1.

Introduction
Drying means removing liquid, usually water, from solid, liquid, and gaseous substances. A
spray dryer mixes a heated gas with an atomized (sprayed) liquid stream within a vessel (drying
chamber) to accomplish evaporation and produce a free flowing dry powder with a controlled
average particle size.

“Spray drying is the transformation of feed from a fluid state into a dried particulate form by
spraying the feed into a hot drying medium.” (Masters, 1991) A spray dryer operates on
convection mode. The principle of working is moisture removal by application of heat to the feed
product and controlling the humidity of the drying medium. Here, the uniqueness is that the
evaporation of moisture is promoted by spraying the feed into a heated atmosphere, resulting in
improved drying rate. The mechanism can be better understood, when the spray drying process is
divided into its constituent unit operations. A liquid feed entering the spray dryer undergoes a
series of transformations before it becomes powder. The changes are due to the influence of each
of the four stages that are given below:

• Atomization of the feed solution.

• Contact of spray with the hot gas.
• Evaporation of moisture.
• Particle separation from gas by cyclone separator

Atomization (transforming the feed into droplets): Most critical step in the process. The spray
dryer process begins as solution is pumped to the atomizer. The degree of atomization controls
the drying rate and therefore the dryer size. The atomizer increases the surface area of the
solution by creating a fine mist. This makes the bulk liquid into sprays of liquids. The mist is
sprayed into a chamber of air heated to temperature above the vaporization temperature of the
solution’s solvent. As the mist contact the hot air, the solvent (typically water) vaporizes. The
flow of liquid and gas may be co-current, countercurrent or a combination of both in the same
unit (mixed current). The rate solvent vaporization depends upon the solution flow rate,

1
temperature of solution, flow rate of air, temperature of air, size of the mist droplets, and total
solid concentration.

The vaporized solvent and the dried particles are then removed from the chamber. A cyclone
separates the entrained particles from the humid air. A cyclone separator, often integrated with a
spray dryer, is a stationary mechanical device that utilizes centrifugal force to separate the solid
particles from a gas stream. It consists of an upper cylindrical part, referred to as the barrel, and a
lower conical part, referred to as the cone. The gas stream, loaded with solid particles, leaving
the spray dryer enters tangentially at the top of the barrel and travels downward into the cone
with a helical flow, forming an outer vortex. The increasing air velocity in the outer vortex exerts
a centrifugal force on the particles, separating them from the gas stream. When the gas stream
reaches the bottom of the cone, an inner vortex is created, thus reversing its direction and exiting
out at the top as clean gas. The particulates fall into the collection chamber attached to the
bottom of the cyclone. The dried product can be in the form of powders, granules, or
agglomerates depending upon the physical and chemical properties of the feed, the dryer design
and final powder properties desired. The spray-dried products have improved mean particle size
and particle size distribution, appearance, texture, flow property, compressibility, bulk density,
and solubility.

2
2.Theory
A Spray Dryer, as the name implies, is a device for drying, utilizing a spray. Spray drying entails
intimate mixing of a heated gas with an atomized (sprayed) liquid stream within a vessel (drying
chamber) to accomplish evaporation through a direct contact. Spray drying involves atomization
of feed into a spray and contact between spray and drying medium resulting in moister
evaporation. The drying of the spray proceeds until the desired moister content in the dried
particles is obtained and the product is then recovered from air. The moisture in the feed can be
present in two forms: bound and unbound moisture. The nature of the solids and accompanying
moisture determines the drying characteristics. The bound moisture in a solid exerts an
equilibrium vapor pressure lower than that of pure water at the same temperature. Water,
retained in small capillaries in the solid, adsorbed at solid surfaces, as solutions in cell or fiber
walls or chemically combined with the solids falls in the category of bound moisture. The
unbound moisture in a hygroscopic material is that moisture in excess of the bound moisture. All
water in a non-hygroscopic material is unbound water, exerting an equilibrium vapor pressure
equal to that of pure water at the same temperature. The equilibrium moisture is the moisture
content of a product when at equilibrium with the partial pressure of water vapor of the
surroundings. The free moisture is the moisture in excess of the equilibrium moisture and
consists of unbound and some bound moisture. Only free moisture can be evaporated.

