Hygienic Design Requirements for Spray Drying Operations

Spray drying is used extensively in the food and food-related industries for the manufacture of a wide range of products in dry particulate form both as powders and agglomerates. Spray drying produces these products by atomizing a liquid formulation within a suspended particle drying system. Therefore, the spray-drying process features moist particles existing both in an airborne state and as a semi-dried product present at the walls of the drying chamber, ducts, and associated powder handling components. The presence of any partially dried product within the warm components of the drying system over an extended period of time can result in microbial growth. This presents a possible hygienic risk in such cases where products are sensitive to this form of contamination. With the increasing use of spray drying in the above-mentioned industries, there is greater focus on hygienic spray dryer design and the operating considerations that need to be taken into account, so that hygienic processing can be economically achieved. This is irrespective of whether a hygienic evaluation involves an existing spray dryer or the engineering phase of a new plant.

This article addresses industrial personnel associated with a hygienic manufacturing operation involving spray drying and offers guidelines for assessing whether an existing or planned new spray dryer meets hygienic engineering/design criteria for economic operation without risks of powder quality degradation through contamination.     

Staubarme Pulver durch Sprühtrocknen – Erfahrungen mit neueren Techniken

Dustless powders by spray drying – Experience with new techniques . Old drying plant with rotary- or nozzle-atomizer of conventional construction produce more or less fine, dusty powder. Increasingly, there is a demand for dustless powders. A knowledge of the parameters which influence the size of the particles and the experience gained in the drying of various products was the basis for the evolution of a new spray dryer capable of producing even dustless powder. Many trials in this new spray dryer, called the FSD (Fluidized Spray Dryer) show that the powder meets all requirements. Moreover, this spray dryer will save energy and is more gently to the product by working at lower outlet temperatures.     

Applying Spray Drying to Customized Powder Manufacture

Spray drying is an important continuous industrial process for drying pumpable liquid formulations irrespective of their heat sensitivity, rheology, solids content and processing rate. Furthermore spray drying has the capability through drying chamber design, plant layout and mode of operation to produce dried products of specific particulate size and morphology. These are important aspects when spray drying technology is applied to the needs of customized powder manufacture. There are many examples in industry where spray dried powders have to meet stringent specifications set by such factors as end-product powder quality standards dictated by global competition, dry raw material characteristics required for optimum downstream processing, and dry materials handling to comply with environmental, health and safety issues. Spray drying is no longer regarded just as a convective industrial drying concept, but also as an integral part of modern manufacturing practices applying powder technology. This paper r     

用喷雾干燥方法制造具有指定特性的颗粒

Spray drying is an important continuous industrial process for drying pumpable liquid formulations irrespective of their heat sensitivity, rheology, solids content and processing rate. Furthermore spray drying has the capability through drying chamber design, plant layout and mode of operation to produce dried products of specific particulate size and morphology. These are important aspects when spray drying technology is applied to the needs of customized powder manufacture. There are many examples in industry where spray dried powders have to meet stringent specifications set by such factors as end-product powder quality standards dictated by global competition,dry raw material characteristics required for optimum downstream processing, and dry materials handling to comply with environmental, health and safety issues. Spray drying is no longer regarded just as a convective industrial drying concept, but also as an integral part of modern manufacturing practices applying powder technology. This paper reviews the aspects of spray dryer design and operation for consideration when customized powder manufacture is involved.     

