Lab and Pilot Spray Dryer

Lab and pilot spray dryers are indispensable during the research, experimental and optimization stages of the scale up in various industries including pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, chemicals and biotech. These dryers offer a convenient and effective way of converting liquids, pastes or slimes into dry friable products through atomization of the feed into small droplets, which are dried through the use of hot air. The method helps in maintaining the physical and chemical characteristics of the material, a factor that makes it extremely useful in use for product designing and quality assurance.

What is a Lab and Pilot Spray Dryer?

A lab spray dryer is compact drying equipment specifically meant to be used for research and new product formulation. It is a valuable tool for chemists and engineers to evaluate formulations, and to assess whether it is possible to spray dry a certain type of product. Since it is a small scale process, the cost of testing is not high and a lot of raw material is not required especially when dealing with costly raw materials.

This is in contrast to a pilot spray dryer, which is an intermediate-scale model for resembling conditions within large industrial spray dryers. It lies in between experimental testing and commercial production, providing information about how products will perform under production intensity. It is helpful when adjusting the parameters of temperature, air flow, and atomization before switching to equipment on a full industrial scale.

Working Principle of Lab and Pilot Spray Dryer

The designed working principle of both lab and pilot spray dryers involves the process of drying liquid or slurry materials whereby the material is atomized into tiny droplets and then exposed to a hot air flow. The process starts by pumping the liquid material through the spray dryer in which the material is atomized by a nozzle or a rotary atomizer.

This as you understand forms small droplets with a large surface area, and therefore facilitate heat exchange. Either supplied in a co-current or counter current flow, the hot air then evaporates the moisture from the particles in the droplet state. These particles are then separated from the drying air using a cyclone or bag filter and the exhaust air is being expelled out.

Lab scale spray dryers are used for small production volumes and therefore have precise control on temperature, feed rate and air flow suitable for research and pilot scale and new formulations. Pilot scale spray dryers similarly work but are of a much larger capacity to produce intermediate quantities of the material thus acting as a transition between R&D and commercial production. The two systems allow for production of fine powders of homogenous particle typical for industries such as pharmacy, food production and chemicals.

Features of Lab and Pilot Spray Dryer

• Compact design
• High heat transfer efficiency
• Precise temperature control
• Adjustable atomization speed
• Small sample volume requirement
• Short drying time
• Continuous processing capability
• Ability to handle heat-sensitive materials
• Fine particle size control
• Scalable for larger production
• Automated controls and data logging
• Easy to clean and maintain
• Multiple nozzle configurations (e.g., rotary, pressure)
• Ability to dry solutions, suspensions, or emulsions
• Low power consumption
• High reproducibility
• Integrated filtration system
• Safety features for handling hazardous materials
• Variable drying chamber dimensions
• Ability to operate under vacuum

Application of Lab and Pilot Spray Dryer

• Small-Scale Production
• Cost-Effective
• Flexibility
• Rapid Testing
• Process Optimization
• High Efficiency
• Uniform Particle Size
• Controlled Environment
• Versatility
• Preliminary Data Generation
• Quality Control
• Reduction in Production Risk

KERONE is pioneer in application and implementation engineering with its vast experience and team of professionals. KERONE is devoted to serve the industry to optimize their operations both economically and environmentally with its specialized heating and drying solutions.