Dairy and Food Engineering

Lecture No. 25
Drying of liquid and perishable foods - principles of drying - spray
drying, drum drying - freeze drying
Drying is one of the most ancient methods of food
preservation known to mankind.
Preservation of meat, fish and food plants by drying in
the sun or in the naturally dry air of the deserts and
mountains has been practiced since prehistoric times
and is still a vital operation in the life of many rural
communities
Drying or dehydration is, by definition, the removal of
water by evaporation, from a solid or liquid food, with
the purpose of obtaining a solid product sufficiently
low in water content.
The most important engineering and technological issues in
food dehydration are the following:
The kinetics of drying : with some notable exceptions such as
spray drying, drying is a relatively slow process. Knowledge of
the factors that affect the rate of drying is essential for the
optimal design and operation of drying systems
Product quality : removal of water is not the only
consequence of most drying operations.
Other important quality-related changes in taste, flavor,
appearance, texture and nutritive value may occur in the
course of drying.
The extent of such changes depends on the process conditions
Energy consumption : most common drying processes use
extensive quantities of energy at relatively low efficiency.
Energy wise, drying is a wasteful water removal process,
compared to other water removal operations such as
evaporation or membrane separation.
The mechanism of water removal by drying involves two
simultaneous processes, namely, transfer of heat for the
evaporation of water to the food and transport of the
water vapors formed away from the food.
Drying is, therefore, an operation based on simultaneous
heat and mass transfer
Depending on the mode of transfer, industrial drying
processes can be grouped in two categories:
 Convective drying and
 Conductive drying.
Freeze-drying (lyophilization) is another method of
water removal based on the sublimation of water
from a frozen material under high vacuum
 Dryers in the Food Processing Industry

The numerous types of dryers in use in the food industry may

be classified in relation to different criteria:
By method of operation: batch, continuous
By the mechanism of heat transfer: convection (air),
convection (steam), conduction (contact), radiation
(infrared, microwave, sun)
By the physical state of the feed material: solid, liquid, paste
By the movement of the material during drying: static,
moving, fluidized
By pressure of operation: atmospheric, vacuum, high
pressure
 Drying of liquid foods
Spray Drying

It is most suitable for drying of liquid foods such as

milk, fruit juices etc.
The feed is converted into small droplet with the
help of a nozzle or atomizer and then droplets are
dried in a drying chamber when they come in contact
with hot air.
The product is separated from hot air by a cyclone
separator and collected
Spray dryers are used for drying liquid solutions and
suspensions, with the objective of producing light,
porous powders.
Spray drying is the accepted method for the production
of milk and whey powders, coffee creamers, cheese
powder, dehydrated yeast extract, instant coffee and
tea, isolated soybean protein, enzymes, maltodextrin,
egg powder and many other products in powder form.
Spray drying is also one of the methods used for micro-
encapsulation.
The liquid is dispersed (atomized) as a spray of fine
droplets into very hot air inside a large chamber.
Because of their small size and the high temperature
of the air, the droplets are dried in a matter of
seconds and transformed into particles of solid
powder.
At the exit from the chamber, the solid particles are
separated from the humid air.
A spray dryer system consists of the following
elements:
An air heater
A device for forming the spray (atomizer)
A pump for feeding the liquid to the atomizer
A drying chamber
Solid–gas separators (cyclones)
Fans for moving the air through the system
 Control and measurement instruments

