Product & Process Safety: increasing spray drier capacity

 

What was at stake?
We were asked by the Business Unit Functional Chemicals (Chelates) to determine the maximum drying air inlet temperature used in a spray drier process and to investigate ways of improving plant production capacity.

What we did
We determined the optimal temperature in spray driers in a cost-effective and timely way in order to increase production capacity with a limited investment.

Added value
We have profound knowledge of spray drier technology and of the behavior of solid dust layers in relation to the maximum allowed surface temperature. We have recently developed a hot-plate test method which permits considerably higher drying temperatures without jeopardizing overall safety.