Spray Drying

• Spray drying is a method of producing a dry powder from a liquid or

slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas.
• Produce powders with a specific particle size and moisture content.
• Preferred method drying of many thermally- sensitive materials such
as foods and pharmaceuticals.
• A consistent particle size distribution is a reason for spray drying
some industrial products such as catalysts.
 History of spray drying

• The development of spray drying equipment and techniques evolved

over a period of several decades from the 1870s through the early
1900s.
• The first known spray dryers used nozzle atomizers, with rotary
atomizers introduced several decades later.
• Milk drying was the first major commercial application of the
technology.
• Spray drying came of age during World War II, with the sudden need
to reduce the transport weight of foods and other materials.
 Principle of spray drying

 In the spray dryer the fluid to be dried is atomized in to the fine

droplets, which are thrown radially in to a moving stream of hot gas.
 The temperature of the droplets is immediately increased and fine
droplets get dried instantaneously in the form of spherical particles.
 This process completes in a few seconds before the droplets reach
the wall of the dryer.
 Spray drying process

Pilot plant scale Industrial scale

 Types of spray dryers
• CO-CURRENT FLOW DRYER
• COUNTER-CURRENT FLOW DRYER
• MIXED FLOW DRYER
• OPEN CYCLE DRYER
• CLOSED CYCLE DRYER
• SEMI-CLOSED CYCLE DRYER
• SINGLE STAGE DRYER
• TWO STAGE DRYER
• VERTICAL DRYER
• HORIZONTAL DRYER
 CO-CURRENT FLOW DRYER

 Preferred Design for heat-sensitive products.

 Spray evaporation is rapid , temperature of the drying air is quickly
reduced by the vaporization of water.
 The product does not suffer from heat degradation because the
droplet temperature is low during most of the evaporation
 Time
 Once the moisture content reaches the target level, the temperature
of the particle does not increase greatly because the surrounding air
is now much cooler.
 Dairy and other heat-sensitive food products are usually dried in co-
current dryers.
 COUNTER-CURRENT FLOW DRYER

 The spray and the air are introduced at opposite ends of the dryer,
with the atomizer positioned at the top and the air entering at the
bottom.
 More rapid evaporation and higher energy efficiency than a co-
current design.
 Not suitable for heat-sensitive products.
Soaps and detergents are commonly dried in counter-current dryers.
 MIXED FLOW DRYERS

 Combination of both co-current & counter-current.

 Air enters at the top and the atomizer is located at the bottom.
 Like the counter-current design, a mixed flow dryer exposes the
driest particles to the hottest air.
 This design is not used with heat-sensitive products.
 OPEN CYCLE DRYER

 Air is drawn from the atmosphere, heated, conveyed.

 Through the chamber and then exhausted to the atmosphere.
 Most commonly used.
 Close 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.
• Complete recovery of solvent is required & the products are toxic
• Pollution due to vapour, particulate emissions or odour is not
permitted.
• Explosion risks must be eliminated.
• The powder will degrade by oxidation during drying.
 Semi closed cycle dryer

 This design is a cross between open and closed cycle dryers and it
is not gas tight.
 The “direct heated” or “self- inertizing” system.
 Single stage dryer

• moisture is reduced to the target (typically 2% - 5% by weight) in

one pass through the dryer.
 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(in a fluidized bed dryer
or a vibrating bed dryer ).
 Allow the use of lower
temperatures in the dryer.
 Good choice for products that
are particularly heat-sensitive.
 Vertical dryer

 Manufacturers of vertical spray

dryers include Stork, Niro and
APV Anhydro.
 The chamber-tall cylinder with
a cone-shaped bottom.
 Spray nozzles may be located
at:-
• the top (co-current flow).
• or bottom (counter-current flow
or mixed flow) of the chamber.
 Inlets for the drying air(top,
bottom or side of the
chamber).
 Horizontal dryer

 The chamber -rectangular box

with either a flat or a “V” shaped
bottom.
 Nozzles in a box dryer normally
spray horizontally.(low flow
nozzles)
 sweep conveyor or screw
conveyor
 Manufacturers of flat-bottom
box dryers include: CE Rogers,
Marriott Walker, Henningsen
Foods, Food Engineering Co.
and Henszey Co.
 Manufacturers of “V” bottom
dryers include: Blaw-Knox,
Bufflovak and Mora Industries.
 Spray drying process

Liquid Spray powder

General process involved

Concentration

Atomization

Droplet Air Contact

Droplet Drying

Separation
 Spray drying process

Concentration:
 Increases the solid contents.
 Reducing the amount of liquid
that must be evaporated in the
spray dryer.
Atomization:
 To create the optimum solutions
for evaporation.
 To lead to a dried product
having the desired
characteristics.
 Nozzles(1-100) and rotary
atomizers are used to form
sprays.
 Types of atomizers

1.Rotary atomizer:
Advantages:
 Handles large feed rates with single
wheel or disk
 Suited for abrasive feeds with proper
design
 Has negligible clogging tendency
Change of wheel rotary speed to contr
ol the particle size distribution
 More flexible capacity( but with
changes powder properties)
Limitations :
 Higher energy consumption compared
to pressure nozzles
 More expensive
 Broad spray pattern requires large
drying chamber diameter
 Types of atomizers

2.Pressure nozzle
Advantages:
 Simple, compact and cheap
 No moving parts
 Low energy consumption
Limitations:
 Low capacity (feed rate for
single nozzle)
 High tendency to clog
 Erosion can change spray
 Types of atomizers

