No one knows more about the role of industrial spray drying than GEA Niro. GEA Niro has data gained from more than 70 years of experience and a reference list of some 10,000 plants across the globe. We have 30,000 test reports from our test center and we are equipped to engineer the properties you want into your products – and the processes needed to produce them. Our experience ranges over a wide variety of areas, including: food and dairy products, chemical and ceramic products, polymers and pharmaceutical products.

The spray drying process
Spray drying is the most widely used industrial process for particle formation and drying. It is well suited for a continuous production of dry solids in powder or agglomerated particles form from a liquid feedstock. The feedstock can include solutions, emulsions, and pumpable suspensions. The technology is ideal when the end-product must comply with precise quality standards such as particle size distribution, residual moisture content, bulk density and particle morphology.

During spray drying, an enormous heat and mass transfer takes place within a fraction of time. It starts with the atomization of a liquid feedstock into a spray of droplets (1 liter of concentrate is atomized to 1,5 x 1010 droplets with a diameter of 50 microns with a total surface of 120 m2 and the evaporation takes place from the surface of all these particles). The small droplets are created by an atomizer - either a rotary wheel or a high pressure nozzle. The droplets are introduced into a hot airstream, which is cooled down due to the evaporation of the water or a chemical solvent from the concentrate. This now colder and humid air is discharged from the dryer through a cyclone, bag filter or a combination of the two. After separation of the now dry particles, the air is discharged into the atmosphere. The dry particles can be cooled and bagged off after separation from the process air.

The spray drying process entirely depends on the composition of the product. Some products are very easy and others very difficult to dry. In this context it should be stated that a GEA Niro 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 spray drying parameters and thereby the size of the spray dryer, use our DRYNETICS™ method is used. 

Read more about the spray drying technologies for the specific industries:

Every dryer consists of:

The drying characteristics and quality requirements for the thousands of products GEA Niro spray dries vary widely. Thus, the solutions we select for individual customers will be based on individual specifications.

Three conventional configurations
When configuring a plant, it is essential to choose the most appropriate configurations. This includes mode of operation, equipment design, and powder collection system. We offer a wide range of different solutions and configurations to meet your specific requirements.



Download flash versions of the above configurations in the Animation download area.

The right equipment for quality and economy
When selecting process equipment, it is important to carefully understand two things: the properties of the liquid to be dried and the expectations for the produced powder. GEA Niro offers a wide variety of spray dryer designs - each with its own particular features.

The atomizing device, which forms the spray, is the heart of the process. The choice of atomizer depends upon the properties of the feed and the desired characteristics of the dried product.

More than 75 pilot plants in GEA Niro Test Centers worldwide
You can depend on GEA Niro, whether you are conducting R&D or are interested in small-scale or full industrial production. We offer powder engineering solutions and proof of concept through laboratory and pilot-plant testing. We also possess an unmatched scale-up experience and global project execution according to your specifications.

GEA Niro has more than 75 pilot plants in GEA Niro Test Centers worldwide and an international team of test engineers and process technologists. We represent the world's largest pool of talent specialized in tackling challenges within spray drying.

Read more about the Test Center in Denmark.

A solid partnership
Working with GEA Niro means entering a solid partnership every step of the way, from process testing and design to specification of the software controlling your plant. In our test centers, we work together with our clients to fulfil specific requirements for our customers.

This regards final powder functional properties and to develop new products – all under strict confidentiality. Our comprehensive After Sales program ensures that your return on investment is optimized throughout the lifetime of the plant.

Download our brochures on Spray Drying: