Food Spray Dryer Manufacturer

Food Spray Dryer: The Complete Buying Guide

Spray drying is the most common drying method in the food industry. Spray dried instant coffee, milk powder, baby food, food additives, fruit, rice noodles, soup, cheese powder, etc. have good appearance and nutritional value.

Pilotech food spray dryer comes with a 500mL/h for benchtop use, 1500ml/L for small-scale experiment, and 3500mL/h for pilot-scale trial. Whether you are handling a 20mL sample or a 20L sample, there are suitable models to meet your requirements.

Many food ingredients contain sugar, which easily melts at a high temperature and tends to stick to the wall of the drying chamber. To solve this problem, Pilotech food spray dryer can adopt a specially designed low-temperature model with lower inlet and outlet temperatures during the drying process. At such low temperature, the sugar neither melt nor stick to the wall.

The drying chambers of our food spray dryer are made of high borosilicate glass or SUS304 stainless steel. The glass-made chamber facilitates observation, while the steel-made chamber is stronger. The steel-made chamber can also be equipped with a sight glass for observation of the drying process. If necessary, SUS316L stainless steel can also be used for the drying chamber.

The PLC module and touch screen of Pilotech food spray dryer all come from Delta, which has service stations all over the world. The blower, peristaltic pumps, air compressors, etc. all come from world-renowned brands. Our air compressor is completely oil-free. Such type of compressors tend to generate liquid water during use, which may lead to corrosion of the air storage tank. So we replaced the storage tank with SUS304 stainless steel to make it more durable.

Pilotech Food Spray Dryer is currently used by many well-known food companies such as Coca-Cola, Wahaha, Bright Dairy, etc. and many food-related colleges and universities all over the world. You can also find a long list of food research applications on Google Scholar.

If you want to know more about our food spray dryer, contact us for catalog & best price.

Food Spray Dryer: The Ultimate FAQ Guide

Let’s look at some of the fundamental aspects of food spray dryer systems.

Whether you want to learn about parts, features, working principle, material or spray drying optimization – you will find all information you’re looking for right here.

Let’s dive right in.

Which Are The Food Products You Can Dry Using Food Spray Dryer?

Food Spray Dryer

You can use a food spray dryer to dry food products like fish products, slaughterhouse products, carbohydrates, vegetables, milk products, and fruits.

What Are The Applications Of Food Spray Dryer?

Food spray dryers have a lot of applications, with the most common being:-

• Conversion of juices into mixes or instant powders.
• Preparation of instant coffee or tea
• Drying of dairy products or eggs
• Manufacture of bioactive nutraceuticals or encapsulated flavors.

How Does Food Fluidized Spray Dryer Vs Conventional Food Spray Dryer Compare?

Fluidized Food Spray Dryers

Spray drying in a fluidized food spray dryer occurs in three different stages.

All these stages have different moisture compositions depending on the spray drying process to which they are adapted.

As it comes from the drying chamber, leaves with a moisture composition of about 5 to 10% more than that of the finished powder.

This moisture composition gets lowered in the second stage of the drying process, resulting in a vibrating or fluidized bed dryer.

This type is well suited for applications that dry heat-sensitive products.

Conventional Food Spray Dryers.

Conventional spray dryers will, on the other hand, conduct the entire process in a single stage.

In just a single pass through the food spray dryer, the moisture composition of the final product is reduced to 2 to 5%. Single-stage food spray dryers are the most commonly used.

What Are The Features Of Hygienic Food Spray Dryer?

Food spray dryers must comply with standards set by the NSF, i.e., National Sanitation Foundation International, FDA, and A3 Sanitary Standards-Inc.

These standards require that they have the following features.

• CIP wet cleaning, i.e., Clean in place.
• A hygienic source of air.
• Removable panel and air gap insulation
• Hygienic fire protection systems.
• An optimized hygienic plant layout

Which Are The Possible Food Spray Dryer Process Layouts?

Food spray dryers come in many varieties of layouts. Each layout is suitable for a specific set of applications.

