CM Series Colloid Mill

Colloid Mill: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Colloid Mill is mostly used in Pharmaceutical companies since it helps to break down chemical compounds to their smallest size.

That is why colloid mills are very important for the Pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

In this article, we will give a full guide on Colloid Mill and all the things that you need to know about it.

What Is Colloid Mill?

A colloid mill is a very common machine used in pharmaceutical companies to break down solid particles or droplet size particles of a liquid to its smallest molecule level.

The machine is made out of an inlet and an outlet.

It works on the rotor-stator principle and breaks down various chemical compounds.

 What is Colloid Mill

The milling process happens when a static cone and a rotating cone crush the compounds together.

These cones are made out of stainless steel or corundum. Together they shear the compound into small pieces.

What Is The Principal Of Colloid Mill?

The basic working principle that colloid mills use is the rotor-stator principle.

There is a cylindrical vessel that is placed inside the colloid mill.

The rotor and stator are being placed so that they can collide with each other and disintegrate chemical compounds.

The processed materials then get passed through a narrow passageway. This process is called shearing.

The solid items are first fed into the machine’s inlet which is also known as a Hopper.

Through that path, the items go to the small gap between rotor and the stator, where the shearing process happens.

There are two metal-toothed coverings on the surface of rotor and stator that help to break down and shear the solid items.

 What is the principle of Colloid Mill

The speed of the rotating rotor is set between 3,000 and 20,000 RPM, which is enough to turn any solid items into a liquid form.

The constant pressure and rotation help to break down any chemical compound to its smallest molecular level.

The end result is then passed down from the drainpipe or the outlet. If the final product is not sheared enough, it goes back to the machine one more time.

What Are The Uses Of Colloid Mill?

Colloid mills are commonly used in Pharmaceutical manufacturing industries. However, it also has other uses as well.

Usually, pharmaceutical companies use Colloid mills to make suspension, homogeneous mixtures, and emulsion of solid compounds in liquid.

It also helps to reduce compounds in its smallest molecular level in a liquid or breaking down the droplet size of a liquid suspended in another liquid.

It happens due to the high levels of the hydraulic shear process.

What are the uses of Colloid Mill

Colloid mills can also break down the particle size of as small as up to 3 microns. A colloid mill is very helpful in grinding, cream, gels, and high viscous fluid, disperse, etc.

Increase in the stability of suspensions and emulsions can be achieved through colloid mills.

Colloid mill can easily shear Fibrous materials with its metallic surfaced rotor and stator. It also helps to make sterile products.

What Is Colloid Mill Application?

Many industries use colloid mills for many purposes.

Industries like food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, Cosmetic, Paint, Soap, Textile, and Paper use Colloid mills for manufacturing.

There are many applications of colloid mills such as Metal-oxide suspensions, Coating masses, Incorporation of pigments, Micro encapsulation, Micro-suspensions, colloid solutions.

What are its application

Consumer’s good companies use colloid mills for the production of Peanut butter, jams, soya milk, Pollen, honey, toothpaste, sausages, ground meat, artificial corn milk, heavy cream, Mustard, Mayonnaise, and even paints and inks.

What Is The Energy Consumption Of Colloid Mill?

Colloid mill requires high energy consumption. It requires energy consumption of around 4 to 5 watt-hours per pound.

This energy consumption depends on various factors such as the viscosity of a product, temperature during shearing, product feed rate, etc.

What Are The Benefits Of Colloid Mill?

Colloid Mills can be very beneficial to manufacturing industries and pharmaceutical companies. Here’s a list of all the benefits of Colloid Mill.

What are the benefits of Colloid Mill

• Colloid Mills can easily grind and shear any product with ease.
• It can also be used on high viscosity range products.
• The metallic surface of the rotor-stator is easy to clean.
• Can easily operate under pressures around 16 bar.
• Can control the particle size reduction with the adjustable gap settings between rotor-stator.
• Produce less noise.
• Any material, whether it’s liquid or solid, can be used for grinding.
• The materials used in this machine are wear-resistant.

