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SOURCE : European Spraydry Technologies

Source : European SprayDry Technologies




6. Atomiser
3. Gas
Burner
2. Inlet
Fan
1.Air
Filter
12. Exhaust
7. Drying
Chamber
11. Bag
Filters
9. Extraction
Cyclone
10. Cyclone
Dead Zone
4. Feed Source
5. Feed Pump
8. Air Removal
Process Description
1. Air Filter
- Air is drawn into the system through a filter.
- The efficiency of the filter will depend on the product being dried.
- In general chemicals require less filtration while the processing of some food stuffs
and pharmaceuticals require very high efficiency filters.
- On most applications, there are two banks of filters a low efficiency filter followed by
a higher efficiency filter medium.
- The functions of filters :
To avoid contamination of product being dried.
To stop particles passing through the hot air system and becoming a possible
spark as it enters the chamber which could be a possible ignition source for fires
and explosions.
2. Inlet Fan
- The air is drawn into the system by an inlet fan.
- On some smaller spray drying systems the inlet fan is dispensed with relying on the
exhaust fan to draw all the air through the system. ( This would be too noisy on larger
plant when an inlet and exhaust plant is employed ).
- Spray drying requires large volumes of air with enough pressure to overcome all the
resistance in the system.
- For effective evaporation the incoming air must be heated. There are 2 main methods
used to heat the air ( direct and indirect heating ).
- Direct heating :
Fuel ( oil or gas ) is burned in the inlet air duct.
Oil can be used as a fuel when drying most chemicals or minerals but is not
permitted for food materials.
Natural gas is acceptable for most products including foods.
- Indirect heating :
Air can be heated by indirect air heater which passes hot air through tubes and
heats the drying air which passes over the outsides of the hot tubes.
This type of heating would normally uses gas or oil as fuel but in some areas it
may be more economical to use alternative fuels.
3. Gas Burner ( direct gas burner )
- Suitable for most applications
- The most economical method of heating.
- Responding quickly to changes of temperature parameters
- Designed to give very low emissions.
4. Feed Source
- For some applications, the ingredient is mixed in close proximity to the spray dryer.
- For large applications feed material is tinkered in and held in silos.
- The type of tank used in this application will depend upon the industry and product to
be dried.
- Food and pharmaceuticals feed stock would normally be held in an enclosed tank to
reduce contamination.
- Some applications may need a jacketed tank to maintain heat to allowing a lowering
of the product viscosity.
- Feed materials fall into two categories :
A slurry where the solids are suspended in the feed liquid.
A solution where the solids dissolve in the liquid.
- From the feed tank, feed is pumped to the atomiser inside the spray dryer.
- The type of pump employed depends somewhat on the type of atomiser and the
viscosity of the liquid feed.
5. Feed Pump
- Spray Dryer feed pumps must be robust as they form a critical point in the process.
- The impact on pump selection are the viscosity of the material, corrosive nature of the
product, temperature, the pressure required and amounts to be pumped.
- Peristaltic pumps
Very often employed.
Small flow is required / low pressure applications
Very good for pumping viscous materials.
- Progressive Cavity Pumps
Often chosen for their robust nature.
On larger low pressure systems.
- Piston Pumps
For high pressure nozzle applications.
Good performance at high pressure
Very reliable.
6. Atomiser
- Feed solution is fed into a spray dryer through an atomizing device ( that breaks down
the feed solution into individual spheres.)
- Spheres / droplets give maximum exposure to heat accelerating the process of
evaporation.
- Atomization of the feed into droplets can be induced by the spinning speed of a disc
located at the end of a vertical shaft, by a pressurized nozzle or by a nozzle using
compressed air.
- The disc running at very high speed is an expensive delicate mechanism mainly
suited for drying slurries containing high percentages of solids.
- The pressure nozzle uses pump pressure to force the liquid through special inserts in
the nozzle body to produce the desired pattern and droplets size of spray.
- The pressure nozzle an inexpensive piece of equipment and gives much greater
control over the powder properties.
- Nozzles in the main have three basic elements the body, a core that dictates the angle
of spray and an orifice controlling the flow.