These layouts include:-

• Two staged layout
• Self-energizing or semi-closed layout.
• Standard semi-closed layout
• cycle layout
• Open cycle layout

What Is The Difference Between Co-Current Flow Vs Counter-Current Design Of Food Spray Drying Machine?

Countercurrent Flow Food Spray Dryer

For this type of food spray dryer, air enters at the bottom, and the atomizer is located at the top. The air and spray will be introduced into the process at the opposite ends.

These types of food spray dryers are highly energy-efficient and will offer you a process with faster evaporation than the different designs.

Do not use this specific type if your process involves spray drying heat-sensitive feeds.

Co-Current Flow Food Spray Dryer

This specific type is perfect for applications where the dried products are heat sensitive or dairy products.

The spray and hot air are getting into the food spray dryer flow through the drying chamber in a similar direction.

How Many Types Of Food Spray Dryer Are There In The Market?

There are many types of food spray dryers in the market right now.

To help you, as a customer, to distinguish between different varieties, we described them based on three different but common factors.

The first being:

Based on the type of flow a food spray dryer can support, they can be classified under the following categories:

Countercurrent Flow Food Spray Dryer.

For this type of food spray dryer, air enters at the bottom, and the atomizer is located. The air and spray will be introduced into the process at their opposite ends.

These types of food spray dryers are highly energy-efficient and will offer you a process with faster evaporation than the different designs.

Do not use this specific type if your process involves spray drying heat-sensitive feeds.

Counter current Flow Food Spray Dryer

Co-Current Flow Food Spray Dryer.

This specific type is perfect for applications where the dried products are heat sensitive or dairy products.

The spray and hot air get into the food spray dryer flow through the drying chamber in a similar direction.

Based on the variations in cycle design and procedure, food spray dryers are classified into the following categories:

Semi-closed Food Spray Dryers:

This type of food spray dryer is a hybrid between closed-cycle dryers and open cycle dryers. They entail the use of a direct-fired heater.

There is astringency in the amount of air required for a process, i.e., only the amounts required for combustion are allowed. Combustion products like gas will be recycled.

They have reduced oxygen compositions, making them suitable for use if your process has an explosion hazard.

Semi-Closed Food Spray Dryers

Closed Cycle Food Spray Dryers:

This is a type of food spray dryer that recycles your process’s drying gas, i.e., Nitrogen gas or other inert gases. We recommend you choose this type if:

• You want to eliminate the risks of explosions.
• Oxidation will ruin your product by degrading its quality during the spray drying process.
• If you require your solvent to be completely recovered after the process

Open Cycle Food Spray Dryers:

They are considered open because they draw air from the atmosphere. The drawn air acts as the drying air.

After the entire process is done, it gets released back to the atmosphere.

Food spray dryers can also be classified based on the stage type they have, i.e.,

Twin Stage/Dual-stage/ Two-stage Food Spray Dryers:

The product coming from the drying chamber leaves with a moisture composition of about 5 to 10% more than the finished powder.

This moisture composition gets lowered in the second stage of the drying process, resulting in a vibrating or fluidized bed dryer.

This type is well suited for applications that dry heat-sensitive products.

Single-stage Dryer:

In just a single pass through the food spray dryer, the moisture composition of the final product is reduced to 2 to 5%.

Single-stage food spray dryers are the most commonly used.

On a position basis, they are classified into:

Horizontal Food Spray Dryers:

This type has a v-shaped or flat bottomed drying chamber. The drying chamber is itself a rectangular box with nozzles that spray horizontally.

Horizontal Food Spray Dryer

Vertical Food Spray Dryers:

The chambers in these, unlike the horizontal variation, have cone-shaped bottoms with tall cylindrical bodies.

Besides, the drying air gets into the dryer from the bottom or top of the drying chamber. This type is suitable if your process is large-scale.

What Are The Main Parts Of Food Spray Drying Equipment?

A food spray dryer has the following parts:

The Main Parts Of Food Spray Drying Equipment

The drying chamber, which is also the most significant part in addition to being the most obvious

• Air dispenser
• Air heater
• Atomizer
• Feed pump
• A powder separator or recovery system
• An exhaust air cleaning system

How Do You Select The Right Size Of Drying Chamber Of Food Spray Dryer?