Despite the name ‘atomization’ it does not imply that the particles are reduced to
atomic size. It is just a process of liquid bulk breaking up into millions of individual droplets
forming a spray. A cubic meter of liquid forms approximately 2×1012 droplets of 100 µm
diameter offering a total surface area of over 60000 m2. If the spray drying plant is properly
designed the outcome will be dried particles suspended in the drying air from which an efficient
particle removal is essential. Any form of dryer provides means of moisture removal by the
application of heat to the feed product and control of the humidity of the drying medium. Heat is
applied as a heated atmosphere and evaporation is promoted by spraying the feed into this
atmosphere.

The mechanism of moisture flow through a droplet during spray drying is diffusional,
supplemented by capillary flow. The drying characteristics of the droplet depend upon whether
bound or unbound moisture is evaporated. As long as unbound moisture exists, drying proceeds

3
at near constant rate and will continue while the rate of moisture diffusion within the spray
droplet is fast enough to maintain saturated surface conditions. When diffusion and capillary
flow can no longer maintain these conditions, the critical point is reached and the drying rate will
decline until the equilibrium moisture content is attained. The equilibrium moisture content will
remain unchanged while product is exposed to the same atmospheric humidity and temperature.

Advantages:

• Spray drying is a single step operation from liquid to dry product. Frequently this
eliminates such steps as precipitating or crystallizing, centrifuging or filtering, grinding,
classifying etc.

• The process is continuous, although it can operate with feed from a prior batch process.

• Maintenance costs are quite low as there are few moving parts.

• Labor costs are low either. Because only one operator is required, even on large
installations.

• Corrosion is reduced or prevented because the material does not contact the equipment
surface until it is dry. This permits selection of lower cost materials of construction.

• A spray dried product usually has high solubility and reaction rates due to its uniformly
sized and generally porous particles.

Disadvantages:

The spray dryer, being a convection dryer, has poor thermal efficiency unless very high inlet
drying temperatures can be used. This is possible only in the minority of cases due to product
heat degradation effects by high temperature spray drying.

4
Figure 01: Overall process of a spray dryer

5
3.Exp

6
4.Apparatus:

The apparatus needed for this experiment:

• Spray Dryer
➢ Drying chamber
➢ Atomizer with a compressor
➢ Air Blower
➢ Air heater
• Cyclone separator
• Feed tank
• Pressure gauge
• Temperature gauge
• Beaker
• Milk-collector bottle
• Weighing scale
• Stop watch
• Thermometer

7
5.Procedure
➢ 50 gm milk powder and 950 gm water was taken with the help of weighing scale.
➢ Then a milk solution was prepared by mixing milk powder and water.
➢ The spray dryer was started by turning the hot air blower on. Then the heater temperature
was measured.
➢ The whole process was operated at constant air pressure.
➢ Inlet, exit air temperature and total time required for drying was recorded.
➢ The dried milk was separated by a cyclone separator and was collected in a bottle. This
solid milk was weighed and percentage recovery was calculated.