Current Market-Driven Spray Drying Development Activities

Abstract

Spray drying is a highly a complex operation with the movement of countless droplets/particles in turbulent drying medium flows under changing temperature and humidity conditions. Market (or custom) driven technology development has therefore always played a significant role in industrial spray drying activities owing to the difficulties in designing and operating spray dryers on the basis of theoretical analysis. Indeed, it was the breakthrough as a result of industrial motivated developments in the 1960s of being able to handle solvent based and abrasive liquid formulations plus the incorporation of supportive drying technologies to dry “difficult” products that laid the foundation for a rapid increase in the number of different spray drying applications covering a wide range of industries. In past decades, it was technology advancement alone that was sufficient as the driving force. Today this is not the case. Market-driven development programmes need also to focus on accompanying aspects of safety and environmental impact, and for new ideas to be applied in industry, there must be a strong economic element to enhance a profitable value-added powder production. Although spray drying is considered a mature drying technology by today's industrial standards, the technology still needs to develop to cope with new product and dried product quality demands. Furthermore, there remains the ever-present situation of spray dryer end-users faced with continuous increasing market competition for their products and the need to comply with changing national and international environmental and operational safety directives. This situation and the further evolution of a global economy will continue to stimulate market driven development programmes. Current activities in the field are the subject of this article.     

Current Market-Driven Spray Drying Development Activities

Spray drying is a highly a complex operation with the movement of countless droplets/particles in turbulent drying medium flows under changing temperature and humidity conditions. Market (or custom) driven technology development has therefore always played a significant role in industrial spray drying activities owing to the difficulties in designing and operating spray dryers on the basis of theoretical analysis. Indeed, it was the breakthrough as a result of industrial motivated developments in the 1960s of being able to handle solvent based and abrasive liquid formulations plus the incorporation of supportive drying technologies to dry “difficult” products that laid the foundation for a rapid increase in the number of different spray drying applications covering a wide range of industries. In past decades, it was technology advancement alone that was sufficient as the driving force. Today this is not the case. Market-driven development programmes need also to focus on accompanying aspects of safety and environmental impact, and for new ideas to be applied in industry, there must be a strong economic element to enhance a profitable value-added powder production. Although spray drying is considered a mature drying technology by today's industrial standards, the technology still needs to develop to cope with new product and dried product quality demands. Furthermore, there remains the ever-present situation of spray dryer end-users faced with continuous increasing market competition for their products and the need to comply with changing national and international environmental and operational safety directives. This situation and the further evolution of a global economy will continue to stimulate market driven development programmes. Current activities in the field are the subject of this article.     

益生菌在喷雾干燥过程中的活性变化与保护策略

肠道菌群对于人体健康具有重要影响。口服足量的活性益生菌,有助于缓解急慢性肠炎、治疗腹泄、改善消化,已在临床治疗中得到一定应用。在食品市场上,益生菌干粉制剂亟需一种生产成本低、制粉简便的生产方法。喷雾干燥的生产能力强、制粉快速,但干燥过程中,雾化液滴经历一个快速升温与脱水过程,对其中的益生菌带来热胁迫、脱水胁迫、氧化胁迫等多种不利因素,造成菌体活性的大量损失。而喷雾干燥塔的结构,使塔内的液滴干燥过程难以追踪,不利于研究益生菌的失活历程以及探索益生菌与载体材料间的相互作用。本文从雾化液滴在干燥塔内的干燥历程着眼,回顾了益生菌活性随液滴干燥动力学变化的趋势,讨论了益生菌在喷雾干燥中经受的亚细胞结构损伤与功能性损伤,并系统总结了目前文献中报道的提升干燥后益生菌活性的主要方法,包括提升菌体耐受性、优化喷雾干燥条件和采用合适的保护性载体,并着重阐述了载体材料与益生菌细胞间的相互作用关系以及干燥历程的重要影响。文章指出为最大程度上保存喷雾干燥粉末中益生菌的活性,应综合微生物、干燥过程与食品化学（材料学）等领域的保护策略,设计一体化统合生产方案。依据微生物-保护载体间的相互作用设计高效保护配方载体,研发统合从微生物细胞培养至粉末储藏的新型生产工艺,是实验室及工业中合理设计工业级喷雾干燥过程、大量生产高活性益生菌制剂的关键。     