What Are Some Cons Of Colloid Mill?

Along with its many benefits, there are a few cons to it as well. Those are as listed below:

• Colloid Mill works best with liquid items.
• The rotating plates wear off easily.
• Solid items are not being grinded finely.
• It consumes a lot of energy.
• The costs can be very expensive.

What Are The Materials Used In Colloid Mill?

All the materials used in Colloid Mills are wear-resistant.

The basic parts of the machine include an inlet hopper from where all the products are being fed into the mill and an outlet part from where the processed products get passed through.

Inside the machine, there is a rotor and stator that help to grind the particle’s size. The process is being done by applying the shearing force of the rotating plates.

What are the materials used in Colloid Mill

Between the rotor and stator, there is a small gap that can be adjusted to 0.002 up to 0.03 inches. The constant rotation speed is around 3000 to 20000rpm.

The surfaces of the rotors and the stators have metallic teeth for shearing materials properly.

How Does A Colloid Mill Work?

The process of reducing a compound’s size to the smallest molecular level is very simple.

Firstly, the products are being fed into the machine through its inlet hopper.

Then the product goes to the narrow gap between the rotor and stator, where the main shearing process happens.

How does a Colloid Mill work

The process simply means shearing materials into the smallest size. The machine is used for reducing the size of the suspended droplets.

Also, the whole process happens when an addition of the heavier liquid is put into the chamber of the mill for shearing.

After that, the lighter material is added and the milling process starts. Due to insane rotation speed, all the materials get finely grinded inside the machine.

After that, the end product comes out from the outlet of the machine.

What Are The Prices Of Colloid Mills?

Colloid Mills can be very costly since they consume a lot of energy and are made out of stainless steel.

On average, colloid mills can cost from 70,000 to 1.5 lakhs or even more based on its usage, materials and other features.

This is why small industrial companies cannot afford colloid mills. It also consumes a lot of electricity as well.

What Are The Features Of Colloid Mill?

The new upgraded models of colloid mills include many features such as:

• Colloid mills have simple structures, so all the parts can be cleaned easily with plain water. The operating parts can easily be disassembled for cleaning and sterilization.
• Usually, the packaging of colloid mills comes with its inlet hopper, recirculating pipe and outlet hopper along with it. So there is no need to buy them separately.
• The new models of colloid mills also have water resistance and heat resistance features. So during the milling process, the machine will not get damaged even if the materials generate a lot of heat.
• All the counterparts of the machines are made out of stainless steel. So the longevity of the machine is really good.
• There are many models that also offer flameproof electrical fitting.

What Is The Design Of A Colloid Mill?

Colloid Mills can have a vertical structural design or horizontal structural design.

Firstly there is a cone-shaped inlet hopper, where all the products are thrown into.

The driving force behind the milling process is a special vertical type high-speed motor that is placed inside a stainless steel cover.

The circular ring-shaped stator has two different tooth stages.

On the other hand, the rotor is a conical-shaped part that is directly linked with the motor shaft. There is a small gap between these two where all the shearing happens.

Which Types Of Colloid Mills?

There are two common types of colloid mills based on their structure, vertical colloid mills, and horizontal colloid mills.

These types are mainly based on the different characteristics of their materials, different uses, different sizes and production efficiency.

Types of colloid mills

In the horizontal installation, the height of the machine is lower than in the vertical.

Here, the discharge valve should be set right below the outlet of the machine. This way, it will be easy to disperse the materials for a long time inside the colloid mill.

In the vertical position, the rotor will not be able to rotate the motor axis due to the weight of the motor.

Apart from colloid mill, you can also consider hammer mill for all your material processing needs.

These are all the things that you need to know about colloid mills. If you want to know more about colloid mills, then do tell us. Hope this guide was helpful to you.