1. Air heater: inlet air temperatures in spray drying

are in the order of 200–250°C and sometimes
higher.
Steam cannot be used for heating the air, because of
the high pressure that would be required to deliver
heat at such high temperatures.
Electrical heating is practiced in small installations.
Combustion gases are the preferred source of heat at
industrial scale
2. Formation of the spray : there are five methods for
dispersing the feed as a spray:
centrifugal (turbine) atomizers,
pressure nozzles,
bi-fluid nozzles,
hot air (Leaflash) dispersers
and
ultrasonic atomizers
Centrifugal (rotary) atomizers consist of a wheel, similar
to a closed impeller in a centrifugal pump.
The atomizer, which can be motor-driven or moved by
compressed air, spins at high speed, corresponding to tip
velocities, in the order of 102 m.s-1 .
The liquid is fed to the center of the wheel, flows through
the channels to the periphery and is ejected as a film that
disintegrates to droplets.
Centrifugal atomizers form sprays
with fairly narrow droplet size
Distribution.
Pressure nozzles : The liquid is fed to a narrow
nozzle at high pressure.
At the exit from the nozzle the liquid jet disintegrates
to form the spray.
Nozzles that deliver a conical spray are selected.
The droplets are relatively large and size distribution
is wide
Bi-fluid (kinematic) nozzles : the liquid and
pressurized air are supplied separately to the nozzle.
The two fluids meet at the exit from the nozzle.
The liquid is disintegrated by the high velocity air jet.
The droplets are finer and more uniform than those
in sprays delivered by pressure nozzles
‘Leaflash’ atomization: ‘Leaflash’ is a novel spray-drying
system with a special atomization mechanism.
In the atomizer head of this system, very hot air (typically at
300–400°C) at high velocity tears a film of fluid into droplets.
The air that induces atomization is also the air used for
drying.
Because of the intimate contact with very hot air, the droplets
are dried even more rapidly than in classical spray drying.
Consequently, the residence time of the product in the dryer is
particularly short.
Ultrasonic atomization : if a surface, such as a rod or
a disc, wetted with liquid, is set to vibrations at
ultrasound frequency and appropriate amplitude, the
liquid film is atomized as very fine droplets
3. Feed pump: the starting materials for spray drying are
often highly viscous solutions or suspensions.
Frequently, the feed has to be pumped to a considerable
height, from ground floor to the top of the spray dryer.
If the spraying devices are pressure nozzles, the liquid
must be delivered to the nozzle at MPa range pressure.
For all these reasons, positive displacement pumps are
used as feed pumps.
Feeding pumps must be equipped with automatically
controlled variable speed drive to control the feed flow
rate
4. Drying chamber: the drying chamber consists, most
commonly, of a vertical cylindrical section with a
conical bottom.
Industrial spray dryers are very large in diameter
and in height and often occupy an entire building.
The large volume of the drying chamber is required
in order to provide the residence time necessary for
complete drying
In spray dryers with centrifugal atomizers, the
droplets are ejected in a radial direction.
In this case, a large diameter is required in order to
prevent the droplets from reaching the chamber
walls while they are still wet and sticky.
Dryers with pressure or bi-fluid nozzles are tall but
less wide, because of the narrower spray angle.
The conical bottom serves to collect the major part of
the dried product but adds to the height of the dryer
(inlet temperature in both cases is 3500C)
5. Air flow : air is driven through the heater and the
dryer by low pressure, high capacity blowers.
Air movement may be co-current or countercurrent
to the direction of the product.
A certain portion of the dry particles and particularly
the fines are carried away with the exhaust air and
recovered in cyclones.
For environmental reasons, it is often necessary to
pass the exhaust air through a scrubber before
discharge to the atmosphere.
6. Control : because of the rapidity of the process, it is
difficult to control exactly the residual moisture
content of the product and to adjust operating
conditions accordingly.
The approximate method of control most commonly
applied assumes that the temperature of exhaust air
is related to the residual moisture content of the
product.
For foods, exhaust temperatures in the range of 90
to 110°C are specified
If the exhaust temperature is too low, it is assumed
that the product is too moist.
In this case, the controller reduces the feed rate by
regulating the speed of the feed pump.
Contrarily, high exhaust temperature indicates poor
utilization of the drying power of the air, with
possible thermal damage to the product.
The controller increases the feed rate accordingly
Drum drying: Like spray drying, roller drying can only
be used for liquid products, which can either have a low
viscosity or be highly viscous to paste like.
Roller dryer is also called drum drying.
The metal rollers are heated from inside with
condensing steam and the product dries as a thin film by
contact with the cylinder surface.
The product to be dried is spread as a thin film on to the
surface of the hot drum and after one revolution is
scraped off by a knife, in the form of flakes, scales or
powder
A large part of the roller dried whole milk powder is
destined for chocolate manufacture.
Roller drying is extensively used for the manufacture
of ‘instant’ potato products, potato flakes, and also
for all liquid food products including infant foods,
fruit products, eggs, milk and beverages
In drum drying, the heated surface is the envelope of
a rotating horizontal metal cylinder.
The cylinder is heated by steam condensing inside,
at a pressure in the range of 200 to 500 kPa bringing
the temperature of the cylinder wall to 120–155°C.
The wet material is applied on the drum surface as a
relatively thin layer by a variety of different methods.
The dried product is removed from the drum with
the help of a blade
In vacuum drum drying, applied to materials highly
sensitive to heat, the drum and its accessories are
enclosed in a vacuum chamber.
Drum drying is extensively used in the production of
instant mashed potatoes, pre-cooked cereals, soup
mixtures and low-grade milk powder
Drum dryers are classified into two types, namely,
 single drum and
 double-drum dryers.
Double-drum dryers consist of two drums rotating in
opposite directions, with a narrow, adjustable gap
between the two.
The so-called ‘twin’ drum dryer consists, in fact, of
two independent co-rotating single drums sharing
some of the accessory devices
The simplest method of application is dip feeding.
The drum is partially immersed in the feed fluid
contained in a tray.
A film of fluid adheres to the immersed segment of
the drum.
Fresh material is continuously supplied to the tray.
Because the mass of material in the tray is heated by
the drum, this method is less suitable for heat
sensitive products
Removal of the water vapors from the vicinity of the
drums is essential in order to prevent moisture
adsorption by the dry product.
To this end, drum dryer installations are usually
equipped with venting hoods of adequate size
 Freeze Drying

