Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Anyone ever use high shear mixers for homogeneous reactions?

Leben - 21-11-2014 at 15:24

I just discovered about these recently. They have a very small spin-knob and spin up to 8000-35000 RPM and can homogenize even the most insoluble mixtures into very stable emulsions. They're used for lab and for culinary purposes. I was looking at them in contrast to ultrasonic homogenizers which can be priced nearly 5x more.

It seems like one could allow for very effective reactions to happen that would otherwise be near impossible due to strong reagent immiscibility. The only slight downside to using one of these would be the probable need to have a centrifuge to separate the post reaction emulsion.


Does anyone have experience with them? I am strongly considering purchasing one to experiment with.

zed - 29-11-2014 at 17:08

Could you give us a link? We are not exactly lazy, but we are built a lot like alligators. We have very short arms, and we like to be spoon-fed a little bit....just to get us started.

Chemosynthesis - 29-11-2014 at 17:53

I have used one a couple times, but mostly seen them for compounding or the like (once in a polymer lab prior to spin casting). Sorry I can't be of much more help. They seem really interesting to use in a home setting.