The drying chamber, which is also the most significant part and the most obvious, plays a massive role in making selections.

You can select different dimensions depending on two crucial factors, i.e.

• Available volume area to ensure sufficient contact time between heated glass and the atomized cloud,
• Material from which the drying chamber is made, to improve vessel integrity and structural support.

We construct our Food spray dryers from materials like stainless steel.

The insulation provides thermal efficiency, safety and is easy to clean and without contaminable parts on the outside.

These two parameters will guide your selection process. Just be sure to consider them both.

Which Is The Common Drying Gas Used In Food Spray Dryers?

The most commonly used drying gas in food spray dryers is undoubtedly Nitrogen gas.

It is because it can help to reduce the levels of oxidation in the product.

Moreover, using Nitrogen as the preferred drying gas over alternatives like air ensures efficient drying of both inorganic and organic solvents.

How Does A Food Spray Dryer Work?

Food spray drying is a critical process in manufacturing powdered food ingredients, e.g., infant formulas.

They perform a vital function that must attain the highest levels of cleanliness to support food safety.

Here is how they work:

1. First step is to blend all the ingredients with water for homogenization.
2. Homogenized mixture will then be transferred directly into a heat exchanger for a process called pasteurization. It will destroy all bacteria that may be harmful. The product is then heated to temperatures of at least 160°F and at most 200°F.
3. The mixture is then passed into the food spray dryer’s nozzles from a high-pressure pump for atomization. The temperature of the inlet air at this stage depends on the requirements of your process. However, the recommended temperature range is 280°F to 400° F.
4. Product passes through the dryer in the form of droplets.
   During this stage, the product’s moisture composition will be reduced to form a dry powder.
   This dry powder will fall and collect at the spray dryer bottom.
5. Because it is warm, it will be passed to a fluidized bed for cooling by air flowing and with an ambient temperature of 70°F.
6. Agglomeration to improve particle solubility and size is conducted. The powder will be sifted if need be.

How  Food Dryer Works

Which Are The Types Of Atomizer Used In Food Spray Dryers?

First, you need to know what an atomizer is and what it does. The atomizer is a part of the food spray dryer that forms a spray.

It does this by breaking bulk fluid into tiny droplets. The process is crucial to food spray drying because:

• It increases rates of evaporation by providing a high surface: mass ratio.
• It determines the density, shape, and size of particles. You will use it to produce your desired finished product.

Atomization of the feedstock usually occurs via high-pressure nozzles or a rotary atomizer.

Rotary Atomizer

This type of atomizer employs high-speed spinning wheels to form droplets by dividing bulk fluid.

The feedstock will flow into the periphery from the wheel center. It is before it turns into tiny droplets.

Some of the advantages that accrue with rotary atomizers are:

• It makes it easier to handle abrasive feeds.
• You can easily control the droplet size by adjusting the wheel speed.
• Your process will not experience downtime as a result of blockage.
• Rotary atomizers are easy to operate and flexible.
• The feed system does not require high-pressure levels.

The disadvantages of using rotary atomizers for your food spray drying process are:

• You may experience pollution control concerns as a result of too many fine particles.
• They are relatively more expensive than other atomizer variations.
• They also cost more to maintain and operate.
• You can only use rotary atomizers in vertical food spray dryers.
• It will prove almost impossible to spray dry, viscous feeds.

Pressure Nozzle

This is the second type of atomizer you can use in your food spray drying process.

The powders they produce are free-flowing and coarse.

They are also known as vortex nozzles.

It is because when liquid passes through them, they rotate in a clockwise or anticlockwise motion.

The fluid in rotation allows for the creation of kinetic energy.

They are versatile enough for you to use them in multiple applications, especially ones requiring a high flow rate range. Its pressure rating is 250psi-10000psi.

In this design, the liquid is atomized by compressed gas.

The following are advantages that accrue with using a pressure nozzle atomizer:

• You can use it to atomize very viscous feeds.
• Working with pressure atomizers results in excellent particles.