8
6.Observed data
Working pressure, P = 20 psig

Total time required for drying, t = 63.5 min

Weight of milk powder = 50 gm

Weight of water = 950 gm

Weight of empty beaker= 551 gm

Weight of beaker with recovered milk = 578.5 gm

Table 01: Data for temperature of air

Temperature of air Initial temperature Final temperature

Inlet 150 ° C 150 ° C
Outlet 69 ° C 61 ° C

9
7.CALCULATED DATA & SAMPLE CALCULATION:
Weight of total solution = 1000 gm

Weight of empty bottle = 551 gm

Weight of bottle + recovered milk powder = 578.5 gm

Calculation of percentage recovery:

Weight of milk powder recovered,

= (weight of bottle + milk powder) – weight of empty bottle

= (578.5 g – 551.0) gm

= 27.5 gm

weight of the milk powder collected

Percentage of milk powder recovery   100 %
weight of the milk powder intially t aken

27.5
  100 %
50
 55%

Calculation of drying rate:

Weight of water added = 950 gm

Total time required for drying = 13.5 min

weight of water
Drying rate 
Total time of drying

950

63.5
 14.96 gm min 1

10
8.Results
The result obtained from the experiment is given below in a tabular form.

Table 02: Table for percentage recovery and drying rate

Percentage recovery of milk power (%) Drying rate (gm/min)

55 14.96

11
9.Discussions
The percentage recovery of milk was 55%, which was quite low. The reason behind the low
recovery of milk can be cited as follows:

1. Some milk was lost due to accumulation of milk in the wall of dryer.

2. The milk, that was supplied, already had some moisture content. This extra moisture content
was not excluded from the initially measured weight of the powdered milk. So, actual weight of
the dry milk was not found. This causes some loss in the weight of milk powder.

3. Some milk was going out from spray dryer with the hot air.

4. From the separator air was exhausted to the atmosphere and some milk powder might be
exhausted too along with the air. Recycle of the exhaust stream to drying chamber might lessen
this loss.

5. It was assumed that the atomizer atomized the milk particles perfectly.

6. The pressure of the atomizing air and the working pressure of spray dryer could not be
maintained to be perfectly constant which might have caused some error. If the atomizing air
pressure was higher than the feed would have been broken into finer particles which could be
dried more efficiently.

7.Final temperature was lower than initial temperature of outlet air because reading was recorded
after some times of stopping spray dryer.

It could be seen that the outlet temperature of air is lower than the inlet temperature, this was due
to the high moisture content of the milk powder. It required heat from hot air to drive the
moisture off and thus the temperature of air at the outlet decreased in a good amount.

The quality of the powdered milk depends on the following factors: -

• Temperature, humidity and flow conditions of the drying gas.

• The size of droplets produced by the atomizer.

• The properties of milk.

12
This experiment was designed just to observe a simple spray drying process and to have an idea
about the process, apparatus related to the process and the operating factors of the process. In
industries, the production scale is very large and some other factors are related to production. So,
the operating factors like selection of dryer, atomizer, separator, flow conditions of the drying
gas etc. may vary.

Spray dryer has a poor thermal efficiency being convection dryer & it is also expensive. Much
heat was ordinarily lost in the discharge air. Again, all impurities in the liquor remain in the
product and the recovery of the dusty product from the exit gas is a troublesome problem and
may involve the use of expensive equipment. Though spray dryer has many disadvantages they
are unique in giving in some desirable characteristics to the production. For that reason, spray
dryer has a wide range of industrial applications in drying of solids.

13
10.Conclusion
From the experiment of spray drying opportunity has come to become familiar with spray dryer.
Spray drying is a process of suspending sprayed particles and removing the particles moisture by
hot air. Quality of spray-dried products is high due to the protection of the particles through
evaporative cooling during the process. Factors influencing the performance of spray dryers
include temperature, moisture content, inlet air flow rate, the amount of solid materials, viscosity
and surface tension of the processed material, type of atomizer and its related parameters such as
velocity and diameter of the atomizer. From the lab type spray dryer, it can be guessed about the
large installation of spray dryer in industry. And various spray dried products have also been
acknowledged.

