Taking the Measure of Mixing Technologies and Practices

Mixing in all its permutations remains a common and critical unit operation in food processing. Representative examples include mixing liquid sweeteners into water-based beverages, mixing solid ingredients into soups and sauces, mixing solid ingredients into seasoning bases, and mixing carbon dioxide into carbonated beverages.

In all cases, energy is required to ensure homogeneous mixtures. How much energy? How is it best delivered? How long should it take to achieve good mixing? And, most critic…