Hygienic continuous mixer
Solids handling specialist, Ajax Equipment has announced the introduction of a new continuous mixer for the hygienic production of confectionery bars, granola bars, and fruit and cereal bars and clusters.
Improvements to the new mixer include rapid screw changeover, increased range of processing capability and enhanced hygienic shaft seals.
The continuous mixer is available with both single and twin-screw arrangements. Ingredients are combined as they move along the screws. Ajax offers a choice of screw augers: ribbon flights and paddle flights for difficult to mix ingredients. Fabricated in stainless steel, with a polished, crack and crevice free finish, the mixer complies with EU hygienic design standards.
Continuous mixing offers significant advantages over batch mixing in production. In addition to space savings and the increased productivity of continuous manufacture, it is able to handle difficult to mix pastes and friable ingredients. The mixer body and the screw shafts can be heated (or cooled) as necessary, and further ingredients added later in the mixing cycle to the already combined materials.
“The new mixer is designed to meet the highest level of hygienic equipment standards,” says Mark Waters, director at Ajax Equipment. “Continuous mixing works at a smaller scale than batch mixing giving a greater degree of control over the process, allowing a greater amount of work to be done without compromising the integrity of the ingredients”.
Using a continuous mixer also reduces downtime as it is easier to clean than a batch blender and with interchangeable mixing shafts thorough cleaning is possible in a very short time. Ajax’s continuous mixers are easily cleaned between production runs as the screws can be cleaned in place or quickly released without disrupting the drive end motor.
