Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25

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Powder Technology

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Characterization of granular mixing in a helical ribbon blade blender

T.A.H. Simons a,⁎, S. Bensmann b, S. Zigan c, H.J. Feise b, H. Zetzener a, A. Kwade a
a
TU Braunschweig, Institute for Particle Technology, Volkmaroder Str. 5, 38104 Braunschweig, Germany
b
BASF SE, Chemical and Process Engineering, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany
c
University of Greenwich, School of Engineering, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB,UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experiments of bulk solid mixing in a twin ribbon blade blender have been performed in this work in order to
Received 26 August 2014 characterize mixing behavior in such a mixer for binary mixtures with different cohesionless materials. The ef-
Received in revised form 10 November 2015 fects of fill height and blade rotation speed on mixing homogeneity have been studied. Mixing homogeneity
Accepted 15 November 2015
was determined by sampling. It has been observed that mixing is relatively fast towards a final mixing state with-
Available online 18 November 2015
in approximately 100 blade rotations for different combinations of material, fill height and blade rotational speed.
Keywords:
Moreover, these final mixing states seemed stable within a range of fluctuations, which may prove useful in de-
Granular mixing experiments termining an optimal mixing time for binary, cohesionless particle mixtures and potentially lead to a reduction in
Ribbon blade blender the required number of blade rotations in mixers of this type in industry. Mixing homogeneity results indicated
Mixing homogeneity an increased final mixing homogeneity for increasing fill height, most clearly in the range of 30–70 vol.% in the
Torque studied twin ribbon blade mixer. The torque on one of the shafts was determined. The latter results showed
that no significant influence of rotational speed on the required torque for the tested mixtures at rotational
velocities in the range of Fr 0.17–1.1 could be determined for most combinations of the tested materials and
fill heights in this work. The quantitative characterization of mixing behavior with the two key parameters
mixing homogeneity and torque on the shaft may be used for mixer validation of DEM simulations.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction mixing in a non-intrusive way and to save part of these experiments.

Granular mixing is a unit operation encountered in many process in-
dustries and has been a topic of experimental research for many de-
cades [1–8]. It plays an important role in e.g. preparing correct
amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients for tablets or ensuring
constant product quality in detergents or blends of spices. In contrast
with the mixing of fluids, mixing of particles is difficult to predict due
to e.g. distribution of properties such as particle size and shape leading
to phenomena such as segregation. This is why the study of granular
mixing and determining the ‘mixedness’ of a granular mixture often
remains mainly empirical and mixing behavior is still hard to predict
reliably.
Determining the ‘mixedness’ or mixing homogeneity empirically
was mostly done in the experiments by sampling. Reviews on sampling
and sampling theory have been published in [1,4,7–11]. However,
sampling is laborious and may be prone to errors, since this method is
intrusive and may therefore disturb the mixing state. With the advent
of simulation using the Discrete Element Method (DEM), originally pro-
posed by Cundall and Strack [12], as a new means of studying granular
mixing challenges, the topic greatly attracts the interest from academia
and industry. DEM simulation offers the opportunity to study granular
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: t.a.h.simons@gmail.com (T.A.H. Simons).
However, the results from these DEM simulations require experimental
results for validation. While studying batch mixers, velocity profiles
near walls and particle trajectories were often chosen as parameters
to validate or compare simulation results with laboratory experimental
results by e.g. particle image velocimetry (PIV) [13,14] and positron
emission particle tracking (PEPT) [15–19] techniques respectively. PIV
can provide particle velocity profiles using high-speed camera images
of the particles in a defined section of the system near a wall. Local
mixing homogeneities near the wall may be determined from particle
positions on these images as well. PEPT offers the opportunity to track
one or more particles throughout the mixer and in this way establish
particle velocity profiles. These methods are very powerful as they
offer the advantages of being non-intrusive and of providing particle
velocity results that can be directly compared with simulation results
[16,18]. However, PIV is limited or incapable of providing direct
information on the mixing homogeneity of the inner parts of a mixer,
which becomes more important in larger systems as encountered in
industrial practice. PEPT is capable of studying the inner parts of an
opaque system in a mixer by tracking one or a couple of particles,
providing information of one or some positions in the mixer at a time.
It was demonstrated by Windows-Yule et al. that segregation, the
opposite of mixing, could be studied using PEPT in a vibrofluidized
system under steady state conditions, as the authors were able to relate
the residence time of the tracked particle to local compositions and in

