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Spray drying - Articles and news items
Issue 3 2011 / 7 July 2011 / Alessandro Gianfrancesco & Stefan Palzer, Nestle
Spray drying is a widely used technique to produce a broad range of industrial powders. For instance, within Nestle, the largest product volumes such as powdered infant formulas (e.g. NAN®) and pure soluble coffee (Nescafe®) are manufactured through spray drying. The goal for manufacturers of such powders is to make sure that the obtained particles have a good mechanical stability to avoid breakage during transportation, that the powder has the right density for packaging and dosage purposes and that the products rehydrate easily for final consumption (favourable ‘instant’ properties).
However, particles produced by simple spray drying can be smaller than 50μm in diameter, leading to poor flowability and slow reconstitution or lump formation during rehydration. Thus, usually a further agglomera – tion step is required to increase the particle size and to modify the particle structure in order to improve the final quality of the powder. (more…)
Issue 2 2010 / 12 May 2010 / Martijn Fox, Coen Akkerman, Han Straatsma and Peter de Jong, NIZO food research
Most of the powder products available on the market are produced using a spray drying process. Drying processes are known to be the most energy consuming processes used in the food industry. For example, the Dutch dairy industry required 1.4 PJ for drying its whey and milk powder in 2007. Therefore, a reduction of the energy consumption in drying processes will result in large cost savings, a better carbon footprint and a more sustainable production chain.
The energy consumption of drying processes has been slightly reduced by the introduction of new, innovative technologies, like air dehumidification by silica, better designed dryers and an increase in product knowledge. However, drying equipment often has a long lifespan, so improvements using the existing processing line are essential. One way of reducing the energy consumption with existing equipment is to increase the dry matter content of the feed of the spray dryer. Based on the experience of NIZO, a combination of predictive models, product measurements and pilot scale testing is required to reach this goal. (more…)
Issue 4 2009 / 12 December 2009 / Pierre Schuck & Romain Jeantet, INRA and Agrocampus Ouest and Eric Blanchard, Laiterie de Montaigu
The second and concluding instalment of Pierre Schuck and associates’ article on spray drying parameters of dairy products discusses the results and conclusions of their research. The most frequently used technique for dehydration of dairy and food products is spray drying. This is an effective method for preserving biological products as it does not involve severe heat treatment and it allows storage of powders at an ambient temperature.
Due to the variety and complexity of the concentrates to be dried, a more rigorous understanding of spray-drying based on physico-chemical and thermodynamic properties has now become necessary. However, the current knowledge does not allow determination of the parameters of spray-drying of dairy products. The only way to determine these parameters is to perform several complex and expensive experiments with spray-dryer pilots. (more…)
Issue 3 2009 / 10 September 2009 / Jakob Sloth, Research Scientist, GEA Niro
The ability to test products and processes has always been an essential part of new product development. Until now, food processing companies have had to conduct exhaustive tests to establish the most appropriate formulations to optimise taste and the manufacturing process. But now a new particle analysis process, pioneered by GEA Niro, has the ability to revolutionise the testing of products requiring spray drying to enable greater flexibility during the development stage, bring products to market faster then previously possible and conduct the whole process much less expensively than has been possible to date. The process is called DRYNETICSTM.
Whether food processing companies are manufacturing food products, additives or flavourings, it is always necessary to test any proposed product changes extensively. When products are to be spray-dried, the testing will be aimed at achieving the desired product characteristics in a commercially acceptable way and using the minimum amount of energy. The characteristics under question may include: solubility, colour, particle size, particle structure (hollow spheres, donuts, solid particles, etc.) stickiness, flowability and, of course, taste and nutritional value. (more…)
Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 18 August 2008 / Maarten Schutyser, Maykel Verschueren, Han Straatsma, Hadiyanto, Coen Akkerman, Peter de Jong, NIZO food research
Drying processes in the food industry often operate at a suboptimal level. The most important reason for this is that to obtain optimal drying, a complex balance must be found among variables such as energy costs, product quality, dryer design and safety. Therefore, there is a need for a systematic approach and concrete solutions. NIZO food research has developed a step-by-step optimisation approach that not only makes use of process and product scans, but simulation techniques such as CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics).
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 23 May 2007 / M. Verschueren, J. Straatsma, M. Schutyser, C. Akkerman, P. de Jong, NIZO food research, Ede, the Netherlands
Spray drying is an essential unit operation for the manufacture of many products with specific powder properties. It is characterised by atomisation of a solution or suspension into droplets, followed by subsequent drying of these droplets by evaporation of water or other solvents. Spray drying is used for the manufacture of many consumer and industrial products such as instant food products, laundry detergents, pharmaceuticals, ceramics and agrochemicals. The best known example of an instant food product is milk powder, but instant beverages such as coffee can also be produced by spray drying.
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