14
11.References
• FOUST, ALAN S & ASSOCIATES.; “PRINCIPLES OF UNIT OPERATIONS”, Second
edition; John Wiley & Sons, New York, (1994), page- 483-487

• McCabe Warren L. et al.; “UNIT OPERATIONS OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING”, 6th

Edition; McGraw-Hill Book Company, Singapore, (2001)

• K. Master. ;“Spray drying hand book”,Fourth edition ( 1985)

• http://www.spraydrysys.com/spray-dryers/spray-dryers.htm, Date:30.03.07, Time:4.30pm

• http://www.eurotherm.com/industries/life-sciences/applications/spray-drying/ ,Date:30.03.07,
Time:7.10pm
• http://ijfas.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/756-759.pdf,Date:31.3.17,Time:12.41am
• https://www.coursehero.com/file/8031797/application/,Date:31.03.17,Time:3.13 pm

15
12.Reaport

Process Block Diagram(PBD):

Figure 03: Process block diagram for spray drying

16
Process Flow Diagram(PFD)

17
Modifications
The recovery rate of a spray dryer can be improved significantly by some modifications. Some
such modifications are discussed below:

Bag filter

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.
Clean air

Air mixed
with solids

Product
Figure 05: Bag filter

Main features of bag filter:

• Relatively high maintenance costs.
• Useful for friable products to prevent particle degradation.
• Used downstream of cyclone for emission control when no liquid effluent is
desired.
• Useful for low density products.
• Relatively low fan energy consumption with pressure drop of 3-6 inches w.c.
• Single component product collection and particulate emission control efficiencies
up to 99.99% for most products.

18
Wet Scrubber
Dust collectors that use liquid are commonly known as wet scrubbers. In these systems, the
scrubbing liquid (usually water) comes into contact with a gas stream containing dust particles.

Clean gas outlet

Wetted fan wheel

Scrubbing
liquid
inlet
Spray

Scrubbing
vanes
Dirty
gas inlet

Slurry outlet

Figure 06 :Wet scrubber

The greater the contact of gas and liquid streams, the higher the dust removal efficiency.

Main features of wet scrubber:

• High efficiencies possible (up to 99% at 1.5 micron)

• Requires recycle or treatment of liquid effluent.
• Typically, a venture type is used.
• Relatively low maintenance.
• Higher level of instrumentation usually required for density and level control

19
Electrostatic precipitators

Electrostatic precipitators use electrostatic forces to separate dust particles from exhaust gas. A
large number high-voltage, direct current discharge electrodes are placed between grounded
collecting electrodes. The contaminated gases flow through the passage formed by the discharge
and collecting electrodes.

Figure 07: Electrostatic precipitator

The airborne particles receive a negative charge as they pass through the ionized field between
the electrodes. These charged particles are then attracted to a grounded or positively charged
electrode and adhere to it. The collected material on the electrodes is removed by rapping or
vibrating the collecting electrodes continuously or at a predetermined interval. Cleaning a
precipitator can usually be done without interrupting the airflow.

20
13.Appendix

Application and Uses of Spray Dryer:

Because of their wide range of utility and covenant product form, spray dryers are used with an
enormous range of products. The most successful applications of spray dryers are for solutions,
slurries, pastes which (1) are heat sensitive and cannot be exposed to the high temperature
atmosphere for a long time, (2) cannot be dewatered mechanically, (3) contains ultra-fine
particles which will agglomerate and fuse if dried in other than a dilute condition. In other
application spray drying is really competitive on cost basis. The cost of bag collectors for solid
recovery from large volumes of exit gas may double the cost of a spray dryer installation.
Additional cost must be justified on the basis of some improvement in product quality such as
particle form, size, flavor, color or heat stability.

Reasons for using Spray Dryer

(1) Particle size control: The dry particle size can be easily controlled by atomization of the
liquid and the design of the hot gas inlet. The correct spray dryer design and atomization
technique can eliminate the need for sizing/classification equipment when the product average
particle size is less than 500 microns. "Non-dusting" powders can be made which is beneficial
for hazardous products, animal feeds, dyes, and other products.

