The preparation of Curcumin nanoparticles was realized in a small stirred tank by the anti-solvent precipitation process.The influences of such factors as tank size

stirring style

initial concentration and rotation speed on nanoparticle preparation were investigated.Meanwhile

planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique was used to quantitatively measure the liquid-liquid mixing performance in the tank

and the mixing environment was found to be important for the preparation of nanoparticles.A low stirring speed in a small stirred tank with a turbine impeller could not achieve the desired mixing efficiency because of agglomeration of nanoparticles.An overly high stirring speed brought in strong shearing interaction between particles and fluid so that many particles were broken up.Overly high over-saturation in local areas would cause growth and agglomeration of particles.The optimal mixing environment with moderate process intensification was crucial to successfully prepare high quality Curcumin nanoparticles with spherical shape and narrow size distribution.