Silverson Laboratory mixers – Versatile, fast and built to last!

Phil Black - PII Editor 13/12/2021

378 3 minutes read

Listen to this article

Laboratory scale mixing equipment can be an important factor in the success or failure of products while in the development or formulation stage, so choosing the right mixer for the application is essential.

Silverson Laboratory mixers have been sold all over the world to everyone from small start-up companies to larger international brands. They’re built to last – the oldest Silverson Laboratory mixer known to still be in use has been in service for over 70 years!

Silverson Laboratory mixers are used for a variety of mixing processes from simple liquid/liquid blending, forming emulsions and reducing particle size to more complex mixing applications in emerging industries such as electrically charged film for window tinting and exfoliation of graphite for isolation of graphene. And now with the introduction of three new models to the product range, In-Line powder/liquid, hygienic and high viscosity mixing are all possible at Laboratory scale.

All of Silverson’s laboratory scale mixers are ideal for routine laboratory work, research and development, QA analysis and small scale production.

The ‘standard’ L5M-A model is a multifunctional high shear laboratory mixer; the advantages it offers over simple agitators and stirrers stem from the specially designed rotor/stator workhead. The high speed rotation of the rotor blades draws materials into the workhead where they are intensively mixed, before being projected back into the body of the mix at high velocity. With this method, ingredients are rapidly incorporated and fully hydrated or dissolved, any agglomerates are eliminated.

For slightly larger batches, the AX series is a small scale production unit which has a capacity of up to 50 litres and is widely used in pilot scale plants and research institutes.

There are over 40 workheads, screens and assemblies available for Silverson laboratory mixers enabling any machine to perform a wide range of mixing operations and allow one mixer to perform duties that in the past may have required several different pieces of processing equipment.

In-Line mixing at Laboratory scale

For applications where an In-Line mixer is required, Silverson offers an In-Line mixing assembly for the L5 Series, converting the L5 mixer to an In-Line mixer/homogeniser with a throughput of approximately 20 litres/minute.

Where higher throughput or a designated In-Line laboratory unit is required, Silverson have designed the Verso, a bench top In-Line mixer which can be supplied with a vessel package to replicate a recirculation process at pilot scale. Some new variants of the Verso were launched earlier this year. One of these is the Verso HV which is designed for processing higher viscosity mixers than the standard Verso model. This variant incorporates the same innovative ‘pumping rotor’ design as the production scale HV In-Line mixers which substantially increases its self-pumping capacity and facilities easy scale up.

The Verso UHS is an Ultra-Hygienic version of the standard Verso machine, allowing it to be used for stringent applications in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries as well as Food, Cosmetics and other clean industries.

Launched alongside the new Verso variants, the FMX5 is Silverson’s first laboratory scale powder/liquid mixer. The FMX5 is a laboratory version of the Silverson Flashmix mixer and provides a simple, effective and hygienic means of incorporating powder into liquid. The unit is suitable for small scale manufacturing and R&D work with a typical batch size of up to 10 litres, depending on viscosity.

Scale up

Some mixer manufacturers specialise in production scale models but have no laboratory scale mixers; conversely some offer high speed laboratory mixers that have no production equivalent. This can make it difficult if not impossible to scale up successfully from the lab to full production. One of the main advantages when choosing a Silverson Laboratory mixer for R&D or pilot scale production is the ability to scale up from the laboratory to full scale production models with ease.

Silverson offers the largest range of capacities from a single manufacturer – from 1ml laboratory units up to some of the largest disintegrator systems on the market – and because all Silverson mixers are manufactured to the same precision engineered tolerances anything you produce in the laboratory can be replicated in production and scalable results are achievable across the entire product range.

If you like to find out more, contact sales@silverson.co.uk or visit the Silverson Machines website: www.silverson.co.uk.