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2015.11.041
0032-5910/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
16 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
Nomenclature
Roman symbols
ffc flowability [−]
Fr dimensionless Froude number [−]
g gravitational acceleration [m/s2]
M mixing index [−]
P overall fraction of a mixture component [−]
R radius of mixing blade [m]
s measured standard deviation from sampling [−]
s2 measured variance from sampling [−]
t time [s]
VA volume of particle type A [m3]
VS sample volume [m3]
x10 particle size at 10% of the weighted particle size distri-
bution, volume-based and, assuming constant particle
density, also mass-based [μm]
x50 weighted average particle size, volume-based and, as-
suming constant particle density, also mass-based [μm]
x90 particle size at 90% of the weighted particle size distri-
bution, volume-based and, assuming constant particle
density, also mass-based [μm]
Greek symbols
ρb bulk density [kg/m3]
σ true standard deviation from sampling [−]
σM standard deviation due to measurement error [−]
σ2 true variance [−]
σ20 initial true variance [−]
σ2R true variance for a completely random mixture [−]
φeff effective angle of internal friction [°]
φsf angle of internal friction at steady flow [°]
ω rotational velocity of mixing blades [rad/s]
that way to determine mixing homogeneity [20,21]. However, in
unsteady-state systems this relation can no longer be used [21], and in
batch high-shear mixers it is therefore difficult to determine the overall
state of mixing in the entire mixer i.e. the mixing homogeneity for the
complete mixture, from these results. As mixing homogeneity is the
dominant property determining the quality of most mixtures, they are
evaluated based on this property, describing the quality of the mixture.
Therefore, sampling is still a powerful and relevant tool as it can provide
the information on the mixing homogeneity by calculating the differ-
ences in composition in each sample. Although mixing homogeneity,
expressed in some form of mixing or segregation index, is studied
using DEM as well, investigations in which DEM mixing homogeneity
results are directly compared with experiments are scarcely found
[22]. Sampling was therefore chosen in this work as the method to char-
acterize mixing behavior experimentally by determining mixing homo-
geneity over mixing time for the entire mixer and to serve as validation
data for DEM simulations in later papers.
Additionally torque measurements on a ribbon blade blender were
conducted, using the required torque for mixing a specific granular mix-
ture as a further parameter to characterize the effectiveness of granular
mixing. Since the DEM method is based on the calculation of contacts
forces for interactions between particles and between particle and the
wall, the overall required torque can also be used as a further validation
parameter for simulation results.
This work presents an experimental study of the characterization of
mixing behavior in a twin helical ribbon blade blender using different
cohesionless mixtures. These mixtures were chosen as a basis for later
comparison with simple DEM simulations, which can later be extended
for cohesive materials. Mixing homogeneity over time, determined by
sampling, and the torque on one of the shafts are presented. Two
model systems were tested; the first consisting of two size overlapping
components, i.e. of similar size and size distribution, and the second
consisting of two clearly differently sized materials, i.e. their particle
sizes were completely separated. The influences of blade rotational
speed and fill height on the development of mixing homogeneity and
on torque in this mixer were studied.
2. Experimental method
2.1. Material and equipment
The materials used in this work for mixing homogeneity studies
were differently colored plastic granules as the size overlapping model
system and limestone particles in different size ranges as the differently
sized model system, as shown in Fig. 1. The images in Fig. 1 are not at the
same scale. Fig. 1a and b show microscopic images of the plastic
granules (BASF, Germany) consisting of the same plastic material, but
different in color. The differently colored plastic granules had
overlapping particle size distributions, both distributions being roughly
200–1000 μm in size. The blue and orange plastic granules therefore
each represented one of the components with particle size overlap in
the first model system. Fig. 1c and d show limestone particles in two
different size ranges, ordered from KSL Staubtechnik (Germany). Both
limestone fractions were sieved into narrower fractions of 100–
400 μm (fine) (1d) and 500–800 μm (coarse) (1c) respectively to
produce different and separated fractions, using each fraction as one
of the components of the second model system. For the torque measure-
ments a third system of 3 mm spherical polyethylene particles was used
as well (BASF, Germany), as shown in Fig. 1e and f. Size and shape
distributions for all of these particle types were determined by a com-
mercial image analysis setup (CamSizer, Retsch, Germany). All particles
of the two model systems in the mixing homogeneity research were
non-spherical and free flowing (ffc N 10) for both limestone fractions
and the plastic granules according to Jenike's classification for
flowability [23,24]. Further frictional properties were determined
considering the potential use of the experimental work here to be corre-
lated with DEM studies. Frictional properties of the limestone fractions
and plastic granules were measured in a Schulze type ring shear tester
and are expressed as internal friction angle of the bulk instead of that
of a single particle. In many DEM calibration studies frictional parame-
ters are calibrated using a shear tester and bulk internal friction param-
eters or simply bulk shear stress at a given normal load, as may be found
in e.g. [25–30]. The internal friction angles at 3· 103 Pa normal load are
reported in Table 1 and expressed as both effective angle of internal
friction as is commonly used in bulk solids engineering [31] and as
angle of internal friction at steady flow as this is the mode in a shear
experiment that is often used for calibration of DEM parameters in liter-
ature, assuming no cohesion [25–29]. A detailed description of different
friction angles may be found in the work by Schulze [24]. Details on the
particle size distribution of each component, expressed in x10, x50 and
x90 values as well as further physical data on all materials discussed
above are summarized in Table 1.
Mixing behavior was characterized in a 10 L vertical twin helical
ribbon blade mixer (type HM 10 by Amixon, Germany), of which a top
view is shown in Fig. 2a. and as briefly introduced in Simons et al.
[32]. The ribbon blade mixer has 10 cm diameter blades; the distance
between its shafts is 14.2 cm, allowing an overlap of the blades in the
mixer center. A side view schematic in Fig. 2b shows the flow profiles
of the material in the mixer. The material in the mixer is rotated due
to normal and shear forces between the blades and the material. On
top of the rotating mixing motion, the material to be mixed is conveyed
up along the helical blades, indicated with the red arrows, and flows
down near the shafts in the centers of the two helices, indicated by
the blue arrows. An exchange of material takes place in the region
 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25 17

