Spray dryer
GEA Niro
When the product leaves the drying chamber and the cyclone, it is collected in a pneumatic con-veying and cooling system.
This type of dryer is referred to as a one-stage Dryer, as the powder, when discharged from the chamber, has its final moisture content. For further reading please refer to Milk Powder Technology - page 71. Many food & dairy products – depending on their composition – need to be dried in this way. But for products like milk and whey it is possible to perform the drying in two or more stages by replacing the pneumatic conveying and cooling system by VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™. designed for second-stage drying.
The conventional spray dryer can now be operated in such a way that the moisture content in the powder, when it leaves the drying chamber at a higher moisture content than desired in the final powder. This is done by atomizing more concentrate into the same amount of primary drying air, which will then be utilized much better. For final drying in the VIBRO-FLUIDIZER™ a small amount of drying air at low temperature is needed. The overall energy consumption per kg of final powder is reduced by as much as 20%. For further reading please refer to Milk Powder Technology page 131.
If the fines fraction from the cyclone and/or bag filter is returned to the atomization device, it is possible to produce agglomerated products instantly soluble in cold or warm water. For further reading please refer to Milk Powder Technology page 153.
