In the beverage industry, as well as in liquid types of production in household products, personal care items and even in oil and gas processing, this is an increasing need for continuous blending systems.
As more and more these processes are controlled through computerized systems, production can be increased to complete 24/7 ongoing processing. Additionally, with the use of continuous blending, processing speeds can be increased, even if only by a few minutes, but those minutes add up to significant throughput over the course of a year.
The Basics
The words continuous and blending may seem to be self-explanatory, but they include something different in this context. It specifically refers to the ability to provide an ongoing input of the liquid ingredients into the pipeline or the process to allow for a continuous stream of already mixed liquids through the system. This may include one or two ingredients for a beverage or multiple ingredients for other types of liquid products.
It also refers to a situation in production where all the ingredients are added at the same into the mixture. This is more time effective and, with complete control through automatic weighing and measuring, the risk of errors and omissions during processing is virtually eliminated.
Finally, continuous blending is used when there is never a change in the ratio or the proportion of ingredients used in the mixture for a given line or production system. For large scale operations or even for small scale production of dedicated products this allows the system to be set up to the required parameters and then simply allowed to run.
Monitoring and Control
While this type of blending process is pre-set based on setting input into the control system, it also includes in-line or in-system quality checks. This, like the blending, is done on an ongoing and continuous basis, feeding information back through the system for data analysis and monitoring purposes.
Precise, accurate and able to be adjusted through the computer controls, these systems are the future of production of many different types of liquid products from beverages through to household and beauty products.
Specific monitoring and controls throughout the process also provide a superior and consistent end product. These systems can be basic and involve mixing just a few ingredients, or they can be more complicated to handle complex processes and production requirements that are industry specific.
