The market
The global market for industrial mixing and blending equipment, including maintenance and related services, was valued at $120 billion in 2010. The need to blend liquids, fluids, solids, and gases is critical for a wide range of industries, including food processing, plastics and composites, candles and waxes, tobacco products, cosmetics and personal care, glass, cement, ceramics, metals, inks, paints and coatings, beverages, pulp and paper, energy, water treatment, pharmaceuticals, minerals, oil and gas, and agriculture. An estimated 150 manufacturers operate in the United States and 350 in Europe. The largest operators have expanded into India and China. While capital expenditures have been lethargic over the past three years and are only now returning to pre-2008 levels, revenues from maintenance and spare parts are expected to have offset losses by 2011. Several of the major companies are century-old family businesses such as Charles Ross & Son Company (New York, 1842), Possehl GmbH (Lübeck, Germany, 1847) which acquired the Connecticut-based Farell Group in 1848, Philadelphia Mixing Solutions (USA, 1909), and IKA Works GmbH (Germany, 1910).
Innovation
The main challenge in mixing and kneading is the time required to achieve perfect distribution. This has led to a rich field of research and development focused on designing sophisticated mathematical models that can predictively incorporate a small amount of an ingredient into a large mass. Mixing and kneading require both energy and space. The vortex (see Case 1) could mix active ingredients in minutes that would otherwise take 45 minutes, increasing the potential yield with the same equipment by a factor of 10, saving space and energy through the mere swirling motion of a geometrically induced shape. The oloid, a geometric shape developed by Paul Schatz in the early 20th century, dissolves oxygen in water through its rotational motion, consuming up to 80% less energy by undulating the water/air interface instead of forcefully pumping air into a mass of water. However, since speed and perfect distribution were considered inversely related, research should focus on changing this basic rule of the game. This is one of the Blue Economy's approaches to guiding businesses toward sustainable development and improved profitability. Angelo Mazzei managed the equipment on his uncle's 10,000-acre vegetable farm and learned the basics of crop irrigation and fertilization, despite having earned a degree in automotive industrial technology from California State University (Fresno) in 1968. He began experimenting to make mixing liquid fertilizer into irrigation water more efficient. During the construction of the California Aqueduct, irrigation water was supplied under pressure. This posed a problem for adding liquid fertilizer. By 1974, he had applied his knowledge of the venturi injector used in automotive exhaust systems to the mechanism of mixing liquids and gases under pressure. The Venturi effect is a jet effect: the speed of water increases as the cross-section of the outlet decreases. We all apply this concept when we place our thumb over a garden hose to increase pressure and spray distance. While working as a salesman for John Deere tractors, Angelo perfected his injection and mixing system to the point that he successfully filed his first patent in 1978. The Mazzei injector captures pressurized water as it enters a narrow inlet and forces the water toward the injection chamber. As the water speed increases, the pressure decreases. To avoid the drag typically generated by cylindrical pipes, the pipes ideally take on a conical shape, similar to the vortex concept (see cases 1 and 68). Through a suction port, liquids, fluids, and gases can be introduced and mixed with water without the need for pumps. The mixture can then be injected under pressure into the main pipe. This is how a car's exhaust pipe works on the Venturi principle. The pressurized exhaust gases from the combustion engine enter the largest chamber, depressurizing it, before escaping through a pipe into the atmosphere. Experience from the automotive sector is being transferred to agriculture.
The first cash flow
Angelo's first commercial application involved mixing pressurized water with liquid fertilizers or nutrients and directly feeding it into the irrigation system. Adding air to the irrigation water, using the same concept, increased the dissolved oxygen content, which acts as a natural plant growth stimulant. This led to the invention of a new irrigation technique, summarized in the brand's slogan, "plough without ploughing." Farmers realized that instead of tilling the soil, mixing air into pressurized irrigation water would achieve the same effect with far less energy. While Angelo operated his fledgling business in his garage with his wife, Mary, the family established Mazzei Injector Corporation seven years later in Bakersfield, California. The company remains family-owned and continues to expand through organic growth based on its expanding patent portfolio. Starting with an exhaust pipe, and simply using the laws of physics that every engineering student learns from the 18th-century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista Venturi, an impressive commercial niche has emerged. In fact, Angelo's invention is a platform technology that is applicable in dozens of sectors. The challenge is choosing which ones.
The opportunity
The effects of applying physics offer simple and predictable results based on transparent mathematical models. Innovations grounded in this logic are the preferred technologies within the Blue Economy concept, leading to new business models. Mazzei has continued to manufacture its devices and adapt its ideas to dozens of applications, always using the same basic principles. Today, Mazzei equipment is sold in 100 countries worldwide. Mazzei injectors are used to control microbial contamination, disinfect food processing, and control invasive species through the perfect mixing of dissolved ozone. In another intelligent application, Mazzei injectors and mixers capture the energy created by the water flow and use it to produce ozone from the water itself, then mix it back into the same water stream. This Mazzei equipment degasses any undissolved gas bubbles. Everything is produced and consumed in a single process using water, without ever releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere or consuming additional electricity. Utilizing what you already have (the energy from the flow and the oxygen for disinfection extracted from the water) is one of the fundamental principles of the Blue Economy. This technology compares favorably to the chlorine destruction system (see case 42), which is also powered by the water flow. To date, Mazzei holds 14 patents. The applications of this purely mathematical formula, based on geometric shapes, range from mixing systems for fire retardants and water vacuums that create a vacuum using tap water pressure to paint sprayers, nozzles for fire extinguishers, wine aerators, aquarium filtration systems, compressed air vacuums, automatic pool cleaners, vacuum cleaners, flue gas scrubbers, sandblasters, regulators for scuba diving, and oxygen therapy masks. It seems this technology is only just beginning to make its mark on our daily lives. The Mazzei Group is committed to keeping its research pipeline full of new ideas and innovative approaches. This is where entrepreneurs are in high demand to leverage this platform to create effective solutions for society.