PERFORMANCE OF SPRAY DRYER WITH INTEGRATED FILTER AND FLUID BED

Spray dryers featuring a fluid bed integrated into the base of a spray drying chamber have proved one of the most significant developments introduced into industry during the last decade, producing dust-free particulates under low product temperature conditions. The latest design development involves all particulate collection and exhaust air cleaning within the drying chamber with the use of integrated metallic filter elements (with CIP capability). This eliminates handling of fines outside the drying chamber and simplifies the exhaust air system contributing to lower pressure drop losses and lower overall energy consumption. This paper describes the performance of a pilot plant sized spray dryer featuring a drying chamber with both integrated particulate filters and fluid bed. Various products were tested. The results showed that the placing of particulate filters inside the drying chamber does not adversely affect the agglomeration process and that the powder quality compared with that achieved in a standard Fluidized Spray Dryer can be reproduced in this new design concept, with every possibility for improved quality due to no powder handling outside the drying chamber. The work also showed that by containing the powder within the drying chamber, notable operational advantages are apparent and that scale-up of the design concept represents no apparent difficulties.     

Spray Drying of Chicken Meat Protein Hydrolysate: Influence of Process Conditions on Powder Property and Dryer Performance

The influence of operational conditions of a spray dryer on powder properties and equipment performance during spray drying of chicken meat hydrolysate was evaluated by a central composite rotatable design. The independent variables were inlet air temperature (120 to 200°C) and feed flow (0.1 to 0.38 kg/h). Spray dryer performance was assessed through estimation of product recovery, outlet air temperature, thermal efficiency, and energy on the dryer, obtained by mass and heat balance in the dryer system. Powder property was characterized in respect to antioxidant activity. The stable free radical diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used to estimate the antioxidant activity of protein hydrolysate powder. This response varied from 38.7 to 59.4% and was only affected by inlet air temperature. Moreover, the results demonstrate a significant effect of the processing conditions on dryer performance. The increase of feed flow results in higher thermal efficiency and lower energy on dryer. Higher product recovery values were obtained at lower inlet air temperature and feed flow.     

Encapsulation Efficiency of Food Flavours and Oils during Spray Drying

Microencapsulation is a rapidly expanding technology which is a unique way to package materials in the form of micro- and nano-particles, and has been well developed and accepted within the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and many other industries. Spray drying is the most commonly used encapsulation technique for food products. A successful spray drying encapsulation relies on achieving high retention of the core materials especially volatiles and minimum amounts of the surface oil on the powder particles for both volatiles and non-volatiles during the process and storage. The properties of wall and core materials and the prepared emulsion along with the drying process conditions will influence the efficiency and retention of core compounds. This review highlights the new developments in spray drying microencapsulation of food oils and flavours with an emphasis on the encapsulation efficiency during the process and different factors which can affect the efficiency of spray drying encapsulation.     

Spray Drying of Tomato Pulp: Effect of Feed Concentration

The effect of feed concentration on spray drying of tomato pulp preconcentrated to 78, 82, and 86% wet basis is investigated in two spray drying systems: a pilot scale spray dryer (Buchi, B-191) with cocurrent regime and a two-fluid nozzle atomizer, and the same connected with an absorption air dryer (Ultrapac 2000). Data for the residue on the chamber and cyclone walls were gathered and two types of efficiencies were calculated as an indication of the spray dryer performance. Tomato powders were analyzed for moisture, particle size, and bulk density. In both spray drying systems, with increases in tomato pulp concentration overall thermal efficiency, evaporative efficiency, material loss in the cyclone, powder moisture content, and bulk density decreased, whereas powder particle size increased. On the contrary, the effect of feed solids content on residue formation and product recovery was dependent on the drying medium. In the standard dryer, the higher the feed concentration, the higher was the residue accumulation, and the lower the product recovery, whereas in the modified system increases in pulp concentration resulted in lower residue formations and higher product yields.     

FULL CONTAINMENT SPRAY DRYING

ABSTRACT

Aspects of safety, environmental protection, and powder quality will continue to influence advances within spray dryer design and operation, and the concept of full containment spray drying offers a means to meet future industrial requirements. Process air recycle and powder containment within the drying chamber leads to no process air discharge to atmosphere, provides a more favorable operator environment around the spray dryer installation, reduces regions within the dryer layout where potential explosive powder/air mixtures can exist, improves yields, reduces powder losses, and provides easier cleaning operations with reduced wash water requirements.     

