Industry & Factory: Disadvantages to Using Tank Mixers

If you operate a small- to medium-volume chemical mixing facility, your floor space is always at a premium. Using - or keeping existing - mixing tanks may not be the wisest choice in your facility for several reasons.

Mixing tanks can be costly on the long- and short-term for several reasons. These reasons affect your business both in the administrative and operational realms.

Administrative Costs for Mixing Tanks

Administrative disadvantages to mixing tanks include:

• Low Floor Space ROI: Of the more obvious disadvantages to operating with mixing tanks is the relatively large footprint they require. It goes without saying that a larger footprint means higher floor space rental costs.
• Expense Outlay: To have a large piece of equipment manufactured out-of-house, transported to and installed in your facility can be a large one-time expenditure.
• Inspection Costs / Liability for Inspection Failure: Depending on requirements imposed by federal, provincial, state, as well as city and other local authorities, inspection costs and records maintenance for mixing tanks can amount to a large sum over the long-term. On the chance that your facility's mixing tanks require periodic inspection, the shutting down your operation due to an inspection failure can be costly.
• Tax Liability: Depending again on taxes imposed at various levels, taxes you pay for your large equipment such as mixing tanks may significantly impact your operational bank accounts.
• Insurance Liability: Depending on your cost outlay, insurance premiums you pay on larger equipment will add to your ongoing operational costs.

Operational Disadvantages of Mixing Tanks

Aside from the non-operational reasons mentioned above, there is a host of practical and operationally valid reasons against using mixing tank technology. These include:

• Higher-Maintenance: During day-to-day use of your small production facility using a single (or only a few) mixing tank, the inspection for leftover solids and washing of the tank require costly downtime in your production.

• Actively Caustic / Chemical Spill Liability: After mixing certain solid-solvent and solution-solution compounds, these fluids may become actively caustic. Storing large volumes of these chemical concentrations may pose safety concerns that increase the overall liability of your operation.

• Mixing Tanks Cannot Support Continuous Production: Because mixing tanks are limited by their size, their ability to produce a product on a continuous basis limits your ability to match high-production work flows. Upon mixing a batch of solution in one tank, the tank has to be emptied out before another batch can commence to continue production. This means costly downtime to your production.

• Large Mixing Tanks Cannot Support a Variety of Stock: If your facility specializes in custom mixing and storing a variety of solution products, using mixing tanks is an inefficient use of your floor space. What floor space a large tank occupies can better be used by a smaller number of tanks or vessels.