bio-m®
Agitator Technology
The Heart of Your Process Vessel
The agitator is the pulse of your process vessel. In sterile applications, it is the single most critical component for product quality and batch consistency. There is no room for compromise here.
Agitators
The Heart of Your Process Vessel
The agitator is the pulse of your process vessel. In sterile applications, it is the single most critical component for product quality and batch consistency. There is no room for compromise here.
At liquitec, we understand that a reliable process requires a reliable origin. That is why we do not outsource the heart of your machine. Operating from our two high-tech production sites in Kirchberg (BE) and Wil (ZH), we manufacture all wetted parts in-house.
This deep vertical integration is the foundation of our Strategic Agility. We do not rely on global supply chains for critical components; instead, we maintain a substantial stock of semi-finished parts, ready for the final steps of customization. This anticipation allows us to bond our manufacturing strengths directly to your process needs: gapless traceability, perfect surface finishes, and adherence to timelines that others cannot match.
Magnetic Agitator Advantages
The Logic of Containment
Protect the Precious & Potent Your ingredients are often too potent to risk exposure or too precious to allow a leak. In modern biotech, there is no margin for batch loss. By replacing the mechanical seal with a hermetic magnetic coupling, we guarantee a closed system. Zero leakage means zero risk to your staff and zero loss of your high-value product.
Eliminating the Cost of Friction Mechanical seals represent a maintenance liability and an energy inefficiency due to friction. bio-m® Magnetic Agitators eliminate this overhead entirely. With no friction losses, no barrier fluids, and no scheduled maintenance breaks, you receive pure mixing power rather than heat generation and operational costs.
Liquitec Advantages
The Definition of Swiss Precision
Machined from Blocks, Not Sheet Metal We strictly utilize subtractive manufacturing from solid stainless steel blocks. This approach eliminates unnecessary welding spots and guarantees structural integrity. It allows us to machine the tightest clearances and minimize air pockets to absolute zero, ensuring the best cleanability in the industry.
Hygiene at the Core (EHEDG) Hygienic design is not just a standard we follow; it is our mindset. Designing with EHEDG guidelines at the core, we achieve surface finishes of Ra < 0.4 μm as our standard. We obsess over details to ensure your vessel remains sterile, with 100% gapless traceability kept strictly in-house.
Precision Beyond the Catalog We do not believe that a standard catalog product is always enough for critical processes. We refuse to serve 100% of the market with 20% of the equipment. We design the agitator to fit your specific needs—adapting geometry and tolerances to your vessel—with no compromises. Just fit for purpose.
Mixing Tasks
Mastering the Physics of Your Process
Every process has a dominant physical challenge. We don't just stir liquids; we engineer the flow pattern to conquer that specific challenge.
- The Task: Achieving rapid uniformity of miscible liquids, often with different densities or viscosities (e.g., Buffer Prep, Media mixing).
- The Liquitec Strongsuit: Digital Verification (CFD).
We don't guess your mixing time. For critical blending tasks, we can simulate the process using Computational Fluid Dynamics to guarantee homogeneity is reached before the first batch is ever run.
- The Task: Maximizing the exchange of thermal energy between the product and the vessel jacket (Heating or Cooling).
-
The Liquitec Strongsuit: Wall-Flow Geometry.
Standard agitators leave valuable solids trapped in the dead volume. Our Lean Bottom System (LBS) and low-level impellers are engineered to keep solids suspended down to the absolute last liter, maximizing your yield recovery.
- The Task: Keeping insoluble particles (crystals, catalysts, or precipitates) in motion to prevent sedimentation at the vessel bottom.
- The Liquitec Strongsuit: The Lean Bottom Advantage.
Heat transfer relies on breaking the thermal boundary layer at the tank wall. We position our impellers and design the flow turbulence to constantly renew the liquid at the jacket surface, ensuring rapid heating/cooling without local overheating.
- The Task: Breaking down liquid droplets or dissolving difficult powders into a continuous phase (e.g., Oil/Water emulsions).
- The Liquitec Strongsuit: High-Shear Options (Rotek & Rotor-Stator).
Standard magnetic mixers often lack the torque for this. We defy the norm by offering high-energy Rotek and Rotor-Stator magnetic heads that deliver the shear rates of a homogenizer with the hermetic safety of a magnetic drive.
- The Task: Gentle movement of sensitive cell cultures or microbial fermentation requiring high Oxygen Transfer Rates (KLa).
