Industrial companies — particularly those in the oil & gas and water treatment markets — require accurate, consistent mixing to optimize processes and ensure a high-quality end product that helps grow their business. Whether it’s the uniform mixing of additives in blending applications or variable mixing of bottom sludge and water, side entry mixers can be a mission-critical component of a larger industrial processing infrastructure
IPEC Sales Engineer David Spitz has a wealth of experience helping industrial companies source the right side entry mixer for their needs. Here, David discusses how to determine if your industrial application is right for a side entry mixer, the design and operational features engineers should look for, and why the lock-out mechanism on Milton Roy’s line of side entry mixers is a truly unique feature in the market today.
For side entry mixers, we’re going to be looking at the oil & gas industry, in particular the midstream and downstream areas of oil & gas processing. We’re talking specifically about use in crude tank farms, which is a stage that comes before the actual refining process.
Side entry mixers are ideal for this kind of application because these tanks are larger in diameter as opposed to height. The high concentration of solids found in this part of the process also make side entry mixers the right solution for use in crude tank farms.
This is the main difference between top and side entry mixers for this kind of application, which is called BS & W (bottom sediment and water). You need to keep the whole volume of the tank properly mixed to avoid water corroding the bottom of the tank.
Wastewater and water treatment facilities are also good candidates for side entry mixers for many of the same reasons, specifically the size of the tanks and the volume of liquid that needs to be consistently and adequately mixed.
If we’re talking about BS & W, that means we’re talking about a crude, thick, and very sloppy liquid with a good amount of sediment and the potential for water to settle at the bottom and corrode the tank. This means you need as wide a flow pattern as possible with an optimal velocity for fluid and tank properties.
For environments in which you’re blending additives, a high-efficiency side entry mixer with a fixed angle that’s 10 degrees off center. A larger flow pattern helps you reduce the overall blend time, saving you a lot of time and money.
Milton Roy’s side entry mixers are really unique in this arena in that they use a 4-blade propeller design to create the kind of large, consistent flow pattern necessary to prevent buildup at the bottom of the tank. You also want to look for a reliable lock-out to prevent equipment failures when removing the seal or bearings for routine maintenance or troubleshooting. Any time you have a mixer and a tank, you have a seal, and any time you have a seal, you have the potential for leaking.
We can customize side entry mixers to help meet specific applications or uses. For example, we can customize leak detection capabilities, mechanical seal arrangement, fixed or variable angle mounting, and gear box or belt drive arrangements. There is also a good amount of customization when it comes to how the mixer is mounted — a side entry mixer can be tie-rod or foot-mounted, depending on your configuration.
I would say the most common questions are if customers can use side-entry mixers for homogenization and blending applications or do they have to use jet nozzle mixing. The answer is Milton Roy side-entry mixers are much better for blending and homogenization when compared to jet nozzle mixing because Milton Roy side entry mixers are 10 times more efficient than jet nozzle mixing. Milton Roy mixers are also much easier and faster to maintain.
I think the first thing that’s important is making sure you have a simple and reliable lockout system. Not only can an unreliable lockout system create efficiency and productivity issues, it can also put maintenance technicians in a hazardous situation — the reliability and ease of use is a big part of what makes Milton Roy’s reverse-pressure lockout system so valuable. Regular vibration analysis is also very important. This will help you maintain a mixer or tank without running into unplanned downtime or dropping a tank offline.
We want to thank David for discussing all things side entry mixers and how they can help oil & gas companies optimize efficiency and productivity.
IPEC is proud to offer a wide range of Milton Roy top and side entry mixers that we can customize to meet your specific needs. With a long history of servicing what we sell, our expert technicians can help with onsite installation, troubleshooting, and preventative maintenance checks to help companies optimize their equipment dollars.
Plus, IPEC’s asset management program can help companies more efficiently track and inventory their equipment across multiple locations. Our AMP simplifies the process of managing spare parts needs, and our site surveys help ensure the ideal equipment is deployed in the right environment.
Contact us today to get started!