DRYING KINETICS AND PARTICLE RESIDENCE TIME IN SPRAY DRYING

A unique experimental equipment for extensive trials on the spray drying kinetics and particles residence time involving “in situ” analysis of the properties of continuous and dispersed phases was designed, built, and tested. Advanced experimental techniques (including laser techniques) to determine current parameters of spray drying process (temperature, humidity, moisture content) and current structure of spray (particle size distribution, particle velocities, etc.) were employed. Full scale spray drying tests of baker's yeast and maltodextrin enabled identification of the effect of process parameters on drying kinetics and spray residence time in the tower. Quantitative relationship describing spray drying kinetics as a function of atomization ratio and drying agent temperature were determined. The experimental results proved that spray residence time was controlled by atomization ratio and airflow rate. Drying kinetics in spray drying process is presented for the first time in the literature.