7. Drying Chamber
- Similar construction to storage silos, large open vessels.
- The volume being determined by the required heat exposure time for the feed
materials being dried.
- The air forced through the chamber is heated by the burner and pushed by the fan.
- Feed solution is atomized into the chamber to form droplets, on contact with the hot
air liquids evaporate leaving a powder.
- As the particle falls down the length of the chamber contact with the hot air draws the
liquid from the rest of the particle.
- Residual moisture a small amount of retained liquid within the particle which is
usually desirable.
- Residence time the amount of time it takes for the particle to fall the length of the
chambers.
8. Air Removal
- Air is removed from the chamber from various ducting arrangements depending upon
the chamber design. Simple designs remove both air and entrained powder from the
base of the chamber
- Co-current design the liquid spray and the hot drying air both flow in the same
direction, usually downwards.
- Whatever the design of chamber, a degree of powder will be entrained within the
airflow leaving the chamber.
- All air and powder is removed from the base of the chamber and conveyed to a
powder / air separator.
- High powder efficiencies are essential for separating the powders from the air to
reduce loss of revenue and to conform with clean air regulations.
- Two methods of separator may be employed operation type of the spray dryers and
cost.
9. Extraction Cyclone
- separate the dried powder from the exhaust air.
- multiple or difficult products are produced due to the relative ease of cleaning down and
low cost.
10. Cyclone Dead Zone
- Powders enter a cyclone tangentially, air and entrained powder spin down the length
of the cyclone wall, while air is pulled tangentially in the opposite direction creating
an inner vortex.
- Where the two vortex meet at the bottom of the cyclone a dead zone.
- When the powder entrained in the air hits the dead zone, it is spun out free of the
vortex while the air is pulled from the system.
- Cyclones must be sealed so powder exits through a rotary valve or similar device.

11. Bag Filters
- work very simply.
- Air is pulled through the filter drawn by the exhaust fan powder collects on the bags
while air is allowed to pass through the filter medium.
-A compressed air jet dislodges the powder from the bag and drops into a hopper and out
of the system.
12. Exhaust
- On small basic spray drying plant, an exhaust fan may generate all the air passing
through the system.
- The exhaust fan draws the air from the chamber and through the separation system
discharging spent air to atmosphere.
- To produce powder from spray dryers, we do not need a lot of instrumentation.
- Temperature is critical to the process, air must be hot enough to evaporate liquids but
not too hot to damage the material being dried.
- The exhaust air temperature is the controlling temperature and must remain hot
enough to keep the moisture from the evaporation process absorbed.
- The inlet temperature must be high enough to maintain the exhaust temperature after
the evaporation process.
- The greater the difference between inlet and exhaust temperature then greater is the
rate of drying.
- The final relative humidity of the exhaust air should not be greater than 60 %.
- It is important to note that, hot the inlet temperature, the temperature of the powder in
the air stream will not rise above the exhaust air temperature unless all internal
moisture has been removed.
- It is also important to know the amount of feed material entering the system. On
pressure nozzle systems a pressure indicator is employed, this indicated the amount of
material the nozzle will allow to pass.
MECHANISM OF SPRAY DRYING









Figure 1 : Mechanism of Spray Dryer for Milk Powder Technology

SOURCE : GEA Niro
3. Feed System
4. Atomizing
Device

6. Peneumatic
Conversing &
Cooling
System
1. Drying
Chamber
2. Hot air system
& Air
Distribution
8. Instrumentation &
Automation
7. Fluid Bed after drying /
cooling
5. Powder
Separation
System
Based on Figure 1, the process flow chart for drying milk powder is shown below .




























The feed is pumped from the product feed tank to the atomizing
device.
Atomizing Device : located at the top of the drying chamber.
The drying air is drawn from the atmosphere via a filter by a
supply fan and is passed through the air heater to the air
disperser.
The atomized droplets meet the hot air and the evaporation takes
place, while cooling of the air happen simultaneously.
After the spray is dried in the drying chamber, the majority
of the dried product falls to the bottom of the chamber and
enters a pneumatic conveying and cooling system
The fines ( the particles with a small diameter ) will remain
in the air, and it is therefore necessary to pass the air
through cyclones to separate the fines.
The fines leave the cyclone at the bottom via a locking
device and enter the pneumatic system.
The air passes from the cyclone to the atmosphere via the
exhaust fan.
The two fractions of powder are collected in the pneumatic
system for conveying and cooling and are passed throough
a cyclone for separation, after which they are bagged off
The instrumentation comprises indication of the temperature of
the inlet and outlet air, as well as automatic control of the inlet
temperature by altering the steam pressure, amount of oil or gas
to the air heater, and automatic control of the outlet temperature
by altering the amount of feed pumped to the atomizing device.

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