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Hey guys , lets throw some light into the concept of Drying today !!!
Generally speaking , Drying refers to the removal of minute amount of water vapour from the feed . There are many types of Drying , the most prominent of them being Rotary Drying , Tunnel Drying , Spray Drying , etc . In all of these basic UNIT OPERATIONS , Spray Drying holds a numero uno status from quite some time . Whats so special in this process that it survived the turmoil of humanity right from the 1870s , when new process come and then sink without a trace ??? Lets know then !!! First of all ..WHY SPRAY DRYING WHEN WE CAN JUST EVAPORATE ??? then why ?? no
The answers SIMPLE ---- In the world there are a galore of thermally sensitive and thermally resistant materials . We simply cannot dry them in the open sun The former might just evaporate without a trace while the latter stubbornly sits there all day no matter you dry it for weeks on a trot !!! Tadaa !! Hence , Spray Drying
Lucidly speaking , Spray Drying involves the production of a dry , granular , free-flowing powder from a liquid or a slurry by the rapid cooling with hot gases .
It is a CONTINUOUS , PARTICLE PROCESSING , MASS-TRANSFER operation !!! In the process of Spray Drying , the liquid stream or feed , as we chemmies call it , is first atomized using a suitable Atomizer and is then sprayed at a high speed over hot gases present in the apparatus . The hot gas normally is Air , but if the feed isoxygen reacting we use Nitrogen . Next the hot gases dry up the stream , which is then taken into a Cyclone for separation of theparticles produced . In addition , a bag filter can also be used to get finer particles .
Spray Drying mainly involves four stages :a) Concentration of the feed b) Atomization of the slurry c) Droplet drying d) Separation using cyclones
Dont get confused with the stages , but Spray Drying is a SINGLE-STEP process . The above stages occur at blindingvelocity that they all are considered one continuous entity . ADVANTAGES : 1) It is continuous. 2) Can be made Fully Automated easily 3) It can be used irrespective of the feed capacity . 4) We can produce nearly-perfect spherical particles . 5) The weight and volume of feed can be reduced . As a matter of fact , Spray Drying reached its full glory during WW2 , where the need to reduce the weight of food for the army was enormous .
USES : Used in the FOOD industry extensively , especially in the Dairy Industry .
The Pharmaceutical Industry found a great way to make powders for tablets . In recent times the Ceramic field is catching up with this concept too !!!
DISADVANTAGES : 1) Very energy extensive 2) High operating cost 3) Ineffective in producing a constant granular size of particles Hence , the concept of NANO SPRAY DRYERS is the talk of the town nowadays .We will discuss about it sometime later in the future for sure !!! Well , for the never ending practical thirst for the geek community of the world , heres a special gift just for you check out http://www.gbm.dk/gbm/SD-e.htm for the working model of a common spray dryer !!! au revoir guys !!!