Fig. 1. Microscopic images of colored plastic granules in blue (a) and orange (b), both in the size range of approx. 200–800 μm; photographic image of coarse (c) and fine (d) limestone
particles (500–800 μm and 100–400 μm resp.); microscopic images of red (e) and green (f) polyethylene spheres, both in the size range of approx. 3.0–3.5 mm; pictures (e) and
(f) courtesy by BASF SE.

where the blades overlap in the center of the mixer, shown by the green
arrow.
2.2. Sampling method
To study mixing homogeneity in the helical ribbon blade mixer,
samples were taken with a custom designed sampling thief, shown in
Fig. 3 in the right. This sampling thief consisted of an inner and outer
metal tube with a 5 cm slit through which an approximately 5–6 mL
sample can be taken by turning the tubes along each other. The bottom
of the thief was rounded to be able to also sample the lowermost parts
of the mixer.
The mixer volume was divided into 32 possible sample locations
allowing for sampling from these volumes, as illustrated in Fig. 3 in
the left. Applying representative sampling, after each mixing time
studied in this work 10 random samples from these 32 locations were

Table 1
Physical data of colored plastic granules, polyethylene spheres and natural limestone particles.

Material parameter Symbol Unit Plastic granules, Plastic granules, Limestone, fine Limestone, coarse Polyethylene Polyethylene
blue orange fraction fraction spheres, red spheres, green

Size distribution (Q3) x10 μm 259 203 118 513 3.0 · 103 2.9 · 103
Mean size (Q3) x50 μm 494 365 210 676 3.43 · 103 3.23 · 103
Size distribution (Q3) x90 μm 994 629 368 825 3.6 · 103 3.5 · 103
Sphericity – 0.50–0.85 size 0.43–0.82 size 0.74–0.94 size 0.61–0.91 size 0.95–0.99 size 0.94–0.99 size
dependent dependent dependent dependent dependent dependent
Bulk density ρb kg 315 ± 6 319 ± 5 1345 ± 9 1280 ± 4 543 ± 10 543 ± 10
m−3
Flowability ffc – N10 N10 N10 N10 N10a N10a
Effective internal friction φeff ° 39.5 ± 1 39 ± 1 36 ± 1 40.5 ± 1 – –
angle
Internal friction angle at φsf ° 38 ± 1 37 ± 1 33.5 ± 1 38 ± 0.5 – –
steady flow
a
Based on visual observation, compared with the other materials in this work.
18 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
Fig. 2. (a) Top view of laboratory ribbon blade blender, (b) schematic of side view showing material flow patterns.
taken respectively as representative for the entire mixer volume after
the respective mixing time. Although taking samples from all the 32
sample volumes in the entire mixer would produce statistically more
accurate results, removal of 32 samples would lead to complete destruc-
tion of the mixing state by removing too much material. Samples were
taken in 3 measurement series as a compromise to avoid factors
influencing the mixture, such as removing too much material from the
mixer on the one hand, and to save time and material costs by not
having to reload the mixer for each experiment on the other hand.
The sampling method of 3 measurement series is shown graphically in
Fig. 4 for better understanding. Fig. 4 shows the three series, all starting
with the same initial conditions at 0 s of mixing time and they are
indicated by the blue bars. Samples are taken at three points of mixing
time (not to scale) per series without reloading the mixer at the mo-
ments, indicated by the red dots. In order to check the reproducibility
of this method, the mixing time last studied in a series was repeated
in the next series. This led to a series of 15 s, 30 s and 1 min; a series
of 1 min, 2 min and 3 min; and a series of 3 min, 5 min and 10 min of
total mixing time respectively, totaling 90 samples at 7 mixing times
for a complete run of 3 series. The mixing times of 1 min and 3 min
are therefore sampled twice and this will be reflected in the graphs
presenting the results (see Section 3.2).
The composition of each sample was determined with the methods
presented in the next subsection. In both analysis methods average
volume fractions could be calculated for each sample for a key compo-
nent, being one color of the colored plastic granules or one size fraction
of limestone. The standard deviation s and its square the variance s2 in
composition were determined from a set of ten samples taken at one
point in mixing time. Applying a χ2-distribution as shown e.g. by Stiess,
it was obtained that the measured variance s2 is less than twice the true
variance σ2 with 95% confidence [33]. The measured standard devia-
tions were then used to calculate the mixing index as defined by
Fig. 3. Schematic of sampling positions and image of sampling thief with a slit length of 5 cm.
Lacey [1] as a measure for mixing homogeneity, as shown in Eq. (1).
However, to be able to calculate the mixing index, both the initial
variance of the mixture σ20 and the variance for a completely random
mixture σR2 are required, as defined in Eqs. (2) and (3).
σ 0 2 −σ 2
M¼ ð1Þ
σ 0 2 −σ R 2
σ 0 2 ¼ P ð1−P Þ ð2Þ
VA
σ R 2 ¼ P ð1−P Þ ð3Þ
VS
Eq. (1) shows Lacey's mixing index, calculated from initial variance
σ20, variance during mixing σ2 and variance at complete random mixing
σ2R. As shown in Eq. (2), the initial variance for a binary mixture can be
calculated from the known fraction P of one the components. Assuming
constant sample volume, Eq. (3) can be applied in which VA represents
the largest particle's volume and VS represents the sample volume [33,
34]. The Lacey mixing index thus expresses the mixing achieved at a
point of time, divided by the maximum achievable mixing homogenei-
ty. The index offers the advantage of being easily understandable as it is
0 at complete segregation and 1 at maximum mixing homogeneity
achieved. A possible disadvantage of this index may be that results are
found in a narrow range between 0.9 and 1.0 if only interested in the
final mixing state.
Mixing behavior was studied at different blade rotational speeds (40
and 80 rpm; Fr 0.17 and Fr 0.70 resp.) and different fill heights of the
mixer (30 vol.%–50 vol.%–70 vol.%–90 vol.%). These fill heights represent
mixture volumes of 3 L, 5 L, 7 L and 9 L respectively. Additionally, mixing
behavior was studied by manually moving the blades to a fixed number
of complete rotations. This was done by pushing the upper end of the
 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25 19