(2) Flow properties: The shape of most spray dried particles is spherical, which provides for
fluid-like flow properties. This makes many downstream operations (e.g. packaging, filtering,
handling) easier and less costly.

(3) Evaporative Colling of the product: The heat and mass transfer during drying occurs in the
air and vapor films surrounding the droplet. This protective envelope of vapor keeps the particle
at the saturation temperature. As long as the particle does not become "bone-dry", evaporation is
still taking place and the temperature of the solids will not approach the dryer outlet temperature.
This is why many heat sensitive products can be spray dried easily at relatively high inlet
temperatures.

21
(4) Short Residence time required: The surface area produced by atomization of the liquid
feed enables a short gas residence time, ranging from 3-40 seconds depending upon the
application, which permits spray drying without thermal degradation. This allows for fast turn-
around times and product changes because there is no product hold up in the spray drying
equipment.

(5) Reduction in corrosion potential: Because a spray dryer is a gas suspended process, the
dryer chamber remains dry by design. Therefore, many corrosive materials can be processed
with carbon steel as the primary material of construction of the spray dryer chamber, which
reduces capital costs.

(6) The homogeneous solids mixture produced: Spray drying produces the most homogeneous
product for multi-component solution/slurries. Each particle will be of the same chemical
composition as the mixed feed.

INDUSTRIAL USES

The utilization of spray drying technology in toxic gas removal from flue gas and industrial off-
gases by adopting spray dryer absorbers as dry scrubbers can only be described as a remarkable
success. In coarse of years, the process has been developed from pilot plant to commissioned full
scale operations. Dried forms of products have always been a must in various industrial sectors.

SECTOR PRODUCT
Chemical industry Plastics, resins, ceramic materials,washing
powders,pesticides,dyestuffs,pigments,fertilizers,organic
chemicals, inorganic chemicals etc.
Food industry Milk products, eggs, food products, plant extracts, fruits
and vegetables, carbohydrates etc.
Pharmaceutical-biochemical industry Enzymes, antibiotics, micro-organism, yeast, vitamins
etc.
Offal and fish industry Fish wastes, slaughterhouse byproducts etc.
Waste treatment Waste sludge

22
Atomization:
The atomizing device, which forms the spray, is the ´heart´ of the spray drying process. The aim
of atomizing the concentrate is to provide a very large surface, from which the evaporation can
take place. Three basic types of atomizers are used commercially:

• Rotary atomizer (atomization by centrifugal energy)

• Pressure nozzle (atomization by pressure energy)
• Two-fluid nozzle (atomization by kinetic energy)

Ultrasonic energy & vibrations have also been studied, but as yet have found few commercial
applications. The selection of a specific atomizer is made based on the properties of the feed, the
desired powder properties, the dryer type and its capacity and the atomizer capacity.

Rotary atomizers:

Rotary atomizer uses the energy of a high speed-rotating wheel to divide bulk liquid into
droplets. Feedstock is introduced at the center of the wheel, flows over the surface to the
periphery and disintegrates into droplets when it leaves the wheel.

Advantages of rotary atomizers:

• Great flexibility & ease of operation.

• Low pressure feed system.
• No blockage problems.
• Handling of abrasive feeds.
• Ease of droplet size control through wheel speed adjustment

Disadvantages of rotary atomizers:

• Produce large quantities of fine particles, which can result in pollution control problems.
• High capital cost.
• Very expensive to maintain.
• Cannot be used in horizontal dryers.

23
Pressure Nozzles:

Pressure nozzle is the most commonly used atomizer for spray drying. Nozzles generally
produce coarse, free flowing powders than rotary atomizers. Pressure nozzles used in spray
drying are called “vortex” nozzles because they contain features that cause the liquid passing
through them to rotate. The rotating fluid allows the nozzle to convert the potential energy
of liquid under pressure into kinetic energy at the orifice by forming a thin, high-speed film at
the exit of the nozzle. As the unstable film leaves the nozzle, it disintegrates, forming first
ligaments and then droplets. Pressure nozzles can be used over a large range of flow rates, and
can be combined in multiple-nozzle installations to give them a great amount of flow rate and
particle size flexibility.