SOME CRITERIA OF SPRAY DRYER DESIGN FOR FOOD LIQUID

Spray drying has many applications for a wide variety of dried food powders. The quality of spray dried food is quite dependent on the atomization characteristics and the heat and mass transfer on drops inside the spray dryer. This paper deals with some design criteria of the spray dryer such as the atomizer, the drop trajectory and the heat/mass transfer between the drop and the drying air.     

Pro-oxidative effects of spray drying orange oil in a bench top dryer

The influence of potential heat exposure during spray drying on the oxidative stability of spray dried orange oil was studied. The design of some of the table top spray driers expose dried product to dryer exit air temperatures in the powder collection chamber or on the walls of the dryer if there is an accumulation of material on the drying chamber walls. This heat exposure may accelerate oxidation of the product in subsequent storage. To determine the potential for heat damage to affect oxidation of the powders produced, an orange oil infeed emulsion (carrier material - modified starch) was prepared and spray dried using the sample collection chamber supplied by the manufacturer as standard equipment. The spray dryer was then modified to extend the collection chamber inlet such that the product remained cooler than in the standard collection chamber. In this study, the spray dryer was operated for 1?h (inlet air temperature; 180°C and an exit air temperature; 100°C). Thus, the spray dry product could have been exposed to as much as 1?h of heating in the collection chamber (potentially at temperatures as high as the exit air temperature). In the case of spray drying with a collection chamber extension, the collected product was maintained at ca. room temperature. This would approximately mimic the heat exposure powders receive in an industrial spray dryer. Powders produced using both equipment designs were taken from both the collection and drying chambers, adjusted in water activity (0.33) under a nitrogen environment, and then put into storage in an incubator maintained at 35°C for 4 weeks (exposed to air). The ratio of limonene oxide to limonene was used to monitor oxidation using gas chromatography. This study showed a substantial increase in rate of oxidation of the spray dried powder from the table top spray dryer with the standard commercial collection chamber and much less in case of an extended collection chamber. The powder from the respective drying chamber also showed a higher rate of oxidation in comparison to its collection chamber. Thus, we urge researchers studying heat damage (e.g., oxidation) of powders produced on the table top dryers to be conscious of overestimating heat damage during drying.     

A Study of the Limitations to Spray Dryer Outlet Performance

The concept of the product moisture locus was tested in this work using a pilot-scale modified Niro spray dryer (diameter 0.8 m, height 2 m), where the residence time of the particles inside this spray dryer is lower compared with larger industrial spray dryers. The moisture contents of skim milk powder produced from spray drying skim milk (solids content 8.8% w/v) at different operating conditions, namely different swirl vane angles (0°, 25°, 30°), inlet air temperatures (170°C, 200°C, 230°C) and process fluid flowrates (1.4 kg h^-1, 1.6 kg h^-1, 1.8 kg h^-1), were compared with the predicted equilibrium moisture contents. In addition, the residence time of the particles was also increased in the spray dryer by decreasing the inlet air mass flowrate from 0.016 to 0.013 kg s^-1. The outlet moisture contents of the skim milk powder for all the 23 runs carried out in this work were within 0.4% of the equilibrium values. Thus, the skim milk powder particles were in close equilibrium with the gas inside the drying chamber. These equilibrium limitations are confirmed by other literature data (Boonyai, P. Comparative Evaluation of Soymilk Drying in a Spray Dryer and Spouted Bed of Inert Particles. M.Sc. Thesis. Asian Institute of Technology: Bangkok, Thailand, 2000; 90 pp; Harvie, D.J.E.; Langrish, T.A.G.; Fletcher, D.F. A computational fluid dynamics study of a tall-form spray dryer. Trans IChemE 2002, in press). The use of this finding to predict spray dryer performance is demonstrated by mass and energy balance calculations.     

