What is a Centrifugal Spray Dryer

In many industries today, you may find that drying has become a necessary processing step. Whether in the food, textile, or chemical sectors and so on, materials in these fields require drying to form the final product. The centrifugal spray dryer is the equipment designed to accomplish this drying step. It uses the principle of centrifugal force to separate moisture from the product through spraying. It is suitable for drying various liquid forms such as solutions and suspensions and can extract the powdered or granular solids. If your application demands precise specifications for finished particle size, density, or dryness level, the spray dryer is an ideal process.

If you’re seeking a reliable centrifugal spray dryer for your project, consider FANQUN. Our professional team and advanced technology deliver efficient product drying solutions.

How Does a Centrifugal Spray Dryer Work?

Centrifugal spray dryers operate based on the physical principle of centrifugal force. The liquid feed can be atomized into minute droplets with the effect of centrifugal force within a high speed centrifugal atomizer. The moisture on the surface of these droplets rapidly contacts and evaporates with the hot air entering the drying tower, transforming the liquid feed into dry solid particles. After the completion of the drying process, the humid air is finally discharged through an exhaust fan.

The Main Components of a Centrifugal Spray Dryer

Feed Tank

The liquid storage tank serves as the reservoir for the material solution requiring drying. During machine operation, the solution is pumped from this tank into the high speed centrifugal atomizer positioned above the drying chamber, where the drying process is carried out.

Air Heating and Filtration System

The air heating and filtration system is where air enters the machine for heating and filtration. After this process, our heated air will enter the drying chamber and comes into contact with atomized droplets, facilitating moisture evaporation.

Drying Chamber

Within the centrifugal atomizer at the top of the drying chamber, the feed liquid is spun by centrifugal force into an extremely fine mist of droplets. This mist enters the drying chamber where it comes into contact with hot air for an extremely brief period. Under high temperatures, the moisture rapidly evaporates into steam, thereby achieving the drying of the raw material.

Cyclone Separator

Once the raw material is dried, a cyclone separator is required to separate the resulting solids from the gases, then you will get the desired dry solid powder.

Exhaust System

Finally, the exhaust system’s function is to expel the final moist air from the machine.

What are the Advantages of Using a Centrifugal Spray Dryer?

Faster Drying Speed

Compared to other types of spray dryers, it can rapidly dry the liquids into powder, this is a process that can be completed in a few seconds. The atomization process increases the contact area between moisture and hot air, enabling rapid evaporation and removal of water, thereby boosting the producing efficiency.

Simplify The Operating Process

It can produce high purity powdered finished products in a single step, reducing the need for additional grinding or screening operations, this also offers significant operational convenience.

Can Work Continuously

A centrifugal spray dryer enables continuous operation, it can automatically perform uninterrupted drying of materials and liquids. This is a crucial feature in industries such as food processing and chemical manufacturing to ensure consistent production efficiency and product quality. Moreover, you needn’t worry about energy consumption during this process. Compared to intermittent operation that requires preheating each time the machine is started, continuous operation is actually more energy efficient.

Can Deal With Materials That Are Sensitive To Heat

Due to the rapid evaporation characteristic of centrifugal spray dryers, your raw materials experience very brief contact with high temperature air. This is crucial for drying heat sensitive materials, as prolonged exposure to high temperatures could cause denaturation, while this brief contact minimizes the significant adverse effects.

The applications of a Centrifugal Spray Dryer

Textile industry

In the textile industry, centrifugal spray dryers can be used to dry dyes, making them easier to store and transport while improving the dyeing uniformity.

Chemical industry

In the chemical industry, centrifugal spray dryers can process materials such as detergents, polymers, and catalysts. Taking catalysts as an example, they can transform these substances into porous spherical powder solids. This structure enhances their reactivity in chemical processes, enabling more complete reactions and improving processing efficiency.

Food industry

In the food sector that is highly relevant to people’s daily lives, centrifugal spray dryers efficiently dry common powdered foods such as coffee powder, milk powder, and seasonings. Food powders dried by this method achieve uniform particle size, dissolve easily, and eliminate the need for subsequent granulation operations, making them suitable for large-scale production.

Medical field

In the medical field, pharmaceuticals also rely on centrifugal spray dryers to produce uniformly sized, stable drug powders. These powders are subsequently used in tablet compression and capsule manufacturing, ensuring therapeutic efficacy.

Ceramics

In ceramic manufacturing, it can also dry common materials such as alumina and talc powder, ensuring the subsequent powder’s fine texture for easy mixing in sintered ceramics to form exquisite ceramic products.

Chinese Medicine

The high speed centrifugal spray drying apparatus for Chinese herbal extracts is a specialized centrifugal spray dryer designed for drying herbal extracts. It preserves the purity and medicinal properties of plant-based solutions during drying while preventing coking and degradation, ultimately producing uniformly textured, easily soluble powders.

All components of FANQUN ‘s ZLPG series herbal extract spray dryer are constructed from stainless steel. Equipped with a three stage purification system, the filtered air meets Class 100,000 clean room standards, achieving over 95% powder collection efficiency. Contact us immediately for a quote.

What are the Key Parameters that Need to be Monitored During the Spray Drying Process?

During formal operation, you must also monitor certain parameters to verify the machine’s operational status. These may include the temperature difference between intake and exhaust air, the feed rate, etc.

Inlet And Outlet Temperatures

First, you need to monitor the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet air. This indicates whether the dryer is functioning properly. If the temperature difference exceeds the normal operating range compared to usual conditions, it may indicate insufficient drying of the material or overheating causing gelatinization. In such cases, you should immediately shut down the machine for inspection.

Feed Rate

During operation, you also need to ensure the feeding process remains constant and steady. Overfeeding can result in insufficient drying of the material, while underfeeding may lead to reduced production capacity and energy waste. Therefore, when initiating spraying, we recommend gradually increasing the feed flow rate from low to high. This ensures smooth and orderly material delivery while preventing wall adhesion.

Atomizer Speed

The atomizer’s speed is a key parameter that directly affects the droplet size. The rotational speed of its disk determines the fineness of the droplets, for example, higher speeds produce smaller droplets and finer powder. It is important to note that the disk speed must be matched to the feed rate; otherwise, uneven atomization may occur.

How to choose a proper Centrifugal Spray Dryer?

Particle size requirements

When making your selection, the required particle size is a fundamental factor to consider. If you require a dried product with finer particles, a high speed centrifugal spray dryer will better meet your needs. On the other hand, if you require a powder product with larger particles, a low speed spray dryer can achieve satisfactory results.

Material Heat Sensitivity

Depending on the heat sensitivity of the material you need to dry, you must also carefully select the centrifugal spray dryer. For example, plant extracts in the pharmaceutical field and catalysts in the chemical industry may not tolerate high temperatures. Therefore, you need to pay attention to the type of heating system to achieve a lower inlet air temperature.

Production Scale

You should also select based on your specific processing requirements. If the location where you need to use the dryer is a large factory, you may require a centrifugal spray dryer with a higher drying capacity. If you are selecting a laboratory or small to medium sized facility, a smaller unit may be more suitable for your application.

FANQUN is a long established enterprise in China’s drying industry. We boast a team of technical professionals with over forty years of experience and extensive export expertise. Our factory uses state of the art production equipment to manufacture high quality machinery for you. In terms of service, we can develop specialized product design solutions tailored to your needs. Our after sales support includes on site guidance for equipment installation and commissioning, as well as technical training, ensuring you have complete peace of mind.