Fig. 4. Graphical overview of sampling method indicating the 3 measurement series by blue bars and the moments the samples were taken in time (not to scale) by red dots. Each mea-
surement series started with the same initial conditions, for which the mixer was reloaded.

blades in the direction of rotation for fill heights of 50% and 70%. In these The torque on shaft was recorded with 25 measurements per
cases the blades were not completely covered with mixture material. second, i.e. with 40 ms intervals, during 2 min, consisting of one minute
Mixtures of 50–50 vol.% orange with blue plastic particles were of measurements while mixing and one minute while the mixer was
prepared as well as mixtures of 50–50 vol.% limestone fine and coarse halted. The purpose of the latter was to determine the drift in the
fractions. No mixtures of plastic granules with limestone fractions measurement, which subsequently was subtracted from the torque
were studied. The mixing index was studied as a function of mixing while mixing to produce a net torque. This procedure was followed
time, blade rotation speed and fill height. for the mixer being loaded, as a function of rotational speed and fill
height, and for the mixer being empty, as a function of rotational
speed. Subsequently, the net torques for the empty mixer were
2.3. Sample analysis methods
subtracted from the net torques for the loaded mixer.
All torque measurements were conducted at rotational speeds
Sample analysis was carried out with two methods, depending on
ranging from 30 to 100 rpm in intervals of 10 rpm for the plastic granule
the difference in particle properties.
mixtures and the polyethylene spheres mixtures. The measurements
The colored plastic granules were analyzed with color analysis of
with the limestone mixtures were conducted within this range, in a
pictures of these samples. Samples were spread out on a sheet of
range from 40 to 100 rpm in intervals of 20 rpm for the 70% fill height
paper after subdividing it into 4 subsamples. Each subsample was
case and at 40 and 80 rpm for the cases with 50 and 90% fill height.
then photographed and analyzed. Pictures were taken in a photo tent,
This means that all measurements were obtained for values of a Froude
lit by three flood lights, to prevent shadows and reflections. In addition,
number in the range Fr 0.1–1.1. The dimensionless Froude number ex-
the analysis software for detecting colors was calibrated with known
presses the ratio of inertial forces exerted on the material by the blades
samples of orange and blue particles to allow for calculating volume
over the gravitational forces, based on a characteristic velocity. The
fraction by color in the mixer from area fraction by color from the
Froude number for mixing is shown in Eq. (4).
pictures.
The limestone particles, differing in particle size, were analyzed by a
ω2 R
commercial image analysis setup (CamSizer, Retsch, Germany). Sam- Fr ¼ ð4Þ
g
ples were analyzed by video detection and subsequent size analysis of
particles falling down a vibrating chute, using a camera and a backlight.
In Eq. (4) ω represents the rotational velocity in rad/s, R the diameter
The particles featuring different size fractions, a cut at 424 μm was
of the blade in m and g the gravitational acceleration in m/s2. A Froude
defined to classify measured fractions into fine and coarse fractions
number below 1 indicates that gravitational effects dominate over
per sample. It was found that abrasion of the limestone mixtures during
centrifugal effects. The corresponding Froude numbers for the studies
the mixing procedure was negligible until 800 rotations in this type of
mixer and for the studied rotational speeds.