One main disadvantage:

• Compressed air can be expensive to acquire. Meaning operating pressure nozzles is expensive.

What Is The Purpose Of the Lecithination System In Food Spray Dryer?

Lecithination or lecithin treatment is achieved when the powder is coated using wetting agents with high lecithin compositions.

This wetting agent is usually dissolved in low melting oils like butter.

It makes dissolution in cold water easy and fast. This process provides exceptional dispersibility.

Which Is The Best Material For Construction Of Drying Chamber Of Food Spray Dryer?

The most prominent part of a food spray dryer is the drying chamber. It is made out of stainless steel or its alloys.

It has additional stiffeners to provide vessel integrity and support the structure.

We can specify the steel finish to meet your requirements.

Stainless steel wrap and insulation are added to the exterior of the food spray dryer.

It will provide a safe system that is thermally efficient and easy to clean as well.

Stainless Steel Food Spray Dryer

What Are The Properties Of Food Spray Dryer Products?

Dry sprayed food products have the following features:-

• Retained natural flavors and colors but proportionately diluted during the process.
• It increased shelf life in ambient air conditions.
• Processes that entail carotenoid oxidation will result in loss of color in the finished product.
• Moisture composition is at 1.6-6.0%.

What Parameters Dictate The Nature Of Finished Product Produced By Food Spray Drying Machine?

The Parameters that Dictate the Nature Of a dry sprayed food product are as follows:

• The feedstock’s psychochemical characteristics.
• The food spray dryer’s design, operation, and maintenance

Can You Use Combination Of Powder Separation Equipment In Food Spray Dryer?

Because of safety and hygienic standards, you can only use three types of powder separation equipment in your food spray drying process.

It is, although they are many construction types of such equipment.

The applicable ones are:

• Wet scrubber
• Bag filter
• Cyclone separator
• Or a combination of all.

What Are The Important Process Parameters To Control During Operation Of Food Spray Dryer?

The critical process parameters influence the characteristics of the finished product.

Examples include dryer chamber configuration and type of atomization employed.

Atomization Pressure

The process of atomization requires lots of pressure. This pressure affects the size of droplets. Hence, the higher the pressure, the larger the droplet size and vice versa.

Rate Of Feed Flow

You can control the rate at which you pump the slurry feed into the food spray dryer’s atomizer component.

At constant atomization pressure, increasing the rate of feed flow will result in larger droplet sizes.

The reverse is true for this case, i.e., reducing the feed flow rate will result in smaller droplets sizes.

Viscosity Degree Of The Feed

Feedstock with high viscosity will require more atomization energy to spray. It is to break down the large viscous properties of the slurry. The reverse is also true, i.e., the lower the feedstock viscosity, the lower the atomization energy required.

Surface Tension Of The Feedstock

Atomization can not occur without the surface tension of the feedstock being disrupted.

Hence, feeds will high surface tension will slow down your process, specifically in the atomization stage.

To break the surface tension, you can either emulsify your feedstock solution or subject it to homogenization processes.

Inlet Temperature

It is about the drying gas’ temperature as it enters the drying chamber.

It directly reflects into the gas’ capacity to do its purpose.

To achieve good drying performance, increase the inlet temperature.

Humid atomized droplets will dry much easier and faster.

Outlet Temperature

Before the final powder is transferred for collection, it is usually in a chamber. The air in this chamber has a temperature referred to as the outlet temperature.

What Are The Advantages Of a Freeze Drying Machine Over a Food Spray Drying Machine?

The advantages you will accrue with acquiring a freeze-drying machine are:-

• It offers sufficient energy efficiency.
• Drying periods are much shorter.
• They do not require a lot of labor to operate and maintain.
• They entail a continuous and streamlined process.

Are There Food Spray Dryers With Ultrasonic Atomization Capabilities?

Yes, there are food spray dryers with ultrasonic atomization capabilities.

Ultrasonic energy can be applied to provide better results than centrifugal force or pressure.

A vibrating surface vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency.

Liquids will collapse when in contact with this surface, resulting in fine droplet formation.

If your process requires droplets that are smaller than 50 microns, then you should consider this choice.

