The drum dryer can dry viscous, pasty, and sticky products like no other technology. Contact time of the thin product film on the drum is short. This retains the product quality. The final product is a thin film or a flake.
With drum drying, a steam/condensate system continuously heats the revolving drum from the inside. On the outside of the drum, product is distributed as a thin and uniform layer. The product is dry after almost a complete revolution of the drum. A knife scrapes off the product from the drum. The product comes of the drum as a film or as a flake. This is product dependent. The short contact time on the drum not only virtually eliminates the risk of damaging the product but also enables the product to keep its unique properties like taste, smell, texture, etc.
Configurations
There are different configurations such as single and double drums and with or without applicator rolls. This allows for processing products with differences in properties such as viscosity, stickiness and flow-ability. Vacuum solutions are available to dry temperature sensitive products in order to keep the product temperature low.
Mango paste dried on a drum dryer in the test facility.
Advantages
≡ The drum dryer is one of the very few technologies that can dry sticky, pasty as well as viscous products.
≡ The technology is based on indirectly heating of the product which makes energy consumption very low. Drum drying is one of the most thermal efficient drying solutions.
≡ Contrary to a spray dryer, a drum dryer works better with higher solids in the feed stock so long it is still pump-able. It won’t require the product to be diluted as with a spray dryer, resulting in substantial energy savings.
≡ The drum dryer is not a multiple floor solution. The entire drying process fits in most process rooms. This saves capital expensive buildings.
Popular applications are
≡ Modified starch (pre gel)
≡ Cereals and infant foods
≡ Animal and plant based proteins
≡ Fruit and vegetables
≡ Yeast
≡ Dairy products
Contact us and let us talk about what advantages drum dried product can offer you or if you want to conduct tests with your product.
