Starch Mixer Options

Camron asks:

We are in the process of upgrading our starch mixer and were potentially going to switch from a rotor-stator style to a cowels blade style. Have you seen a cowels blade mixer used in starch processing or would the rotor stator style be preferred? We have been told that many companies are moving to the cowels style.

I’ve asked Roman Skuratowicz at Ingredion for his knowledge on this topic.

Emulsifiers, rotor-stator units like the AME units, make up a small portion of starch mixers, I would hazard maybe 10%, while the Ringwood and Vortx units make up closer to 80%. The latter units range in size from 100 to about 350-gallons.

The cowels or sawtooth blade is standard design for high shear mixers. The largest two manufacturer’s in the US are Ringwood and United Vortx. Ringwood is now part of a larger conveyance company, here is their starch mixing page – https://www.ringwoodstarchmix.com/ . United Vortx is part of BW Papersystems https://www.bwpapersystems.com/products/vortx. You should be able to find more information on those products at the links above or by contacting your local representatives.

I do not have any current links for the AME or BHS unit. They may have been discontinued. Of course, you could contact BHS to see if these units are still available, or to see what options they may have.

— Roman

Thank you Roman.

— Ralph