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.