CoValence Laboratories purchases new spray dryer for its patented IconicA raw ingredient

What is a Spray Dryer?

A spray dryer, as the name implies, is a device for drying, utilizing a spray.

A spray dryer mixes a heated gas with an atomized (sprayed) liquid stream within a vessel (drying chamber) to accomplish evaporation and produce a free-flowing dry powder with a controlled average particle size, as seen with IconicA.

The unit operation of spray drying includes the following key components:

• A method for atomizing a solution or slurry
• An air/gas heater, or a source of hot air such as a waste flue gas
• A gas/spray mixing chamber with adequate residence time and droplet trajectory distance for achieving the heat and mass transfer
• A means for recovering the solids from the gas stream
• A fan to induce the required air/gas through the spray drying system

The unique feature of a spray dryer is the surface area per unit weight generated by atomization of the liquid feed.  It is this fact that enables a spray dryer to work.  For example, feed atomized to 100 micron average droplet size generates approximately 15,400 ft2/lb of surface area.  The same feed atomized to an average of 20 micron generates approximately 77,021 ft2/lb!  This is equivalent to spreading one gallon of feed over 14 football fields – that’s a lot of IconicA®!!

To learn more about IconicA, click here!