Sanitary Ribbon Blender Ups Production Of Dental Powders

By Munson

Dental laboratory needs are a specialty of Diversified Chemical Products, Inc. (DCP). Its business includes products for fabrication of dental prostheses, cleaning of dental instruments, and dissolving dental cement, in addition to other custom powders for dental laboratories, jewelry cleaning, and industrial applications. Since 1974 the company has worked closely with customers, developing products that meet a particular need, manufacturing those products on a private-label or contract basis, and packaging them in the form most convenient for the end user.

For one of its clients, DCP's development team helped extend the properties of an enzymatic cleaner for dental instruments to dissolve dental cement in addition to biological waste such as blood and mucous. "It was a unique mixture that fit a nice niche for one of our customers, and it grew into a rather large product for us," says Jim Longo, Jr., president. The innovation was so successful that orders quickly exceeded the capacity of the plant's two 35 gal (133 liter) planetary mixers, leading to an expansion.

The solution to higher production was an integrated system to load, mix, and convey the enzymatic cleaner. A Munson ribbon blender in FDA-mandated stainless steel with sanitary finish incorporates a bag dump station, a receiving hopper, and a pneumatic conveyor to transfer the materials to a surge hopper feeding the existing filling and packaging line. Munson engineers tested the powders and worked in tandem with the other vendors to assure satisfying all levels of requirements. DCP worked with Jerry Spross of EPI Technical Sales, who put the package together.

After testing, Munson custom designed the 52ft³ (1.5m³) ribbon blender to meet exact process requirements. The ribbon was the most economical mixer able to meet the company's dual objectives of efficiently blending a variety of ingredients with dissimilar properties, including both low-micron-size ingredients and minor ingredients in small amounts, and also handling a range of batch sizes.