Freeze drying or lyophilization is the removal of water by

sublimation from frozen state (ice).
In this process, the food is first frozen and then subjected
to high vacuum, whereby the water ice sublimates (i.e.
evaporates directly, without melting)
The water vapor released is usually caught on the surface
of a condenser at very low temperature.
In this method of removal of water the product is frozen
and the temperature maintained below the triple point of
the constituent aqueous solutions so that the water vapor
can be sublimed from the frozen state.
There is, therefore, a direct transfer from solid to
vapour without the ice melting and passing through
the liquid phase.
The process is carried out under high vacuum to
provide a high vapour diffusion potential and is
accelerated by supplying heat in some convenient
form, either radiant, conductive or from microwaves.
It produces a dried product of the highest quality
and therefore is potentially an extremely attractive
method.
Freeze drying is carried out at low temperature, thus
preserving flavor, color and appearance, and minimizing
thermal damage to heat sensitive nutrients.
Since the entire process occurs in solid state, shrinkage
and other kinds of structural changes are largely avoided.
Freeze drying is, however, an expensive method of
dehydration.
It is economically feasible only in the case of high added-
value products and whenever the superior quality of the
product justifies the higher production cost.
Sublimation occurs at a definite range of
temperatures and pressures, depending on the
substance in question.

The phase diagram of pure water indicates that

sublimation of water ice can occur only if the vapor
pressure and temperature are below those of the
triple point of water, i.e. below 611.73 Pa and 0.01°C
respectively
Freeze drying occurs in two stages.
The first stage is sublimation drying in which
sublimation of the frozen water (ice crystals) occurs.
Normally, most of the water in the food is removed
at this stage.
The second stage is desorption drying during which
most of the water adsorbed on the solid matrix is
removed.
Typically, freeze drying is carried to a final moisture
content of 1–3%.