- The Liquitec Strongsuit: The BMAF Stability.
Bioreactors often require deep vessels and long shafts. Unlike competitors who struggle with wobble, our BMAF features a reinforced ceramic bearing unit that stabilizes long shafts, ensuring efficient gas distribution without damaging shear-sensitive cells.
More About Agitation
Engineering Out the Risk
The Billion-Dollar Lesson The North American Mixing Forum estimates that poor mixing costs the process industry between $1 and $10 billion annually in lost yield and wasted energy. Most of these losses occur because mixing was treated as an afterthought. You have the power to avoid this statistic in your new plan.
Solving Symptoms at the Source We often see operators resigned to living with inconsistent batch times, local overheating, or sedimentation. These are not "process realities"; they are physics problems that can be calculated and solved. You do not have to accept a design that forces you to compromise later.
The Solution is Conversation If you are in the planning phase, you have a unique opportunity. By bringing Liquitec to the table before the steel is cut, we can simulate the flow and guarantee the outcome. We bridge the gap between your deep product knowledge and our hydrodynamic expertise to ensure your new vessel performs perfectly from Batch #1.
Contact us
Engineering First Sales Second
No Strings. Just Physics. Do you have a specific worry about your current process? Or perhaps just a rough sketch for a future project? You don't need a finished specification to talk to us. In fact, the earlier we speak, the more we can help.
Get a Sanity Check. Our engineers are here to act as a sounding board. Whether you need to validate a calculation, troubleshoot a "symptom," or simply ask if a magnetic agitator is right for your medium—we are ready to help. No pressure. No strings attached. Just an honest engineering opinion.
Our Products
With our process engineering components and services, we ensure functional added value and maximum safety in sterile process technology for our customers.
Lean Bottom System (LBS)
The Profit Center
Don't Leave Money in the Tank
In high-value pharmaceutical processing, the most expensive volume is the "Heel"—the product left behind because standard agitators cannot mix the final liters. Conventional design forces you to write off this residual volume as unavoidable waste
Bottom Magnetic Agitator
The Sterile Standard
Absolute Containment Zero Compromise
In sterile processing, the greatest threat to your batch comes from the outside world. Traditional mechanical seals are dynamic barriers; they wear, they require barrier fluids, and ultimately, they represent a "managed risk" of contamination.
Bottom Mounted Agitator Fermenter (BMAF)
Engineered for Growth
Your Biology, Our Physics
Fermentation is not just Mixing. It is the precise control of the micro-environment. Whether you are running an aggressive aerobic process requiring high gas dispersion rates or a strictly anaerobic cultivation demanding perfect homogeneity, the bio-m® BMAF Series is the chassis upon which your process stability rests.
Top Mounted Agitators (TMAi/TMAe)
Solving the Geometric Puzzle
When Bottom-Entry is Not an Option
The Exception to the Rule. At Liquitec, we believe the bottom-mounted magnetic agitator is the gold standard for sterile mixing. It is the most hygienic, stable, and ergonomic solution for 90% of pharmaceutical applications. However, process reality does not always follow the rules.
Inline mixers (static and dynamic)
Continuous Homogeneity
Passive Efficiency or Active Control
The Inline Philosophy
Not all mixing happens in a tank. For continuous processes, dosing loops, or rapid heating, mixing must occur directly in the pipe. Liquitec offers two distinct technologies to achieve homogeneity "on the fly".
bio-m® BSA & TSA Sealed Agitators
The Classic Standard – Perfected
While magnetic technology represents the future of sterile mixing, specific process requirements or legacy specifications often demand the robustness of a mechanically sealed system. The bio-m® BSA (Bottom Mounted) and TSA (Top Mounted) series represent Liquitec’s engineering refinement of this classic technology.
Our bio-m® range:
bio-m®
LBS
Lean Bottom System.
The Profit Center.
Don't Leave Money in the Tank.
bio-m®
BMA
Bottom Magnetic Agitator.
The Sterile Standard.
Absolute Containment, Zero Compromise.
bio-m®
BMAF
Bottom Mounted Agitator Fermenter.
Engineered for Growth.
Your Biology, Our Physics .
bio-m®
TMAi/TMAe
Top Mounted Agitators.
Solving the Geometric Puzzle.
When Bottom-Entry is Not an Option.
bio-m®
Inline Mixers
Continuous Homogeneity.
Passive Efficiency or Active Control.
bio-m®
BSA/TSA
Sealed Agitators
The Classic Standard.
Perfected.