A review of image processing technique in particle mixing analysis

Many industries, such as chemical, mining, food, pharmaceutical and agriculture require mixing as part of the production process. Several industries such as pharmaceutical and mining, mixing is a critical process that plays a significant role towards the quality of the final product. The mixing process, therefore, must be scrutinized to ensure homogeneity of mixtures. The characteristics of a mixing process can be analysed by either invasive or non-invasive method. Because of disadvantages of invasive methods, non-invasive methods such as Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT), Discrete Element Model (DEM) Simulation and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have been used to analyze the mixing process. However, these non-invasive methods used high and advanced technology in their applications. Moreover, they are expensive techniques and require stringent safety procedures. Therefore, image processing has become an interesting new method for studying particle property and a necessary means for particles analysis. This paper presents a review of image processing applications in mixing. The paper begins with a review of invasive and non-invasive methods for evaluating mixing characteristics, followed by a review of recent application of image processing techniques for mixing process.