But Why Static Mixers?

I’ve recently had a chat with someone and he was curious about static mixers.  As I explained what the static mixer was and what it does, he asked me these questions:

“Erm… so, if you push 2 liquids through a pipe and the flow is turbulent, won’t they both mix eventually anyway?  I mean, I could just put something inside my pipe and eventually get a homogeneous mixture right? ”

Well, the short answer is:  Yes.

But with a fully designed static mixer, you are talking about a predictable homogeneity within a predictable distance.  In other words, with a static mixer, you will get a definitive answer like “a Homogeneity of 96% at the mixer outlet”.