Design study of printer nozzle spray dryer by computational fluid dynamics modeling

Abstract

Milk powder production is one of the most energy-consuming processes in the dairy industry. To reduce production costs and increase spray dryer efficiency, the EU sponsored an international project named ENTHALPY. One of the results of the project was the development of mathematical models and computational fluid dynamics simulation methodology for the milk spray-drying process. This article introduces the methodology of CFD model development and presents simulation results as the basis for further drying tower design optimization. The CFD simulations were performed for a new design of monodisperse multistream atomizer. As a result of the CFD simulation, sets of parameters such as drying efficiency, protein thermal degradation, collision frequency, and wall deposition were obtained.

Keywords:

• Spray drying
• skim milk powder
• CFD
• optimization
• monodisperse atomizers

Additional information

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement n° 613732 – project ENTHALPY.