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    Wet Milling and Deagglomeration

    Wet milling and deagglomeration is a robust size reduction process that is relatively easy to implement and offers a range of benefits over dry milling for pharmaceutical, food & beverage, personal care and household product applications.

    What is Deagglomeration?

    Deagglomeration is a critical part of the dispersion process, helping to ensure a more uniform formulation in applications where one material is being dispersed or mixed into another. Deagglomeration equipment addresses the challenge of solid materials, such as powders, or solid/liquid blends, such as slurries, binding together and forming lumps.

    Deagglomeration Challenges

    During processing, many solid/liquid blends develop lumps. Whether the lumps are inherent to the product, or they form as agglomerates while mixing a powder into a liquid, lumps are typically undesirable in the final product and must be smoothed out.

    These agglomerates can create a number of problems in a product, including:

    • Settling, creating a less uniform and lower-quality product
    • Undesirable textures for products that are meant to be completely smooth and lump-free
    • Safety issues for applications such as pharmaceutical products, where materials must be as uniformly dispersed as possible
    • Poor coverage and inconsistent viscosity for materials such as paints and inks.

    For these reasons, the deagglomeration of powders and any other materials meant for dispersal should be a key part of the production process.

    High Shear Wet Milling Equipment

    There are two primary deagglomeration methods: dry milling and wet milling. The wet milling technique involves adding one material to a liquid medium, which itself serves to break apart clumps by removing surface tension, in addition to a mechanical inertia process. It is commonly the preferred method, as it is precise, protects fragile particles, and can be performed faster.

    Quadro’s newer high shear wet mills excel at deagglomeration and wet milling by offering particle size reduction and deagglomeration capabilities beyond the limits of traditional rotor-stator mixers. They also enhance process scalability with better control and consistency over wetted-part machine tolerances.

    The wet milling process is a safe and efficient alternative to dry milling. Unlike dry milling, wet milling does not cause dust to form, so elaborate technical solutions, such as dust removal systems, inert gas purging, and dedicated containment are not necessary.

    High shear wet milling offers improved performance and efficiency over traditional alternatives such as media milling or colloid mills, including:

    • More rapid deagglomeration
    • Greater size reduction
    • Reduced processing time
    • Increased output value per shift (in dollars)
    • Lower capital costs
    • Decreased maintenance

    In certain applications, high shear mixers perform as well as expensive high-pressure homogenizers, but with less energy, lower costs, and reduced maintenance.

    Ready to improve the deagglomeration process?

    From rapid deagglomeration to high shear wet milling, Quadro® has the equipment to help you get the job done faster and more efficiently, whether you’re in the personal care, pharmaceutical, food & beverage industry, or another sector that relies on these capabilities.

    Our team has many years of experience supporting a range of liquid mixing requirements with equipment that is scalable and designed to meet 3-A® sanitary mixer standards.

    Contact our team of experts today for more information about our industry-leading wet milling equipment or if you’re ready to make a decision you can request a quote.

    Request a Quote Contact Our Team

    Related Resources

    Related Mixing Applications

    Quadro® Liquids High Shear Mixers can be used in the following applications:

     

    powder-dispersion

    Powder Dispersion

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    emulsification

    Emulsification

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    submicron-emulsions

    Submicron Homogenizing

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    batch-mixing

    Batch Mixing

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