Mixing of Viscous and Complex Fluids

Mixing in the adhesives, sealants and coatings industries is an important unit operation and often critical for achieving product quality metrics. The mixing operations are made more difficult due to the fact that the fluids being processed are highly viscous and often non-Newtonian (their viscosities are not constant and determined by the rate of mixing they experience).

This webinar will discuss how viscosity is defined, measured, and how the measurements are interpreted for design of mixing, and other fluid handling, equipment. Finally examples of equipment commonly used mixing in these industries will be reviewed.

Objectives:
-How mixing of fluids is affected by their viscosity and rheology
-How viscosity defined and measured. What are Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids?
-How rheology measurements are analyzed for use in engineering calculations
-What engineering calcuations need accurate rheology data
-Which impellers are used for these applications

Richard Grenville - SPX Flow, Inc.
Richard Grenville is a Principal Engineer at Philadelphia Mixing Solutions LLC, an SPX FLOW brand, and has nearly 40 years of experience in the field of mixing. He studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham in the UK, graduating in 1983, and started work as an Applications Engineer for Chemineer Ltd. sizing agitators and static mixers in response to customers' inquiries. After a brief period working as a Process Engineer at Unilever Research he went to work at the Fluid Mixing Processes consortium, which is managed by the British Hydromechanics Research Group, as a Project Engineer. His main area of research was mixing of non-Newtonian fluids. He also registered as a graduate student at Cranfield Institute of Technology and received his PhD in 1992.

In 1991 Richard joined DuPont as a mixing consultant in the Engineering department and worked on a wide variety of projects to manufacture, among others, fluorochemicals and polymers, various agricultural chemicals, water borne paints and on fermentations. In 2013 Richard joined Philadelphia Mixing Solutions LLC where he is responsible for developing solutions for customers' mixing problems which often include lab-scale testing and scale-up. He has given many seminars on mixing issues to industrial and academic audiences and runs a mixing course which is offered twice a year. Richard co-teaches courses on mixing at Rowan University in New Jersey and at the University of Delaware where he co-teaches courses on mixing. 

He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers and of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He served as president of the North American Mixing Forum (NAMF) 2016 to 2018 and was the recipient of the 2017 NAMF Award which is presented for excellence and sustained contributions to mixing research and practice.