The RAYCON™ freeze drying concept is developed by GEA Niro to meet the requirements for a fully automatic process. During the process it is possible to run individual batches while maintaining a high hygienic standard and the ability to clean all parts of the process equipment in an easy and efficient manner.
Advantages
- Hygienic design
- Very cost efficient compared to traditional freeze drying technology for pharmaceuticals
- No human intervention, which reduces contamination of product and production costs
- Cabinet can be emptied automatically for CIP and/or SIP
- Can run as batch or continuous
- Tray filling can be done in cold room or outside
The Atlas RAYCON™ is a further development of the RAY™ -S batch freeze drying plant and is ideal for the freeze drying of solid dosage products from the pharmaceutical industry in form of granulates and pellets. It is a highly hygienic version of the typical high capacity industrial freeze dryers being used for food and coffee products based on GEA Niro Atlas RAY™ and CONRAD™ freeze drying technology with focus on efficient and industrial freeze drying processes. RAYCON™ is the best solution for the production of large amounts of raw materials for bulk that do not require the same level of sterilization as products in vials. The dryer can be delivered with a full set of documentation and certifications for components and materials used in the equipment and with component declarations according to the relevant CE and FDA directives.
All parts of the drying process run fully automatically without human interventions other than to adjust and verify operations parameters from the control system. Risk of contamination of the product is minimized, production costs are reduced, and uniformity of the product is improved.
Available sizes
| Size |
Heating Zones |
Drying Trays |
Drying surface |
| RAYCON™ 65 |
1 zone |
112 trays |
57 m2 |
| RAYCON™ 125 |
2 zones |
224 trays |
115 m2 |
| RAYCON™ 190 |
3 zones |
336 trays |
170 m2 |
| RAYCON™ 250 |
4 zones |
448 trays |
225 m2 |
RAYCON™ freezing drying
The heart of the process is the RAYCON™ freeze drying chamber which features all the unique advantages of Atlas freeze drying technology for achieving an efficient and uniform freeze drying process resulting in the highest product quality. The radiation heating plates, automated tray transport, and continuous de-icing (CDI) are unique to the Atlas technology and offers unique advantages.
When trays are loaded one by one through a vacuum batch into the chamber, they are stacked 14 pieces high in an elevator before they are pushed into drying zones where the trays are suspended between heating plates that are kept at a pre-set (low) temperature during the loading. The product is not in contact with the heating plates but only with the freeze drying trays – made of stainless steel or, alternatively, aluminum. Once the dryer is fully loaded with trays holding up to 20 liters of product each, the freeze drying is accelerated by uniformly radiating heat from the heating plates into the product while the vacuum in the dryer is maintained at the required level typically between 1 – 0.1 mbar.
To condense the sublimated water vapor, the cabinet is equipped with a number of vapor condensers for Continuous De-Icing (CDI).
Batch process
In the batch process, the cabinet is completely filled with trays before drying is commenced. When a batch starts, the trays are unloaded from the tray storage and filled automatically by a tray feeder before they are loaded into the RAYCON™ cabinet through a vacuum lock. Each tray is accurately filled without spillage and moved around in such a manner that product is not spilled out of the trays. Furthermore, the trays are weighed before and after filling to control and monitor the amount of product loaded into the freeze dryer in each batch.
During the loading of the cabinet, the heating plates and the cabinet is cooled down to avoid sublimation.Once the cabinet is fully loaded, hot water is circulated in the heating plates so the sublimation of ice is accelerated and runs through a predefined drying profile which ensures that the product temperature is never too high while maintaining the highest possible sublimation.
After 8-16 hours of drying, the product in the trays is dry and can be unloaded. The vacuum in the chamber is broken by injecting clean air or Nitrogen at a controlled rate and the trays are then unloaded one by one into an emptying station. Here, they are turned upside down into a funnel and the product can be collected at the outlet of the funnel.
After emptying, the trays are moved into a washing machine, where they are pre-rinsed, washed, rinsed, and then dried with hot air. Following the washing machine, there is tray storage where all 336 trays from the RAYCON™ can be stored until the next batch starts.
Continuous process
In the continuous process, each tray enters the cabinet through a uniquely designed airlock system that allows a single tray to enter the cabinet without breaking the vacuum. From the vacuum lock the trays are pushed into an elevator with room for fourteen trays and once the elevator has made a full stack, the entire stack is pushed forward into the first drying zone, where the temperature of the heating plates is adjusted to the actual product type, composition and water content.
More stacks are filled and pushed in turn through the different and subsequent drying zones in the cabinet. In order to apply energy to the freeze drying process, a number of heating plates made of anodized aluminum are placed inside the cabinet. Hot water is circulated through the system to secure an efficient heat transfer by radiation to the product to be freeze dried. The water temperature can be regulated during the freeze drying process to achieve the optimal evaporation laps and avoid overheating of the products.
When the trays on the stack arrive at the dryer exit, an elevator will unload the trays and discharge them through a vacuum airlock into an emptying station. Here, they are turned upside down into a funnel where the dry product is collected.
After emptying, the trays can be moved through a washing machine and from there be returned to the filling station and reloaded into the RAYCON™. The circulation of the trays is fully automatic and continuous with very high reliability based on GEA Niro’s experience from more than 30 years of making continuous freeze dryers.
If the continuous cycle is stopped, the cabinet can be emptied and the CIP process can be conducted in the same manner as for the batch setup.
The automatic CIP process
Once the cabinet has been emptied completely, an automatic CIP (Cleaning In Place) process of the cabinet and the emptying station can be started. This is to ensure that any remains or dust in the cabinet are washed away.
The CIP cycle is divided into several zones where the heating plates, the cabinet shell, condensers, and elevators are washed in a cycle to achieve the optimal cleaning result.
After the washing process the cabinet is self draining, but to ensure that the cabinet is completely dry, vacuum is established in the cabinet while heating up the cabinet and heating plates. Thus, the cabinet will have been vacuum-dried prior to the introduction of the next batch.
Example of RAYCON™ 125 freeze drying plant
- Freeze drying pressure of max 0.3 mbar
- Heating plate temperature of max. 120 °C
- Temperature of condenser of max. – 46 °C
- Max. product temperature of 40 °C
- Total drying time of 9 hours
- Sublimation of average 100 kg/h
- Input 1200 kg/batch