Spray Drying — Pharma Test Center

Spray drying involves the atomization of a liquid feedstock into a spray of droplets and contacting the droplets with hot air in a drying chamber. The sprays are produced by either rotary (wheel) or nozzle atomizers. Evaporation of moisture from the droplets and formation of dry particles proceed under controlled temperature and airflow conditions. Powder is discharged continuously from the drying chamber. Operating conditions and dryer design are selected according to the drying characteristics of the product and powder specification.

Niro SD-Micro™ Spray Dryer

• Process gas rate (nitrogen): 66 lbs/h (30kg/h)
• Inlet temperature: 428° F. (220° C)
• Outlet temperature: 248°F (120°C)
• Water evaporation: 2.2 lbs/h (1 kg/h)
• Nozzle gas rate (nitrogen): 13 lbs/h (6 kg/h)
• 0.7 kW (at 428°F (220°C) in/248°F (120°) out
• Design pressure: 7.25 psi (0.5 bar g)

The SD-Micro™ Spray Dryer helps pharmaceutical or chemical companies to evaluate spray drying during the early stages of product development. It enables companies to identify the most appropriate isolation technique for the product to guarantee the most efficient manufacturing process.

The SD-Micro™ is a fully functional spray drying plant in very small scale. Computational Fluid Dynamics have been used to design the smallest possible spray drying chamber that retained the same air flow pattern as a full scale production model. The resulting equipment can make test volumes of product at the smallest possible scale (3.4-67 oz. or 100-200 ml.)

The intrinsically Safe operation makes the SD-Micro™ suitable for use with Nitrogen for products dissolved in organic solvents. Compressed air is used for drying of aqueous fluids.

The cyclone is used for the initial powder collection, and the bag filter collects fine particles passing through the cyclone. The cyclone may be by-passed completely for collecting very fine powders in the bag filter.

The SD-Micro™ is easy to dismantle for simple cleaning and fast product switching.

GEA Niro Mobile Minor™ Spray Dryer

The Mobile Minor™ Spray Dryer is a pilot-scale dryer which can be used to demonstrate scale-up of a process from an SD-Micro, or to produce larger quantities of materials for R&D work, or to produce larger particles than can be produced on a laboratory-scale dryer (up to 60 micron).

The Mobile Minor™ can be run using air as the drying gas, or can be configured to run using Nitrogen if using an organic solvent-based process, or if product stability is of importance.

The Mobile Minor™ can be configured with a traditional two-fluid nozzle in co-current drying, or can be configured with a two-fluid nozzle in counter-current drying (fountain mode), or can be configured to run with an air-driven rotary atomizer. The Mobile Minor™ can also be configured to perform a spray congealing process, where a hot melt is atomized and sprayed into a cold gas stream where it congeals into perfect spheres. A spray congealing test requires significant extra set-up and cleaning than a traditional spray drying process.

The Mobile Minor™ is easy to dismantle for simple cleaning and fast product switching.

GEA Niro Production Minor™ Spray Dryer

Peristaltic Feed Pump Rotary atomizer Two-fluid nozzle, - co-current Two-fluid nozzle, fountain Pre-filter, EUA 40 kW Heater 1200 X 745 MM Drying Chamber 60 Degree Cone Angle 300 mm Cyclone Cartridge filter, in-line

The Production Minor™ Spray Dryer is a small scale production dryer which can be used to demonstrate scale-up of a process from a Mobile Minor, or to produce larger quantities of materials for R&D work, or to produce larger particles than can be produced on a pilot-scale dryer (up to 100 micron).

The Production Minor™ can be configured with a traditional two-fluid nozzle in co-current drying, or can be configured with a two-fluid nozzle in counter-current drying (fountain mode), or can be configured to run with an air-driven rotary atomizer.