2.4. Torque analysis

Torque was measured directly on one of the shafts of the ribbon

blade mixer. This was done to produce a measurement of the required
torque of only the mixing of particles as accurate as possible while e.g.
not having to take into account the losses due to friction in the gear
box or (frequency) converter when measuring torque indirectly or
measuring the energy input instead of torque.
The setup is shown schematically in Fig. 5. The torque transducer
(type T5 by HBM, Germany) was placed on one of the shafts between
the gear box and the mixer container. The shafts were extended for
this purpose. The torque transducer had a measurement range between
0 and 20 Nm with a maximum measurement deviation of b0.2% and a
standard deviation of the reproducibility of 0.05% [35]. It was protected
against torque overloads by mounting safety couplings (R + W,
Germany) on both shafts. Measurements were recorded with a PC Fig. 5. Schematic setup of the twin ribbon blade mixer with the torque transducer placed
using a measurement amplifier (type MVD 2555 by HBM, Germany). directly at the shaft.
20 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
on mixing homogeneity at 40 and 80 rpm are Fr 0.17 and 0.7 respective-
ly. The calculation of the Froude number was based on the blade speed
in rotational direction and in the plane normal to the shafts only, mean-
ing that no adjustment to the characteristic rotational velocity due to
the inclination angle of the helical blade was applied.
3. Results
3.1. Qualitative results
Mixing behavior may be readily observed qualitatively from top
view images from the ribbon blade blender after several mixing times.
Fig. 6 shows the top view images for the mixture of differently colored
plastic granules in the initial state and after 1, 2, 4 and 8 rotations
respectively for 50% fill height in the first line and for 0, 20, 40 and 80
rotations for 50% fill height and 80 rpm in the second line.
From Fig. 6 it may be noted that during the first blade rotations
orange and blue particles seem to switch sides and are then mixed
more thoroughly in the next rotations. The results after 20 and 40
rotations show small ribbons of blue particles in the mixing patterns.
These were typically also found for 70% fill height mixtures. After 80
rotations, the mixture approaches a stochastic mixing state and top
views do not change significantly any more.
3.2. Sampling results
Quantitative results were obtained by sampling the mixture after
fixed mixing times in the manner described in Section 2.2. Mixing
homogeneity could be expressed in Lacey's mixing index over mixing
time, as presented in Section 2.2.
Fig. 7 shows Lacey's mixing index for experiments with plastic
granules versus number of blade rotations. Data markers in Fig. 7
represent the measured mixing index, based on the measured standard
deviation s2, whereas error bars in Fig. 7 represent 95% confidence
intervals, within which the true mixing index, based on the theoretical
standard deviation σ2, is. The 95% confidence intervals were determined
by applying the χ2-distribution [33]. For presentation purposes, the
y-axes in Fig. 7 are displayed at different scales. Double data markers
after the same number of rotations indicate results from different series
in Figs. 7 and 8.
Fig. 7a shows the complete mixing performance over a mixing time
of 10 min for two different blade rotational speeds (40 and 80 rpm) and
three different fill heights (30 vol.%, 50 vol.% and 70 vol.%). Based on the
increase in Lacey's mixing index, it may be readily seen that mixing is
very fast and seems to reach its final state within 100 rotations for all
six cases. Considering the confidence intervals, it was found difficult to
determine mixing homogeneity in this mixer for the first 20 rotations.
Fig. 6. First line: top view results from manual rotation (0, 1, 2, 4 and 8 rotations); second line: top view results from automated rotation at 80 rpm and 50% fill height (0, 20, 40 and 80
rotations).
Although this may lead to lower reproducibility of the results during
the first rotations, it is generally the final mixing state and how fast
this state may be reached in which industry is interested.
As a complete mixing run of 10 min for a given fill height and rota-
tional speed was divided into three series of three measurements in
time, it was verified that the results of the three series within one run
overlap in order for them to be comparable and be treated as one run.
With the exception of the case with 40 rpm and 70 vol.% fill height
after 1 min of mixing time, there was at least a one-sided overlap for
all cases, i.e. at least one measurement of one of the series is within
the confidence interval of the other series after the same mixing time.
This overlap implies that results from different series in one run can
be directly compared and therefore be regarded as one run. This may
be more clearly seen from Fig. 7b and c, in which results are shown
separately for different rotational speeds with focus on the first 400
rotations. One run of three series is each time shown in one color in
these figures. Double data markers and corresponding confidence
intervals show whether an overlap between series is present.
Fig. 7b and c also show a final mixing homogeneity significantly lower
for 30% fill height than for those at 50% and 70% fill height. This is shown
more pronounced in the case of 80 rpm. One cause for this deviation
could be that sample sizes for 30% fill height mixtures were approximate-
ly 60% of the size of those for 50% and 70% fill height, as sampling was im-
peded at this low fill height. Samples could only be taken from 16
subvolumes instead of 32 for the other fill heights. Additionally, as this
type of mixers is mostly run at high filling degrees [36], mixing perfor-