Two-fluid or Pneumatic nozzles:

Liquid feedstock and compressed air (or steam) are combined in a two-fluid nozzle. The design
utilizes the energy of compressed gas to atomize the liquid. Two advantages of the two-fluid
nozzle are its ability to produce very fine particles and to atomize highly viscous feeds.
However, two-fluid nozzles are expensive to operate because of the high cost of compressed air.
Two fluid-nozzles are often used in laboratory and pilot plant spray dry applications because of
their ability to produce a wide range of flow rates and droplet sizes. The range of operating
pressure range for pressure nozzles used in spray drying is from about 250 PSI (17.4 bar) to
about 10,000 PSI (690bar).

Advantages:
• Able to produce very fine particles
• Atomize highly viscous feeds
• Quite versatile

Disadvantages:
• Expensive to operate because of the high cost of compressed air

24
Ultrasonic Atomization
Recently ultrasonic energy has been used in place of pressure or centrifugal force to form
droplets. In this method, a liquid is placed on a rapidly vibrating surface at ultrasonic
frequencies. At sufficiently high amplitude, the liquid spreads, becomes unstable and collapses,
resulting in the formation of very fine droplets. These devices are excellent for droplets below 50
microns. Their use is expected to grow over the next few years.

Types of dryer :
On the basis of the type of flow:

a) Co- current: Drying air and particles move through the drying chamber in the same direction.
Product temperatures on discharge form the dryer are lower than the exhaust air temperature, and
hence this is an ideal mode for drying heat sensitive products. The co current mode type of
airflow is achieved using a rotary atomizer. The particle size of the powder produced is
controlled through change of wheel speed 14.

b) Counter- current: Drying air and particles move through the drying chamber in opposite
directions. This mode is suitable for products, which require a degree of heat treatment during
drying. The temperature of the powder leaving the dryer is usually higher than the exhaust air
temperatures. Such airflow is obtained by using a two-fluid nozzle. The particle size is controlled
by varying the nozzle flow ratio between compressed air and feed 31.

c) Mixed flow: Particle movement through the drying chamber experiences both co- current and
counter- current phases. This mode is suitable for heat stable products where coarse powder
requirements necessitate the use of nozzle atomizers, spraying upwards into an incoming airflow
or for heat sensitive products where the atomizer sprays droplets downwards towards an
integrated fluid bed and the air inlet and outlet are located at the top of the drying chamber.

25
Co-current flow dryer Counter current flow dryer

Mixed flow dryer

Figure 08: Different types of flow dryer

26
Classification based on the type of cycle:

a) Open cycle dryer: In an open cycle dryer, drying air is drawn from the atmosphere,
heated, conveyed through the chamber and then exhausted to the atmosphere. This is by
far the most commonly used design.

b) Closed Cycle dryer: A closed cycle dryer recycles the drying gas, which may be air
or more commonly, an inert gas such as nitrogen. Closed cycle units are the dryers of
choice when
➢ Feedstock consists of solids mixed with flammable organic solvents when the
product must not contact oxygen during drying.
➢ Complete recovery of solvent is required.
➢ The products are toxic.
➢ Pollution due to vapor, particulate emissions or odor is not permitted.
➢ Explosion risks must be eliminated.
➢ The powder will degrade by oxidation during drying.

c) Semi Closed spray dryer: This design is a cross between open and closed cycle
dryers and it is not gas tight. There are many variations on this design, with the most
important being the “direct heated” or “self-inertizing” system. In the self-inertizing
design, a direct-fired heater is used and the air entering the system is limited to that
required for combustion. An amount of air equal to the combustion air is bled from the
system at the other end of the process. The gas (mainly products of combustion) is
recycled through the dryer. The recycled gas has very low oxygen content, making it
suitable for materials that cannot be exposed to oxygen, due to explosive hazard or product
degradation.

