A Novel Way to Measure the Concentration of a Spray in a Spray Dryer

Abstract

A new experimental technique to capture milk concentrate droplets from inside a 150-kg powder/h pilot spray dryer is presented. The technique uses liquid nitrogen to capture the droplets in the dryer and to preserve their moisture content. The droplets are kept frozen until the moisture content can be measured. This technique can be applied to sample the sprays from any semi-commercial-scale spray dryer or similar apparatus.

Keywords:

• Milk concentrate
• Moisture profile
• Spray drying

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to my Fonterra colleagues for the discussions that led to this work. I also thank Melissa Abelard, Mark-John Bruwer, Walter Clarke, Paul Sabiston, Alex Smith, Wendy Stow, and Mat Wanatabe, students who assisted in this work.