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Mixing (process engineering)
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<p>In industrial <a href="/facts/Process_engineering/tgNFNxwD">process engineering</a>, mixing is a <a href="/facts/Unit_operation/7TAe9XH0">unit operation</a> that involves manipulation of a <a href="/facts/Homogeneity_and_heterogeneity/y84KQJxl">heterogeneous</a> physical system with the intent to make it more <a href="/facts/Homogeneous_mixture/tms8rbmn">homogeneous</a>. Familiar examples include <a href="/facts/Pump/UtMn3Btt">pumping</a> of the water in a swimming pool to homogenize the water temperature, and the stirring of <a href="/facts/Pancake/v9LJhSno">pancake</a> batter to eliminate lumps (deagglomeration). </p><p>Mixing is performed to allow heat and/or mass transfer to occur between one or more streams, components or phases. Modern industrial processing almost always involves some form of mixing. Some classes of <a href="/facts/Chemical_reactor/asqApwa4">chemical reactors</a> are also mixers. </p><p>With the right equipment, it is possible to mix a solid, liquid or gas into another solid, liquid or gas. A <a href="/facts/Biofuel/RWu7b6Y3">biofuel</a> fermenter may require the mixing of microbes, gases and liquid medium for optimal yield; organic <a href="/facts/Nitration/VnszL09H">nitration</a> requires concentrated (liquid) <a href="/facts/Nitric_acid/UDbwGp6s">nitric</a> and <a href="/facts/Sulfuric_acid/Wom6fymJ">sulfuric acids</a> to be mixed with a <a href="/facts/Hydrophobic/Ifya0CXQ">hydrophobic</a> organic phase; production of pharmaceutical tablets requires blending of solid powders. </p><p>The opposite of mixing is <a href="/facts/Separation_process/8Ie5Lv5Y">segregation</a>. A classical example of segregation is the <a href="/facts/Brazil_nut_effect/6B39yhRN">brazil nut effect</a>. </p> <p>The <a href="/facts/Mixing_(mathematics)/ttsAJCID">mathematics of mixing</a> is highly abstract, and is a part of <a href="/facts/Ergodic_theory/rkqCbIy0">ergodic theory</a>, itself a part of <a href="/facts/Chaos_theory/LTC17vsF">chaos theory</a>. </p>