3.Pneumatic nozzle
Advantages:
 Simple, compact and cheap
 No moving parts
 Handle the feedstocks
with high‐viscosity
 Produce products with very
small size particle
Limitations:
 High energy consumption
 Low capacity (feed rate)
 High tendency of clog
 Droplet Air Contact

 The central element of spray

dryer is the spray dry chamber
where atomized liquid is
brought into contact with hot
gas ( usually air at vacuum)
 Resulting in the evaporation of
95%+ of the water.
 The way in which the spray
makes contact with the air in
the dryer influences the
behavior of the droplet during
the drying phase and has a
direct bearing on the properties
of the dried product.
Droplet Drying: moisture evaporation takes place in 2
stages
First stage
 Saturated air
temperature=drying air wet
bulb temperature.
 There are sufficient moisture in
the drop to replace the liquid
evaporated at the surface.
 Evaporation takes place at a
relatively constant place.
Second stage
 Begins when there is no longer
enough moisture to maintain
saturated conditions at a
droplet surface.
 It caused a dried shell to form
at the surface.
 Evaporation then depends on
the diffusion of moisture
through the shell which is
increasing in thickness.
 The rate of evaporation falls
rapidly during the second
phase.
 Separation

 Primary separation is
accomplished by the particles
simply falling to the bottom of
the chamber and a small
friction of the particles remain
entrained with the air and must
be recovered in separation
equipment
 Cyclones, bag filters and
electrostatic precipitators may
be used for the final separation
stage and wet scrubbers are
then often used to purify and
cool the air so that it can be
released to atmosphere.
 APPLICATIONS OF SPRAY DRYER

1. Drying of any substance in solution or in suspension form.

2. It is most useful for drying of thermo labile materials e.g. antibiotics.
3. Suitable for large quantities solution.
4. Suitable for both soluble and insoluble substances e.g. citric acid, gelatin,
starch.
5. It can produce spherical particles in the respiratory range e.g. dry powder
inhalers.
6. Drying of milk, soap and detergents which is pharmaceutically related
compounds.
Pharmaceutical uses of spray dryer
 Spray dryer is used in drying pharmaceuticals like penicillin, blood
products, enzymes, vaccines etc.
 It is used in the production of excipient and co-processed excipient with
increased flowability, compatibility and tablet disintegration.
 To improve drug compressibility and reduce capping tendencies in
crystals.
 The advantages of Spray drying

 Continuous and easy to control process

 Applicable to both heat‐sensitive and heat-resistant materials
 Applicable to corrosive, abrasive, toxic and explosive materials
 Satisfies aseptic/hygienic drying conditions
 Different product types: granules, agglomerates, powders
etc can be produced
 Different sizes and different capacities
 The limitations of spray drying

 High installation cost

 Large air volumes at low product hold‐up implies gas cleaning
costly
 Lower thermal efficiency
 Heat degradation possibility in high‐temperature
 Problems based on spray drying

1. 500 kg of milk containing 60 % water is dried to a moisture content of 3 %,

at an initial temperature of 20 °C in a spray dryer. An inlet temperature to
heater is 30 °C and air is heated to 150 °C to dry the product. The
temperature of air leaving the dryer is 90 °C and that of milk particles are
54 °C. calculate
(a) the amount of air required (m3) to dry the milk.
(b) thermal efficiency of air
(c) the amount of steam required at 7.2 kg/cm2 pressure to heat the air if the
efficiency of the air heater is 80 %
(d) the amount of steam required/ kg of water evaporated, and
(e) if the radiation loss is 10 %, find out the overall thermal efficiency.
 Contd…
• Solution
Basis: 1 kg of milk
V + P = 1 (material balance)
Where, V = amount of water evaporated
P = amount of the product
0.4x 1 = 0.97 P (material balance)
Thus, P = 0.413 kg and V = 0.587 kg / kg wt.
The amount of dried product from 500 kg milk = 500x 0.413 = 206.5 kg
Total amount of water removed = 500 x 0.587 = 293.5 kg

Heat supplied to milk = sensible heat to raise the raw milk.

Temperature from 20 °C to 54 °C + latent heat of vaporization.
The latent heat of vaporization corresponding to a saturation temperature of 90 °C is about 545
kcal/kg
Heat supplied to dry 500 kg milk = (500 (54 – 20) x 0.93) + (293.5 x 545)
= 175767 kcal.
The specific heat of air can be taken as 0.24 kcal/ kg °C and the mass density of air at the mean
temperature i.e. 120 °C is 0.9 kg/m3
Using eq.:

175767 = W x 0.24 (150 – 90 )

Thus, W = 13562 m3
The amount of air required to dry the milk = 13562 m3 or 12205 kg.
 Contd…
(B)
The temperature of hot air should have been brought down to 54 °C i.e. equal to the
temperature of dried milk , but in actual the air outlet temperature is 90 °C.
The maximum amount of heat which can be given by the hot air
= 13532 x 0.9 x0.24 x (150 – 54) = 281221 kcal
But the actual amount of heat which is used to dry 500 kg milk = 175767 kcal
The thermal efficiency of air drying = 175767/ 281221 = 0.62
(c)
The amount of air required in kg = 13562x0.9 = 12205kg
Heat taken by air in the air heating section = 12205 x 0.24 (150 – 30)
= 351504 kcal
At 1.2 kg/ cm2 absolute pressure, the latent heat of steam about 490 kcal/kg
The amount of steam required at 80 °C heating efficiency =
351504/(490 x 0.8) = 896.7kg
(d)
The amount of steam required per kg of water evaporated = 896.7 / 293.5 = 3.05 kg
(e)
Using eq.:
= (1- 0.1)(150 – 90)/ (150 - 30) = 0.45