A Three-Dimensional Simulation of a Spray Dryer Fitted with a Rotary Atomizer

Spray dryers fitted with rotary atomizers are commonly used in diverse industries to produce engineered powders on a large scale. Scale-up of such units is still largely empirical and based on prior experience and know-how. In the present study, a three-dimensional spray dryer with rotary atomizer is investigated numerically with a commercial CFD code. Continuous-phase, i.e., air, conservation equations are formulated in the Eulerian model while the droplet or particle equations are set up in the Lagrangian model. Two-way coupling between the continuous and dispersed phases is taken into account in the governing equations. The stochastic approach is used to predict the particle trajectories. The RNG k - ε turbulence model was used. Typical results, viz. air velocity, temperature, humidity profiles, and particle trajectories are presented and discussed. Compared with the pressure nozzle spray dryer, more volume of drying chamber is used effectively by the rotating disc type spray dryer. It is found that evaporation and drying take place mainly in the region and in the vicinity of first contact between air and spray. A parametric study is presented and, where appropriate, comparison is made with experimental data obtained with the simulated spray dryer.     

Narrow tube spray drying

Spray drying conventionally necessitates relatively large or elongated drying chambers. The present study examined the possibility in shrinking the spray drying chamber into narrow tube-like geometry. The key was in utilizing fine droplets which had low transport response time. A narrow copper/steel tube spray dryer (internal diameters between 12.7 and 48.0 mm) was constructed and was fitted with a two-fluid atomizer producing droplets in the size range smaller than 10 µm. Maltodextrin, lactose, and sucrose were spray-dried. The narrow tube approach allowed direct manipulation of the drying conditions via heating or cooling along the wall of the tube. This form of manipulation in the drying conditions, surprisingly, resulted in very distinctly crystalline spray-dried sucrose particles. The tube spray dryer was further modified with a long coiled-up tube, extending the particle residence time with minimal space requirements. Endoscopic analysis revealed that particle deposition within the tube resembled loosely attached particle and granules. The tube spray drying concept can potentially be used to provide precise control of the particle drying history along the length of the drying chamber, not limited to the control of the drying conditions at the inlet or outlet of a spray dryer.     

SOME CRITERIA OF SPRAY DRYER DESIGN FOR FOOD LIQUID

Abstract

Spray drying has many applications for a wide variety of dried food powders. The quality of spray dried food is quite dependent on the atomization characteristics and the heat and mass transfer on drops inside the spray dryer. This paper deals with some design criteria of the spray dryer such as the atomizer, the drop trajectory and the heat/mass transfer between the drop and the drying air.     

Spray Drying of Biopharmaceuticals: Stability and Process Considerations

Spray drying represents an elegant one-step process for producing biopharmaceutical formulations with unique particle characteristics. However, the full potential of spray drying of therapeutic/proteins/peptides has yet to be fully exploited. The reluctance of utilizing spray drying for formulation development may stem from the fact that the process oftentimes subjects the therapeutic actives to temperatures in excess of 100°C, which is a concern for thermally labile drugs as spray drying was performed primarily on co-current spray dryer in a single-stage mode. In this review we discuss the respective dehydration mechanisms of spray drying and the appropriate formulation strategies that can be taken to minimize detrimental effects on biomolecules.     

Spray Drying of Biopharmaceuticals: Stability and Process Considerations

Spray drying represents an elegant one-step process for producing biopharmaceutical formulations with unique particle characteristics. However, the full potential of spray drying of therapeutic/proteins/peptides has yet to be fully exploited. The reluctance of utilizing spray drying for formulation development may stem from the fact that the process oftentimes subjects the therapeutic actives to temperatures in excess of 100°C, which is a concern for thermally labile drugs as spray drying was performed primarily on co-current spray dryer in a single-stage mode. In this review we discuss the respective dehydration mechanisms of spray drying and the appropriate formulation strategies that can be taken to minimize detrimental effects on biomolecules.