What are the benefits of agitation agglomeration?

Agitation agglomeration can help businesses improve customer satisfaction, product quality, and manufacturing efficiency. While there are other types of agglomeration available today, agitation agglomeration is the best choice for many applications.
Known for its versatility, agitation agglomeration can deliver results that are beneficial to businesses and customers alike.

Agitation vs Other Types of Agglomeration

To those unfamiliar with agglomeration processes, the various types may not seem that different. After all, materials all get clumped together somehow through each of them. However, agitation agglomeration has a distinct advantage over other types of agglomeration – versatility.
Also known as tumble-growth agglomeration or pelletizing, agitation agglomeration is often the best fit for agglomerating consumer products. It rolls materials to create larger particles, often with the help of some type of liquid binding agent. The process is very similar to creating a snowball. By contrast, other types of agglomeration use high heat or pressure to create large particles. Agitation agglomeration can be much gentler than these processes, making it the perfect choice for materials susceptible to intense temperatures or pressures.
As an added bonus, the nature of agitation agglomeration allows for detailed control over product results. Businesses can change pellet size, uniformity, shape, and texture by adjusting their agitation agglomeration process. For businesses in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, agitation agglomeration can help improve chemical reaction efficiency and promote even substance blending. Since agitation agglomeration is a wet process, it can also increase solubility in end products.

Benefits and Use Cases

Business leaders may be wondering how these technical advantages apply to real benefits. Agitation agglomeration can be extremely helpful in a variety of capacities, differing from one industry to another. There are a few use cases where agitation agglomeration is particularly helpful, though.

Ease of Transportation and Storage

One of the reasons a business might choose to utilize agitation agglomeration is to improve transportation and storage efficiency. When working with any kind of product that is dust, flaky, or sandy in nature, transportation and storage can be major issues, leaving messy trails and frustrated employees and customers. In some industries, effective storage methods can even be a serious concern. Effective food safety relies on processors maintaining clean spaces, which is difficult with hard-to-control materials. Agglomeration is a prime solution to this problem.
Agitation agglomeration offers a way to compile materials into much more manageable particle sizes without subjecting them to intense heat or pressure. To continue the above example, a business could agglomerate their seasoning pellets or pet food into perfectly-sized pellets without burning it or crushing it. In fact, since agitation agglomeration uses liquid in the binding process, the end product could have a more appetizing texture and moisture content.

Increased Solubility

Solubility is a highly desirable property in many products, such as pharmaceutical products or water treatment tablets. The nature of agitation agglomeration can make it highly effective at increasing solubility in these types of products. Different types of agitation agglomeration machinery can help control and fine tune results, such as agitation pans, drums, powder mixers, or fluidized beds.
In fact, this may even be able to improve efficiency in the manufacturing process. Since the agglomeration process itself increases solubility, businesses may be able to remove other steps of the manufacturing process that are used to do the same thing. This essentially combines two steps into one. As a result, manufacturers can optimize their process and create more units with less time and energy. This may even translate into lower operating costs and lower prices for customers.

Improved Customer Experience

The technical benefits of using agitation agglomeration can make a big difference in the end product customer experience. Even if customers aren’t aware of the extra consideration that businesses put into choosing the right agglomeration process, they will definitely appreciate products that are more user-friendly.
A perfect example of this is drink mixes. These flavoring or nutritional mixes are generally produced in a fine particle format designed to dissolve easily in water. The only problem is, fine powdery substances like this can be frustrating for customers, who have to carefully measure the right amount of powder and try not to spill it. By using agitation agglomeration to compact drink mixes into larger pellets or even serving-size orbs, the user experience becomes much simpler.
This “serving size” benefit is a major one that applies in numerous industries. It’s just as useful, for example, to someone creating pills or supplements that need to be consumed in a specific quantity. Likewise, water treatment plant employees will appreciate being able to simply grab one or two marbles of powder treatment solution rather than measuring out scoops of non-agglomerated mixture.

Agglomeration Done Right

Choosing the right agglomeration method can have a far greater impact than businesses may realize. Even if another method gets the job done, it may not be able to offer the performance and helpful bonus benefits that agitation agglomeration can offer. Agitation agglomeration is a popular choice for good reasons. The real-world benefits that come with agitation agglomeration’s technical advantages can result in happier customers, lower costs, and overall better products.

Emily Newton