Choosing the right spray dryer
GEA Niro has significant expertise within process equipment, including
spray drying plants for
dairy products. When selecting a spray drying plant, it is important to know the requirements for the end product. Is the goal a regular product, or should it be agglomerated and instantly soluble in cold water? Should the spray drying plant be designed for
CIP cleaning-in-place? And so on and so forth. There are many things to decide.
Spray Dryer Type MSD™/FSD™
The spray drying process depends entirely on the composition of the product. Some are very easy and others very difficult to dry. In this context it should be stated that a
GEA Niro spray dryer is designed and the process parameters selected to ensure:
- Best product quality
- Low energy consumption
- Protection of the environment
- Long operation time between cleaning
- Fulfill EU Directives
To support our design engineers when they select the drying parameters, and thereby the size of the spray dryer, we use the
DRYNETICS™ single particle drying method as developed by GEA Niro.
Basic principles employed when a GEA Niro dryer is designed:
- The total moisture content in the exhaust air is one of the most important parameters. It depends on the composition of the product, e.g. a product with high protein content can be dried at high total moisture content in the exhaust air, whereas high carbohydrate content requires low moisture content to avoid sticking of powder in the chamber, ducts and cyclones. This is also why the total moisture content in the ambient air is an important parameter to know before the plant is designed, as the "drying potential" is reduced if the ambient total moisture is high.
- Another important parameter to know is the maximum solids content in the concentrate. This is viscosity-driven and as such also depending on the composition of the product.
Your product and your requirements for the final powder properties decide what type of spray dryer you should select. GEA Niro´s range of spray dryers span from simple spray dryers to very sophisticated spray dryers where you get sufficient production flexibility so that you can always meet your customer’s requirements to powder structure, bulk density, instant properties and other parameters. GEA Niro´s product specialists will help you with selection.
Spray Drying Plant Type MSD™
Learn more about GEA Niro´s different spray dryers for the dairy industry here:
Whatever type of spray dryer you select for your product, a hygienic design and construction has first priority by our design engineers no matter where in the world the plant is intended for.