Under the strategic agreement, simulation and analysis software powerhouse AEA will market VisiMix 2000 throughout Europe. The two companies signed a similar agreement covering North America since 1998.
VisiMix software uses mathematical models to simulate mixing for research, pilot, and full-scale commercial equipment. The company says it has more than 100 corporate customers, including BASF, De Dietrich, Dow Chemical, DSM, Eli Lilly, Gillette, L'Oreal, Monsanto, Samsung, and Unilever.
AEA, best known for its Hysys process simulators, has more than 1500 corporate customers in more than 80 countries worldwide. It will sells VisiMix either as a stand-alone product or as part of its Basys package. Basys consists of layered modeling tools with powerful reaction and separation capabilities for batch process development.
AEA sells two other tools designed to optimize fluid flow and heat transfer. Both differ from VisiMix in their use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The company recently upgraded its CFX-4 CFD software to improve handling of bubbles, voids, and process chemistry. It also introduced CFX-ProMixus, an entry-level CFD program to optimize mixing vessel processes.
VisiMix VisiMix approaches mixing problems differently, relying on 30 years of combined experience of the company's two principals, Leonid Braginsky and Yuri Kokotov. The two Russian émigrés founded VisiMix Ltd. in 1995 to provide dynamic simulations based on mathematical models of mixing phenomena.
The company says its software reduces trial-and-error testing in mixing-dependent processes, slashing the time and cost needed to design pilot and industrial processes.
VisiMix's key selling points are model accuracy and ease of use. Input consists of easily accessible data about mixing equipment and media properties. In return, the software helps engineers visualize mixing equipment dynamics, local flow velocities, turbulence intensities, micromixing, and other data needed to model unit operations.
It enables chemical and process engineers to calculate such critical parameters for single- and two-phase systems as power consumption, circulation rates, local concentrations of solutes and suspended particles, drop size, and chemical concentrations within reactors.
VisiMix sells two versions of the software:
VisiMix 2000 Turbulent. Calculates gas-liquid dispersion and mass transfer for low-viscosity fluids and multiphase systems, including blending, suspension, dissolution, emulsification, gas dispersion, heat transfer, and chemical reactions. It also handles mechanical calculations for shafts, and for practically all types of impellers, tanks, baffles, and jackets. Among its key calculations:
Mixing power Reynolds number Mixing time Pick-up from bottom JSS Drop size Heat transfer rates Gas absorption rate Gas bubble size Shaft strength and vibrations
VisiMix 2000 Laminar. Calculates laminar flow in highly-viscosity Newtonian and non-Newtonian media, as well as macro-scale blending and micromixing in high-shear areas. It calculates local shear stresses and warns of stagnant zones and inefficient mixing regimes, motor overloads, and other problems. Models cover a very broad range of impeller types, including ribbons and helical screws. Calculations include:
Mixing time Reynolds number Shear rates Shear stresses Effective viscosity Mixing uniformity Heat transfer Shaft characteristics, etc.
The company's latest service-based offering, VisiMix Optimization Service (VOS), provides online mixing process optimization. It automates mixing operations by combining VisiMix analysis with distributed control systems (DCS).
The company is also developing a software-driven safety tool to warn chemical engineers of potential dangers in their mixing processes. VisiMix is already capable of predicting mischarging, inadequate cooling, agitator failure, overheating, inadequate mixing, suspension separation, particle settling, and shaft vibrations. The company wants to create an application that acts as a "smart safety valve" to help engineers avert personal injury and plant damage.
For more information: Art Braunstein, Corporate Affairs, VisiMix Ltd., 8 HaMarpeh St., Har Hotzvim, PO Box 45170, Jerusalem 91450, Israel. Tel: 972-2-587-0123. Fax: 972-2-587-0015.
Get the latest articles from Pharmaceutical Online delivered to your inbox.