mance, i.e. the final mixing homogeneity and at which rate this was
achieved, may be significantly lower at 30% filling degree, as mixing in
axial direction is almost completely hindered. Further focusing on differ-
ences in fill height it was observed that, with the exceptions at 10 and 40
rotations for the case with 40 rpm and 70% fill height, all measured
mixing indices for 70% fill height were higher than the results for 50%
fill height after the same number of rotations for both rotational speeds
(see Fig. 7b and c). Although these results strongly suggest that higher
final mixing homogeneities may be achieved with higher fill heights,
this could not be determined unambiguously from these results, as con-
fidence intervals overlapped for the 50 and 70% fill height cases, meaning
that their true mixing indices are in the same range.
Fig. 7d shows results for the mixing index of the mixer at 50% fill
height for short mixing times, for different blade rotational speeds as
well as for rotating the blades manually. Comparing the data for the
results at 40 and 80 rpm in this graph, based on the results after 20
and 80 rotations, the results might suggest that an increase in rotational
speed to 80 rpm might lead to a higher mixing index. However, the
differences between the two rotational speeds were not as big as
those between different fill heights in e.g. Fig. 7c and confidence
intervals were clearly overlapping. Therefore, no significant differences
 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
Fig. 7. (a) Complete mixing experiment over 10 min for 6 combinations of fill height and blade rotational speed for experiments with plastic granules; b. mixing index for experiments at
40 rpm; c. mixing index for experiments at 80 rpm; d. comparison of automatic and manual results for mixing index at 50% fill height.
in mixing index could be determined between 40 and 80 rpm experi-
ments for this mixture. Exactly 1, 2, 4 or 8 rotations were studied man-
ually to study mixing homogeneity during the very first blade rotations,
which was not possible automatically due to the short start-up and
slow-down times of the mixing blades in which the number of rotations
could not exactly be determined. Results from this study are shown in
the embedded diagram in Fig. 7d. The large confidence intervals in
this embedded diagram show that determining mixing homogeneity
exactly after a low number of rotations is difficult.
Results of mixing experiments with the two limestone fractions are
shown in Fig. 8. Fig. 8a shows the results for the mixing index as a func-
tion of the number of rotations for different fill heights at 80 rpm and
Fig. 8b shows the results for the combinations of two rotational speeds
and two fill heights on the same scale, whereas Fig. 8c and d show re-
sults for 50% and 70% fill heights respectively in the first 100 rotations
on a wider scale including the data from manual rotation experiments.
As observed in the case for mixing two plastic granule fractions, in the
case for two limestone fractions mixing also seemed to be very fast
and a final stage was reached within 100 rotations here as well.
Comparing the overlap of sequential series within a run resulted in an
overlap with the exception of 80 rpm at 70% fill height after 80 rotations.
Fig. 8c and d show mixing index results for the first 80 rotations
while the mixer was operated at different rotational velocities with
70% fill height (8c) and 50% fill height (8d) respectively. It may also be
observed from Fig. 8c and d that large confidence intervals were found
in the first 10 or 20 rotations, indicating that mixing index is hard to
determine in the beginning of the mixing event. Phenomena are similar
to those observed for plastic granules in overlapping size distribution.
21
With increasing fill height, the mixing index after the same number of
rotations was observed to increase as well, a similar trend as found for
the experiments with plastic granules. As for the results for plastic gran-
ules, the results in Fig. 8a, with an exception after 20 rotations, suggest
that higher mixing homogeneity can be achieved with higher loading.
However, this cannot be determined significantly due to the overlap
of confidence intervals (see e.g. Fig. 8a), meaning that their true mixing
indices may be in the same range.
Although mixtures of particles of different size distributions are
known to segregate, no clear segregation in terms of a decreasing
mixing index could be observed compared with the results for plastic
granules. However, it may be observed that measured mixing indices
for the same number of rotations and the same fill height are lower
and confidence intervals are larger for mixtures consisting of the
different limestone fractions than those of plastic granules in the same
size fractions (compare e.g. the cases for 80 rpm, 50 and 70% respective-
ly, in Fig. 7c and d with Fig. 8b and d). This implies that final mixing re-
sults for limestone, of different size fractions, may be not as well-mixed
as a mixture of plastic granules, of similar and overlapping size fractions.
This may be an indication that equilibrium between mixing and
segregation has formed. Fig. 8a also suggested this, considering the
fluctuation in the data for mixing index for 50% fill height after 160
rotations with decreases in mixing index to 0.95. This fluctuation is
not as pronounced in the same case at 50% fill height for plastic granules
in Fig. 7b and c, the latter case itself showing these fluctuations in the
cases for 30% fill height only. Future research may focus on studying
the mixing of binary mixtures of different size ratios in order to
determine whether a possible equilibrium between size segregation
22 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25

