Rotor-stator homogenizers - What size homogenizer is right for me? 

Laboratory size rotor-stator homogenizers process liquid samples in the 0.01 ml to a 20-liter range. The capacity of the rotor-stator should be matched to the viscosity and volume of the medium and with the type and amount of plant and animal tissue to be processed. The speed and efficiency of homogenization are greatly degraded by using too small a homogenizer, and the volume range over which a given homogenizer rotor stator size will function efficiently is only about 10 fold. Also, most of the laboratory-sized homogenizers function properly only with liquid samples in the low to medium viscosity range (<10,000 cps). This must be balanced against the practical observation that concentrated samples, by colliding more frequently, are broken up more rapidly. Higher viscosity samples can be processed but require specially shaped homogenization vessels or unique rotor-stator configurations. The size of the sample prior to processing with the homogenizer must be small enough to be drawn inside the stator. Therefore, samples often must be pre-chopped, cut or fragmented.