Vacuum Plow Mixers & Dryers
Plow-shaped tools running at fluidizing tip speeds throw product into a three-dimensional mechanically fluidized bed — inside a vacuum-rated, jacketed drum. The result: intensive mixing, wet granulation and drying in one vessel, on materials too cohesive for gravity-flow geometries.
The Mixing Action
Mechanical Fluidization
Plows lift the entire bed into suspension so every particle is in motion at once — blend and dry times stay short even on cohesive, damp or fibrous products.
Independent Choppers
High-speed chopper heads break agglomerates, disperse binder liquids and control granule size independently of main shaft speed — the granulation control loop.
Full Thermal Envelope
Jacketed drum and end plates with vacuum as the second thermal control: granulate wet, then dry to target LOD in the same body, at product temperatures the material survives.
Where the PPL Series Earns Its Place
Strengths
- Handles cohesive, fibrous and high-liquid-load products no ribbon can
- Wet granulation and drying in a single vessel — no transfer
- Chopper-controlled granule size distribution
- Short cycles from intensive mechanical fluidization
- Hardfaced and Hastelloy executions for abrasive or aggressive duty
Typical Duties
- Wet granulation followed by in-vessel vacuum drying
- Cohesive and fibrous powder blending
- Instantising and agglomeration of food powders
- Reaction duties with controlled heat input
- Heavy wetted blends and press cakes
Industries
- Pharmaceutical granulation
- Food & instant powders
- Specialty chemicals
- Building materials
- Battery pastes & precursors
Standard sizes, working volumes, heated areas and installed power for the PPL Series are issued as an engineering datasheet, matched to your material. Request the PPL datasheet »
Plow mixer/dryers are usually quoted as mixers with a pump attached. QuantumX quotes the drying duty properly: heated area per litre, evaporation rate at your vacuum level, chopper strategy for your granule spec, and a trial-measured cycle — written into the order as acceptance criteria.
Mix, Dry, React — One Vessel, Under Vacuum
At 10–100 mbar absolute, water boils between 7 °C and 46 °C — so heat-sensitive product dries at temperatures a conventional dryer cannot approach. Every QuantumX vacuum machine shares the same engineering: ASME jackets, vacuum-rated bodies, closed-loop solvent recovery, nitrogen back-fill for oxygen-free processing, and product-temperature control with full batch data logging. How vacuum drying works »
One Vessel, Three Duties
Mix, react or granulate, then dry to spec — no transfer, no loss, no re-segregation.
Solvent Recovery
Condenser, receiver and cold trap sized to the duty; solvents come back as liquid.
Oxygen-Free
Evacuate and back-fill with N₂; ATEX and inert-loop control available.
Validated Cycles
Drying curve and endpoint measured in trial, warranted at FAT.
Plow mixers are also built as standard atmospheric mixers — the same engineered geometry, jacket options and trial validation, without the vacuum train. Specify at enquiry.
In the Shop & In the Field
Plow Mixer Dryers, Answered
What is a vacuum plow mixer dryer?
A plow mixer in a vacuum-rated jacketed body. It mixes and granulates by mechanical fluidization, then dries the product in the same vessel under 10–200 mbar — replacing a mixer, a dryer and the transfer between them.
When should I choose a plow over a paddle or ribbon vacuum dryer?
When the product is cohesive, fibrous or carries high liquid loads — or when you need wet granulation and drying in one vessel with chopper-controlled granule size.
Can granule size be controlled during drying?
Yes. Chopper speed and run time control agglomerate size independently of the main shaft, so you can build granules during wetting and protect them during drying.
Explore the full range: all vacuum powder mixers & dryers »
Prove It on Your Material First
Pilot trial, your product, measured drying curve and blend data — then geometry, thermal and vacuum scope fixed, and FAT against the same criteria.
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