Fig. 8. (a) Complete mixing experiment over 10 min for 3 fill heights for experiments with limestone;(b) comparison of mixing index for a combination of two fill heights and two rota-
tional speeds; (c) comparison of automatic and manual results for mixing index at 70% fill height; (d) comparison of automatic and manual results for mixing index at 50% fill height.

and mixing due to blade rotation for this mixer type forms and charac-
terize this possible equilibrium as a function of size ratio. It should be
noted here that the composition of the samples of plastic granules and
the samples of limestone fractions were analyzed by different methods.
However, the estimated errors in both analysis methods were ca. σM =
0.014 (or σ2M = 2 · 10−4) on a volume fraction basis and volumetric
sample sizes were similar as well. This led to maximum measurable
mixing indices M of 0.9992 or minimum segregation indices 1 − M of
8 · 10− 4 (see Fig. 9) and both experiments produced values above
this minimum.

Fig. 9. Segregation index (1 − M) results for (a) plastic granule mixtures and (b) limestone mixtures.
 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
The differences in results for different fill height can be observed
more clearly when plotting 1 − M logarithmically, as shown in Fig. 9.
The index 1 − M represents a segregation index: complete segregation
is at 1 and complete mixing at 1 − M = 0. It can be seen that these
results for both mixtures suggested that higher fill heights led to
lower final segregation indices. However, the differences between the
two higher fill heights were not as significant as those between the
lowest and higher fill heights. In addition, these results confirmed that
maximum measurable mixing homogeneity was achieved after approx-
imately 100 rotations for both mixtures.
High grades of mixing homogeneity was achieved rather fast in a rib-
bon blade mixer for easy flowing materials, represented by mixtures of
plastic granules in overlapping size distribution and by mixtures of
limestone fractions in different size distribution. A final measurable
mixing state was achieved within 100 blade rotations for both types of
mixtures, for fill heights from 30 to 90% and for both rotational speeds
in this work, at 40 and 80 rpm. Moreover, apart from some observed
fluctuations, Figs. 7-9 showed that these high states of mixing homoge-
neity were maintained during 400 or 800 rotations respectively. These
findings may, after a scale-up study, potentially be useful for optimizing
mixing times in similar mixer types in industry. Large confidence inter-
vals at mixing states below 20 rotations as well as at mixing states for
30% volume fractions indicated difficulties in determining mixing
homogeneity by sampling. Results for 50%, 70% and 90% fill height
were shown to be more accurate in determining mixing homogeneity,
based on Lacey's mixing index.
3.3. Torque measurements results
The torque was measured experimentally at one of the shafts of the
twin ribbon blade mixer for several materials at different fill height as a
function of rotational speed. All torque measurements shown in this
work were based on conditions at constant rotational speed. The torque
was observed to show minimal periodical fluctuations with time, which
is believed to be an effect of the blade passes near the protruding rods in
the mixer container. The frequency of the observed torque fluctuations
corresponded to the frequency of the rotating blades and an example
measurement of this periodical behavior is shown in Fig. 10 during
the first 80 s of the measurement. The measurements usually included
more than 1000 data points.
Fig. 11 shows the results from torque measurements for
(a) 50–50 vol.% mixtures of differently colored plastic granules,
(b) 3 mm spherical polyethylene particles and (c) 50–50 vol.% mixtures
of fine and coarse fractioned limestone particles respectively. Fig. 11d
Fig. 10. Exemplary torque measurement on one of the mixing shafts of the twin ribbon
blade mixer for a limestone mixture.
23
shows the specific required torque in the mixer per kg of mixture as a
function of volumetric fill height fraction. The required torques for all
fill heights were in the order of magnitude of several Nm for the lime-
stone mixtures and less than 1 Nm for the plastic materials. All materials
were cohesionless and the plastic materials (both the granules and the
spheres) possessed relatively low densities as well. The plastic granules
mixture and the polyethylene spheres mixture produced torques below
1 Nm with relatively high standard deviations. These high standard
deviations can be explained by the very low torques, measured in the
lower measuring range of the torque transducer. No significant influ-
ence of the rotational speed on the torque was determined from the
data. Although the results for polyethylene spheres at 50% fill height
suggested an increased torque for rotational speeds between 50 and
80 rpm this was in fact particularly due to low reproducibility of the
empty run measurements.
The 50–50 vol.% mixtures of fine and coarse limestone particles
produced torques on the shaft in the range of 1.5 to 4.5 Nm for different
fill heights. For all studied mixtures torque was found no significant
function of rotational speed in the tested range of rotational speeds.
All experiments were conducted in a range of Fr 0.1–1.1. The absence
of a significant influence of rotational speed on the required torque for
Fr ≤ 1 is in accordance with literature [37,38]. To be able to study the
effect of fill height of the mixer on the required torque the mass specific
torques, expressed in Nm per kg material load, were calculated by divid-
ing the required torque on one shaft by the corresponding half the mass
in the mixer. These results are shown in Fig. 10d for better comparison
among several materials and different fill heights. They showed an
increase in mass specific torque, i.e. the torque per unit mass, with
increasing mass of the material in the mixer for the limestone mixture
in a fill height range of 50–90%. This means that torque was not only
observed to increase with mass in the mixer, but was found to increase
more than proportional with mass for the limestone mixtures, as
opposed to the linear dependence on mass reported by Cooker and
Nedderman for a single vertical ribbon blade mixer [37]. The average
values of the mass specific torque for both plastic materials, i.e. the plas-
tic granules mixture and the polyethylene spheres mixture, suggested a
