Worldwide leader in spray drying and dryer technology
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 centre, 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.
Spray drying technology
Spray drying is the most widely used industrial process for particle formation and drying. It is well suited to continuous production of dry solids in powder, granulate or agglomerate particle form from liquid feedstocks. Feedstocks can include solutions, emulsions and pumpable suspensions. The technology is ideal when the end-product must comply with precise quality standards. This regards particle size distribution, residual moisture content, bulk density and particle morphology.
Read more about the spray drying technologies for the specific industries:
Food & Dairy dryers
Chemical Dryers
Pharmaceutical dryers
Pilot and small scale dryers
The spray drying process
Spray drying starts with the atomization of a liquid feedstock into a spray of droplets. Next, the droplets are put in contact with hot air in a drying chamber. The sprays are produced by either rotary (wheel) or nozzle atomizers of different types. Evaporation of moisture from the droplets and formation of dry particles proceed under controlled temperature and airflow conditions. Powder is continuously discharged from the drying chamber and recovered from the exhaust gases using a cyclone or a bag filter. The whole process generally takes no more than a few seconds.
Every dryer consists of:
The drying characteristics and quality requirements of the thousands of products GEA Niro spray dries vary widely. Therefore 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 include mode of operation, the equipment design and the powder collection system. We offer a wide range of different solutions and configurations to meet your specific requirements.
Spray dryer configurations from GEA Niro
Click here to view larger spray drying configuration image
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 powder to be produced. GEA Niro offers a great variety of spray dryer designs, everyone 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. Read more about atomizers here.
More than 75 pilot plants in GEA Niro Test Centres 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 Centres worldwide and an international team of test engineers and process technologists. We represents the world’s largest pool of talent specialized in tackling challenges within spray drying.
Read more about the Test Centre in Denmark here.
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 centres, we work together with our clients to fulfil specific requirements of 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.
Food, Dairy & Chemical dryers
Pilot & Small Scale dryers
Pharmaceutical spray dryers
Spray drying Absorbers
Further reading in this Wikipedia article
U.S inquiries, please visit the GEA Niro Inc website: www.niroinc.com