How Does The CIP System Clean Food Spray Dryer?

Our food spray dryers have pulled out spray heads which you can withdraw. It makes it possible to use CIP.

The cleaning medium for this process is solvents. It considerably reduces the costs of cleaning.

During the process, you can pneumatically actuate or pull out the spray head.

After the process is complete, the Spray head will return to its normal non-actuated position.

The advantages that you will enjoy from using this cleaning system are:-

• The operation process is safe and functional.
• CIP cleaning systems can be validated.
• There is a vacuum resistance of -0.9 bar.
• It is pneumatically actuated.

Should All Food Spray Dryers Be EHEDG Compliant?

Yes.

EHEDG recommendations posit requirements, which if met, will ensure that your food spray dryers are cleanable.

It also means that chances for microbial proliferation are significantly reduced.

These standards extend to every unit, module, or part that makes up the food spray dryer. They entail:-

• Physical design features are also taken into account.
• The surroundings are also taken into account as they play a crucial role in the food spray dryer’s overall hygienic system. They affect and influence the maintenance, operation, installation, design effectiveness, and efficiency.

The EHEDG validation process takes the following into account:

• The ease of accessing or maintaining the food spray dryer’s equipment or parts.
• The flow of products, materials, and people,
• The cleanability of drains, air systems, and surfaces

Our food spray dryers conform to all the standards recommended by the EHEDG. We engineer them to be free of any crevices, dead spots, or ledges, which means liquid, whether slurry, condensed, or washed down, is entirely drainable, thus no settling.

What Are The Benefits Of Investing In a Food Spray Dryer?

You will enjoy a plethora of advantages and benefits with the food spray dryer as an addition to your process:-

• You can effectively maintain and control product properties and quality during all the food spray drying process
• You can process high tonnage feeds in continuous operation. You can do this by using an integrated Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), which is easy to operate.
• You can dry feedstock in emulsion, slurry, or solution form if they are pumpable.
• Using a food spray dryer eliminates the problem of poisoning from corroded surfaces. This ensures that the dried product remains in anhydrous forms.
• You can control the moisture content, size, shape, or form of the dried powdered particles. Factors like heat sensitivity and dryer capacity do not pose any hindrance.
• The food spray dryer can handle a variety of rates of production while providing design flexibility.
• The food spray dryers are not energy-intensive equipment.

Can You Use Food Spray Dryer In Other Industries Apart From Food Sector?

Yes, of course. Such applications include:-

Pharmaceutical Applications

1. In this application, you can use them to dry pharmaceutical products like vaccines, enzymes, blood products, penicillin, etc.
2. You can also use them to produce co-processed excipients with features like increased tablet disintegration, compatibility, and flowability.
3. You can also use them to lower tendencies of capping in crystals and increasing compressibility.
4. You can apply them to enhance the dissolution and solubility rates of drugs by improving their solid dispersion degrees.
5. Finally, you can use spray dryers to form the mobile materials or powder aerosol.

Application In Chemical Industries

Here you can use spray dryers to produce amino acids, emulsion pipes(PVC), catalysts, and phenol-formaldehyde resin.

Application In Ceramic Industries

Here you can apply spray dries in the production of kaolin, iron oxides, carbides, or aluminum oxide.

Which Are The Common Problems Encountered During Operation Of Food Spray Dryer?

1. They waste a lot of heat energy during operation because of their low thermal efficiency.
2. Your process may incur fire hazards or product degradation due to product debris remaining in the drying chamber.
3. You cannot use food spray dryers to dry solid materials.
4. Food spray dryers can prove quite challenging to clean and maintain.

Can You Customize Food Spray Drying Machine?

Yes, we can customize food spray drying machines.

The main determiners of your process’s final product quality depend on:

• Heat transfer on droplets within the food spray dryer.
• Atomization properties.

We can customize the parts responsible for these functions according to your preference. The changes made can range from the type of atomization employed to heat control mechanisms.

With Pilotech food spray dryer machine, you can optimize all processes depending on your unique needs.

Our machines are available for both industrial and research use.

Contact us today for all your food spray dryer machines.