27
Classification based on the type of stage:

a. Single stage spray dryer: In a single stage dryer, the moisture is reduced to the target
(typically 2% - 5% by weight) in one pass through the dryer. The single stage dryer is used
in the majority of designs.
b. Two stage dryer: In a two-stage dryer, the moisture content of product leaving the
chamber is higher (typically 5% - 10%) than for the final product. After leaving the
chamber, the moisture content is further reduced during a second stage. Second stage
drying may be done in a fluidized bed dryer or a vibrating bed dryer. This two stage drying
concept achieves better overall heat economy and is suitable for many products which are
heat sensitive. When non-agglomerated powders of non-fat products are dried, a pneumatic
transport system can replace the fluid bed. The various specialized two stage systems used
in the pharmaceutical industry are described below:
c. The Fluidized Spray Dryer: This combines spray drying and fluid bed drying
technologies and offer excellent product flexibility and excellent thermal efficiency.
Pressure nozzles or a rotary atomizer spray the feed down towards the fluid bed where
agglomeration incorporating finer, recycled material takes place. Exhaust air outlet is let
through the roof causing further agglomeration in the spray zone. Sticky products can be
dried successfully, and the concept is ideal for drying heat sensitive products, and improved
aroma retention is accomplished. Agglomerated (instant), free-flowing dustless powders
are obtained in systems based upon the integrated fluid bed or belt and a multi-stage
concept where moist powder, produced during the first drying stage, forms agglomerates,
which are after-dried and cooled in the following stages.
d. Multi-Stage Dryer: The spray is created by a spray nozzle atomizer. Operational
flexibility enables production of a wide range of physical properties. The process produces
non-dusty, free flowing agglomerated powders with high flavor retention. It operates with
low outlet temperatures, achieving high thermal efficiency. Dry ingredients for additional
flavor or nutrient fortification can be added within the system to further promote
capabilities and improve formulation efficiencies. This design concept is successful for
drying high fats, hygroscopic, and sticky products that are difficult to handle in more
conventional designs.

28
 e. Integrated Filter Dryer: This combines an integrated fluid bed and filter arrangement. It
is an adaptable and flexible spray dryer for the food ingredients, food, dairy, chemical, and
pharmaceutical industries. The Integrated Filter Dryer features and benefits:
• Improves powder quality
• Total in-place recovery of powder
• Features integrated fluid bed
• Simplifies CIP operations
• No handling of product outside drying chamber
• Compact plant layout 9 Reduced noise level 9 Lower energy consumption

Classification based on the position of the spray dryer:

a) Horizontal: The chamber of a horizontal dryer has the form of a rectangular box with either a
flat or a “V” shaped bottom. Nozzles in a box dryer normally spray horizontally, with the dried
particles falling to the floor, where they are removed to a bagging area by a sweep conveyor or
screw conveyor. Box dryers are usually small and the particle residence time relatively short,
requiring the use of low flow nozzles, which produce relatively small particles.

b) Vertical: The chamber of a vertical (tower) dryer has the form of a tall cylinder with a cone-
shaped bottom. Spray nozzles may be located at the top (co-current flow) or bottom (counter-
current or mixed flow) of the chamber. Inlets for the drying air may be located at the top, bottom
or side of the chamber. Vertical spray dryers are usually large and the residence time of sprayed
particles is relatively long, allowing the use of higher flow nozzles such as the Tall Form Dryer,
which produce relatively large particles.

