Kettles

Kettles are often confused with tanks. The determining factor for proper identification is: Kettles have hemispherical shaped bottom, any other design becomes a tank design.

Agitated – scraper agitators – scrapers touch the sidewall

Single Motion Agitators – single scraping agitator turning in one direction, suitable for mixing low viscosity liquids and simple heating or cooling applications, or gentle motion holding of higher viscosity products.

Double Motion Agitators – also known as counter rotating agitators, typically with two agitator drives turning separate agitators is opposite directions, suitable for difficult high viscosity products or those containing solids requiring distribution

InclinedAgitators– either single motion or double motion type on angles from 15 – 30 degrees, suitable for mixing products containing fragile solids that may either sink or float, high and low viscosity products.

Multiple Agitators – these typically start with a single scraping agitator and one or two secondary agitators are added to either side. These can be counter rotating horizontal bar styles, top entry high shear mixer or even simple propeller type mixers.

Designs:

Single Shell – kettle body without heat transfer surface and can be designed with any agitator

Jacketed Kettle (heat transfer surface) – kettle body with heat transfer surface to provide heating or cooling, typically heat transfer media used are steam, hot oil, hot water, chilled water, or glycol solution. Heat transfer surface can be on both the hemispherical bottom and sidewall as desired.

Tilting Kettle – describes a kettle where either the agitator assembly will tilt out of the kettle bowl or the kettle bowl will tilt for discharge or can be a combination of both.

Vacuum – the product zone suitable for processing under negative pressure (vacuum conditions) typically for deareation, low temperature evaporation or vacuum cooling. This type of vessel is also often referred to as Vacuum Processor.

Pressure – the product zone suitable for processing under positive pressure conditions typically to create processing temperatures above the normal boiling point of a product. This type of vessel is also often referred to as a Reactor.

Insulated – the outside of the vessel is covered with low chloride fiberglass or mineral wool, finished with outer stainless steel shell. This is to retain heat, reduce heat in process area or provide operator protection.