “Because our mixer is 50 ft³, we can only fit about 500 kg into it at a time. But we can blend it for 20 minutes and unload it while it’s running, and then load it with another 500 kg of product,” Martin explains. “We can continuously run it and not stop/start like you do with a conventional blender.”

The Munson mixer runs on a variable-frequency drive (VFD), which Martin says helps NRS save energy costs over time. “We use the VFD to soft-start or stop-soft very slowly during production. If we don't want to run it at full speed, we can actually dial it back down to half speed if we want to,” he says. “That saves us energy by not having to run it at one speed and stop it completely every time we change batches.”

NRS’s customized Munson mixer was nicknamed Gemini 1 by the company’s late founder, John Anderson, due to its resemblance to a NASA Gemini space capsule from the 1960s.Munson Machinery

Simple sanitizing

Cleaning the Munson mixer is another time-saver, with large doors allowing easy access to the interior, while the spray nozzles used for production double as a built-in washing mechanism. “We spray our cleaning agents through that, and then flush and rinse it clean,” Martin says. “Our cleaning time with the Munson mixer is probably half of what it used to take for our V blender.”

See how hygienic plant design is evolving in food processing facilities.

Anderson playfully nicknamed the Munson mixer Gemini 1 because it resembles a 1960s NASA Gemini space capsule turned on its side. Martin says NRS has had its eye on adding separate 90- and 300-ft³ Munson mixers at the company’s 40,000-ft² production facility, but those plans are still in progress. Martin says those mixers would be named Gemini 2 and Gemini 3 to keep Anderson’s memory and innovative ideas alive at NRS.

“Right now, we’re just contract manufacturing,” says Martin, “but we’re working on coming out with our own product lines in the future. John had hundreds of formulas, so we’re going to use his library as our foundation.”