Tank mixing and agitation is a necessary process in many industry applications that is often achieved via mechanical paddle agitators or a network of in tank piping with nozzles and recirculating pumps. Although these agitation methods are widely accepted, they are not always the best option. Mechanical agitators are often large, expensive and require the construction of additional support structure. Their moving parts must receive regular maintenance, and agitators often leave vortices and dead spots in tank fluids where stratification and solids settling can occur. Recirculation of tank fluid through piping with simple nozzles is an acceptable method of fluid agitation, but it leaves much to be desired in terms of overall turbulence generation and fluid mixing.

A great alternative to these methods are tank mixing eductors. These are small, simple devices that can be used to achieve highly effective fluid mixing and agitation. They use pressurized fluid energy to entrain, mix, and pump fluid in tanks, and they possess a number of benefits over the more traditional approaches. The Alfa Laval Vortex Radial Eductor is a unique style of tank mixing eductor that employs a proprietary design to achieve up to four times the total in tank fluid movement that can be had by simple nozzles and can eliminate the dead zones left by mechanical agitators. It can be used as the primary means of pit agitation, or as a complement to existing mechanical agitators for eliminating dead zones in corners of rectangular tanks.