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.