Organic Chemicals

The majority of organic chemicals that maintain solid form during atmospheric conditions can be transformed to powders or granulates. Whether you are producing organic acids, organic salts or nitrogen-containing compounds, GEA Niro offers a broad range of technologies and tailor-made applications to meet your requirements. GEA Niro has supplied more than 100 plants to the organic chemical industry.

Our core supply for organic chemicals includes:

• Spray Dryers and Spray Coolers
  GEA Niro’s single-stage spray drying systems for production of fine to medium coarse powders. For a very uniform particle size, the spray dryer can be equipped with the GEA Niro NARROWSPAN™ atomizer wheel.
  
  
• Fluidized Spray Dryer FSD™
  GEA Niro’s original two-stage spray drying system for production of agglomerated powders and granulates. The Fluidized Spray Dryer FSD™ can be supplied with several types of exhaust air filters depending on the requirements to the product and the emissions.
  
  
• SPRAY FLUIDIZER™
  GEA Niro’s SPRAY FLUIDIZER™ is superior for producing free-flowing granulates with high mechanical stability through a simultaneous drying and granulation process.
  
  
• SWIRL FLUIDIZER™
  GEA Niro’s SWIRL FLUIDIZER™ spray drying system for turning filter cakes and the most viscous liquids into fine powders in a single step. For drying at gentle or high temperatures.
  
  
• Fluid Bed Dryers/Coolers
  GEA Niro’s CONTACT FLUIDIZER™ is superior for drying and cooling of dry or damp powders and filter cakes. The VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™ is a vibrating fluid bed for all types of powders, agglomerates and granulates, especially those which fluidize poorly due to a broad particle size distribution or highly irregular shape or those which require relatively low fluidization velocities to prevent attrition.

We are able to meet the strictest requirements to efficiency, safety and environmental compliance. Since many organic chemicals include hazardous ingredients, GEA Niro’s drying plants are designed to meet the strictest standards when it comes to explosion and emission control systems. GEA Niro’s vast experience within these areas is unequalled and also an invaluable aid when it comes to complying with international safety directives like ATEX, other European safety directives and/or local regulations.

GEA Niro offers:

• Plants with highly effective filters and scrubbers to ensure exhaust of clean process air
• Semi closed plants utilising low oxygen combustion gas as process air to prevent explosions
• Semi closed plants, self-inertised and featuring incineration of exhaust air
• Closed cycle plants utilising nitrogen as process gas circuits
• Pressure shock resistant plants designed with either suppression or pressure relief to protect the equipment and personnel

Cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems, semi- or fully automatic, are available for all GEA Niro plants. Efficient cleaning allows for more uptime and makes colour interchangeability easy and efficient.

Examples of drying solutions for organic chemicals
The choice of technology depends on requirement for the final product such as particle size, density, flow ability, dust content and re-dispersability.

If the request is amino acid powder or granulates without dust and with a particle size of 200 – 300 my, the GEA Niro Fluidized Spray Dryer FSD™ process could be applied. But if the request is even larger particles or granulates >300 my, the FSD™ process could relatively easy be modified to produce such particles or granulates.

In case the feed product is a wet cake, one of GEA Niro’s fluid-bed drying technologies can be applied in open or closed cycle, depending on capacity and possible content of solvents in the feed product.

GEA Niro supplies a variety of drying and granulation technologies for production of powder or granulates of nitrogen containing compounds. If the requeset is urea granulate of more than 1000 my, the GEA Niro SPRAY FLUIDIZER™ technology can be applied. Solids as fatty acids and waxes can be turned into prills in a spray congealing operation in a GEA Niro FSC process.

Solutions and slurries of fine crystals can be dried to free flowing products in a spray dryer with a rotary atomizer, a GEA Niro SD-R process, or in a nozzle dryer, a GEA Niro NOZZLE TOWER™ process, to produce particles between 50 – 300 my.

Coarse granulates of 1- 2 mm can be dried in a SPRAY FLUIDIZER™.

Examples of other organic chemicals dried on technology from GEA Niro:

• Amino acids
• Ascorbic acid
• Benzoates
• Butyrates
• Chloramines
• Citric acid
• Gluconates
• Hydrazines
• Lactates
• Maleic acid
• Phthalates
• Saccarates
• Salicylates
• Salicylic acid
• Sorbates
• Stearates
• Ureas and other nitrogen-containing compounds