Worldwide leader in spray drying and dryer technology
No one knows more about the role of industrial spray drying than GEA Niro.
GEA Niro has data gained from more than 70 years of experience and a reference
list of some 10,000 plants across the globe. We have 30,000 test reports from
our test centre, and we are equipped to engineer the properties you want into
your products – and the processes needed to produce them. Our experience ranges
over a wide variety of areas, including: chemical and ceramic products, polymers, food
and diary products and pharmaceutical products.
Spray drying
technology
Spray drying is the most widely used industrial process
for particle formation and drying. It is well suited to continuous production
of dry solids in powder, granulate or agglomerate particle form from liquid
feedstocks. Feedstocks can include solutions, emulsions and pumpable
suspensions. The technology is ideal when the end-product must comply with
precise quality standards. This regards particle size distribution, residual
moisture content, bulk density and particle morphology.
Read more about the spray drying technologies for the specific
industries:
Chemical
dryers
Pilot and small-scale dryers
The spray
drying process
Spray drying starts with the atomization of a
liquid feedstock into a spray of droplets. Next, the droplets are put in
contact with hot air in a drying chamber. The sprays are produced by either
rotary (wheel) or nozzle atomizers of different types. Evaporation of moisture
from the droplets and formation of dry particles proceed under controlled
temperature and airflow conditions. Powder is continuously discharged from the
drying chamber and recovered from the exhaust gases using a cyclone or a bag
filter. The whole process generally takes no more than a few seconds.
Every dryer consists of:
- a feed pump
- an
atomizer
- an air heater
- an air disperser
- a drying chamber
- systems for powder recovery
- exhaust air cleaning systems
- process control systems
The drying characteristics and quality requirements of the thousands of
products GEA Niro spray dries vary widely. Therefore the solutions we select
for individual customers will be based on individual specifications.
Three conventional configurations
When configuring
a plant, it is essential to choose the most appropriate configurations. This
include mode of operation, the equipment design and the powder collection
system. We offer a wide range of different solutions and configurations to meet
your specific requirements.
Spray dryer configurations from GEA Niro
Click here to view larger spray drying configuration image
The right equipment for quality and economy
When
selecting process equipment, it is important to carefully understand two
things: the properties of the liquid to be dried and the expectations for the
powder to be produced. GEA Niro offers a great variety of spray dryer designs,
everyone with its own particular features.
The atomizing device, which
forms the spray, is the ´heart´ of the process. The choice of atomizer depends
upon the properties of the feed and the desired characteristics of the dried
product. Read more about atomizers here.
More than 75 pilot
plants in GEA Niro Test Centres worldwide
You can depend on GEA
Niro, whether you are conducting R&D or are interested in small-scale or
full industrial production. We offer powder engineering solutions and proof of
concept through laboratory and pilot-plant testing. We also possess an
unmatched scale-up experience and global project execution according to your
specifications.
GEA Niro has more than 75 pilot plants in GEA Niro Test
Centres worldwide and an international team of test engineers and process
technologists. We represents the world’s largest pool of talent specialized in
tackling challenges within spray drying.
A solid partnership
Working with GEA Niro means entering a solid partnership every
step of the way. From process testing and design to specification of the
software controlling your plant. In our test centres, we work together with our
clients to fulfil specific requirements of our customers.
This regards
final powder functional properties and to develop new products – all under
strict confidentiality. Our comprehensive after-sales program ensures that your
return on investment is optimized throughout the lifetime of the plant.