29
Design data require for spray dryer:
The variables which influences the design of a spray dryer are in general as follows -

• Atomizer selection
• The size and installment of the drying chamber
• Method of air introduction and the air disperse
• Separation auxiliaries

The selection of the variables are determined by the physical characteristics of the desired
products, such as-

• The required particle size, as directed by the powder specification

• The particle form of the final spray dried powder
• The maximum temperature to which dried particles can be subjected
• The number of products that is needed to produce

The selection of the atomizer for a given spray drying operation depends upon the nature of the
feed and the particle size distribution required in the final dried product. The choice of the
atomizer influences the design of the entire spray chamber. Nozzles spray axially in the spr ay
chamber and require a vertically long, relatively thin tower. Disk atomizers spray radial. So here
the spray tower must have a large diameter but can be shorter. The cone-angle at the bottom of
the tower is usually 60-70 degrees and thus most of the tower height where a disk atomizer is
used will be occupied by this cone.

The design of the drying chamber is dependent on the consideration of direction and degree of
atomization, air flow pattern, desired products characteristics and the reaction time for drying, air
flow rates and discharge requirements. The basic design will be determined by the direction to
which the atomized droplet will take an injection from the atomizer.

The other design variables are the drying rate, the time exposure if the droplets to the drying
atmosphere, thermal efficiency, method of separation etc. The drying rate depends upon the
temperature, humidity and flow conditions of the drying gas, the size of droplets produced by the
atomizer and the properties of the materials being dried. The time exposure depends on the drop
size, particle shape and density and gas flow rate and velocity.

30
Thermal efficiency can be increased by increasing the inlet temperature. Heat recovery is now
also of much greater interest to the chemical industry. Where product properties allow the
product to be contacted with high temperature air for a short period of time, semi-closed cycle
systems if the partial recycle type are an attractive possibility for recovering some of the waste
heat from the exhaust air normally vented to atmosphere. Heat recovery devices such as heat
pipes and air to air heat exchangers now given more serious consideration, but still now its
installation on spray dryers is rare.

Separation of products:
a. Primary Separation:

Automatically happens inside the spray dryer due to collision. This can be observed when the
production is at large scale i.e. the spray dryer is large.

b.Secondary Separation:

This needs an external unit for separating the products from humid air (e.g. Cyclone Separator).
In small scale production, a secondary separator is a must.

Operation and Maintenance:

The formation of a spray and then connecting the spray with air is characteristic feature of spray
drying. In the spray drying process the dryable liquid slurry is pumped through a nozzle or a
rotary disk atomizer which sprays the feed fine droplets. The droplets are subjected to a steam of
hot air flowing either co-currently or counter-currently or complex mixture of two paths. As the
atomized droplets fall, the moisture evaporates to the hot gas, leaving the solid materials as
particles. These small particles are swept with the gas into cyclone separator in which the
particles are separated.

Thus, the operation of spray drying consists of the following steps

• Atomization (rotary or nozzle)

• Spray gaseous medium into feed
• Evaporation
• Product recovery

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Considering the efficiency of the dryer the following parameters will also be controlled

• Air inlet temperature control

• Controlling of volume flow rate of air
• Preheating and evaporation
• Air flow rate control
• Drying and blending

Regular checking of the atomizer, air fans and powder collector will be maintained as they
control the greater part of balanced mechanical work. Filters are required to check the atomizer.
Bag filter installation tend to require costly maintenance of losses of expensive dried products
are to be prevented. Checking of instruments must be frequent where close temperature control is
required. In view of the considerable surface areas of spray drying chambers it is important that
they should be adequately insulated on their external surfaces, the quality and thickness of
insulation depending upon the anticipated surface temperature. The hot inlet equipment and
ducting should also be insulated to restrict heat losses leading to low thermal efficiency. Outer
ducting should be insulated to the extent necessary to keep the exhaust gases above their dew
point and the same applies to dust recovery equipment such as cyclones and filters.

All the usual automatic flame safety devices must be included on direct and indirect fuel-fired
heaters and complete interlocking of safety and operating controls for start-up and shut down
procedures, particularly in the case of the latter to guard against accidental failure of any part of
the system.

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