similar increase, but due to error propagation of the standard deviations
in the torque measurements it was very difficult to confirm this trend
significantly.
The increase in specific torque in this work for the twin ribbon blade
mixer is assumed to be a consequence of a slight increase in bulk density
of the material with increasing fill height as well as the presence of dou-
ble blades. In the center of the mixer a shear zone is created in the region
where the two blades overlap and material is exchanged. With increas-
ing fill height this overlap exists over a larger region and may therefore
contribute to an increase in torque on the blade. Although abrasion
might increase the required torque it was found that abrasion of the
limestone mixtures during the mixing procedure was negligible until
800 rotations. Research on local stress on the blades e.g. using pressure
sensors on the blade may provide more detailed information on the
local stress phenomena in the center of the mixer and the origins of
the observed torque increase. DEM simulation may assist in studying
local shear zones in the center of the mixer. In addition, torque measure-
ments on more model mixtures are required to confirm the increase in
mass specific torque with increasing fill height of the twin ribbon blade
mixer as a general mixer property or for specific materials only.
Furthermore, the results for the mixing homogeneity over mixing
time and the required torque on shaft may be used as key validation
parameters for validation of simulations using the discrete element
method (DEM), since both parameters can be easily determined from
DEM simulation results. Numerical studies using DEM are planned to
be presented in a later paper.
As both mass specific torque and final mixing homogeneity
increased with increasing fill height for the tested limestone mixtures
in the twin ribbon blade mixer, future work may also be dedicated to
couple torque results to the results for mixing homogeneity in order
24 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
Fig. 11. Net measured torque on shaft in ribbon blade mixer for experiments with (a) 50/50 mixtures of plastic granules, (b) 3 mm spherical polyethylene particles and (c) 50/50 fine and
coarse fractioned limestone particles respectively; (d) mass specific torque for ribbon blade mixer as a function of fill height fraction.
to confirm whether a correlation between torque results and mixing ho-
mogeneity holds and establish a means for determining mixing efficien-
cy. This may offer potential for determining required energy inputs to
achieve a predefined mixing state while coupled to material properties,
such as particle size, shape, cohesion and adhesion, using a larger
dataset of mixtures in this mixer.
4. Conclusion and outlook
Experimental results of bulk solids mixing in a twin ribbon blade
blender have been shown in this work in order to characterize mixing
behavior in such a mixer. Characterization was done by identifying
mixing homogeneity by sampling and by measuring the torque on the
mixing shaft. Mixing homogeneity was studied over the number of
rotations for two different mixtures of materials, as a function of blade
rotation speed and fill height for constant volume fractions of each com-
ponent. The following was observed from laboratory experiments with
a mixture of plastic granules in overlapping particle size distributions
and with another mixture of limestone in fractions with different size
distributions.
1. The sampling method is appropriate for determining mixing
homogeneity after 20 rotations, but shows very broad confidence
intervals at low mixing degree and when operated at 30% fill
height. Higher accuracy in the beginning of the mixing event
(b 20 rotations) may be achieved by taking more samples for the
first rotations.
2. High mixing homogeneities have been achieved within 100 blade
rotations for both model mixtures and, apart from some fluctuations
at lower fill heights, are maintained during 400 or 800 rotations at 40
or 80 rpm respectively. These results showing fast and stable mixing
may be of potential use for optimizing mixing times in similar
mixers, using cohesionless materials.
3. Higher filling degree in the studied twin ribbon blade mixer have led
to better mixing performance in terms of higher mixing index
achieved faster for the plastic granules mixture and has been
suggested from the data with limestone mixtures as well.
4. No significant, clear dependence of the required torque on blade rota-
tional speed has been found for rotational speeds with Fr ≤ 1 at several
fill heights for plastic granules mixtures and for polyethylene spheres
mixtures and at 70% fill height for differently sized limestone fractions.
This has been reflected in experimental results for torque on shaft at
rotational speeds corresponding to a range of Fr 0.1–1.1.
The results for both mixing homogeneity and torque on one of the
shafts may be used as validation experiments for simulation with the
Discrete Element Method (DEM) and a numerical study of this mixer
using DEM is planned to be presented in a later paper.
In addition, to study the possible equilibrium between mixing by the
blades and segregation due to size differences in the material may be
studied experimentally testing a range of binary mixtures of compo-
nents with different size ratios in the twin ribbon blade mixer.
Local force studies on the blades may in future help in explaining the
increase in mass specific torque, possibly aided by DEM simulations.
 T.A.H. Simons et al. / Powder Technology 293 (2016) 15–25
Finally, the combined results of mixing homogeneity over time with
the torque input might be used in future to determine required energy
inputs to achieve a predefined mixing state and in such a way evaluate
the efficiency of the combination of a mixer and agitator. However, a
larger database of combinations of mixers and mixtures would be
required to develop such a model.
Acknowledgment
The presented work was part of the PARDEM project and the
funding by the EU Marie Curie ITN (Project No. ITN-238577) is gratefully
acknowledged. In addition, the authors would like to thank Paul
Klassen, Julia Wittmann, Juri Wittmann and Christian Sandy for their
help with the mixing experiments as well as Markus and Robert Heinz
for their help with the flood light setup. TAHS is grateful for the
additional image material provided by Ramon Cabiscol.
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