Spray Dryer for Plant Extracts

Plant extracts are products formed by taking plants as raw materials and going through a physicochemical extraction and separation process to obtain and concentrate one or more active ingredients in the plants in a targeted manner without changing the structure of the active ingredients, according to the demand for the use of the extracted zui end product. Many plant extracts have medicinal value and can be used directly as drugs or as intermediates in the synthesis of more effective drugs. For example, artemisinin extracted from Artemisia annua is an effective drug for the treatment of malaria; paclitaxel from Picea abies is an important anti-cancer drug. With the improvement of people's health consciousness, plant extracts are more and more widely used in health food. For example, ginseng extract, wolfberry extract, ganoderma lucidum extract, etc., are often used to make health food with the functions of enhancing immunity, anti-fatigue, and regulating blood lipids. Meanwhile, plant extracts have the advantages of being natural, mild and non-irritating, which can provide a variety of effects for cosmetics. For example, aloe vera extract has the effect of moisturizing and soothing the skin; green tea extract has the effect of antioxidant, antibacterial, etc., which can be used in the production of skin care products, shampoo, toothpaste and other cosmetics.

With the increasing concern for health and natural products, plant extracts are increasingly used in food, health products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other fields. The rapid development of these fields will directly drive the demand for centrifugal spray dryer for plant extracts, prompting the continuous expansion of the market scale. Loncin Intelligent's spray drying technology continues to innovate and progress, making the performance and efficiency of plant extract centrifugal spray dryer significantly improved. The newly developed plant extract spray dryer performs better in energy saving, environmental protection and automation control, which can reduce the production cost and energy consumption of enterprises and improve the stability of production and consistency of product quality. The new plant extract dryer adopts an intelligent control system, which can automatically adjust the process parameters according to the characteristics of the material and the drying requirements to achieve precise drying. These technical advantages will attract more enterprises to adopt plant extract centrifugal spray dryer, and then expand the market scale.

Plant extract centrifugal spray dryer working principle

(1) Air heating and transportation: the air first passes through the filter to remove the impurities and dust, and then enters the heater. In the heater, the air is heated to the set temperature, generally between 140℃~250℃, and the heated hot air enters into the air distributor on the top of the dryer evenly in a spiral shape.
(2) Material Liquid Atomization: The material liquid of the plant extract is filtered by the material liquid tank through the filter, and then sent to the centrifugal atomizer on the top of the dryer by the pump. Centrifugal atomizer is the key component, it is through the high-speed rotation to produce a strong centrifugal force, the material liquid in the rotating surface stretch for the film, and constantly to the edge of the movement, leaving the edge of the fog has been atomized into a very small fog droplets, the surface area of the droplets after the atomization is greatly increased.
(3) concurrent drying: atomized liquid droplets and hot air concurrent contact, due to the large surface area of the droplets, moisture in the hot air stream can quickly evaporate. In a very short period of time, usually only 5~35 seconds, the water in the droplets can be evaporated 90%~98%, the plant extracts are dried into finished products, this process can be well preserved in the plant extracts in the heat-sensitive components, as well as the color, aroma, taste and other characteristics.
(4) Finished product collection and exhaust gas discharge: the dried product is discharged from the bottom of the drying tower and the cyclone separator, which can collect most of the powdery products, while the wet air enters into the cyclone unloader through the exhaust pipe, and after unloading a small part of the products brought out by the wet air, it will be further filtered and dusted by the water film dust catcher and other equipments, and then discharged by the blower after the zui.

Plant extract centrifugal spray dryer equipment advantages

(1)Fast drying speed: the surface area of material liquid is greatly increased after atomization, and 95%~98% of water can be evaporated instantly in the hot air stream, and the drying time is only a few seconds, which is especially suitable for drying heat-sensitive plant extracts, and it can retain its biological active ingredients to a large extent.
(2) Good product quality: it can retain the color, aroma, taste and other biological activities of plant extracts, and the wet content of the final product is low, high purity and good uniformity. The product has good dispersibility, fluidity and solubility, within a certain range, the particle size, bulk density, moisture and other properties of the product can be adjusted by changing the operating conditions.
(3)Simplified production process: for plant extract liquid with moisture content of 40%~60% (special materials can reach 90%), it can be dried into powder products at one time, without crushing and screening after drying, which reduces the production process, improves the production efficiency, reduces the production cost, and helps to ensure the purity of the products.
(4) Flexible control: the operator can change the operating conditions within a certain range, such as temperature, feed rate, atomizer speed, etc., to adjust the particle size of the product, bulk density, moisture, product properties, etc., control and management are very convenient.
(5)Wide range of adaptability: not only for plant extracts, but also for solutions, emulsions, suspensions and even liquids with viscosity, which are widely used in many industries such as food, chemical and pharmaceutical.
(6)High degree of automation: generally equipped with automatic control system, which can greatly reduce the difficulty of manual operation and labor intensity, realize continuous production, improve production efficiency and product quality stability.
(7) Energy saving and environmental protection: in the whole production process, heat energy is fully utilized, and less exhaust emissions, which is conducive to environmental protection.
(8) Small footprint: compact structure, compared with some traditional drying equipment, covers a smaller area, is conducive to the layout and planning of the plant.

Plant extract centrifugal spray dryer design optimization

(1) Feed system improvement
Filtration and impurity removal: Add finer filters in the feeding system to remove impurities and large particulate matter in the plant extract to prevent clogging the atomizer and affecting the atomization effect and normal operation of the equipment. Meanwhile, the filter is cleaned or replaced regularly to ensure the smoothness and purity of the feed.
Flow control and stability: High-precision metering pumps and flow control systems are used to ensure that the material can enter the atomizer at a stable and uniform flow rate. This ensures the formation of droplets and the stability of the drying process, avoiding unstable product quality or equipment failure due to fluctuations in the feed flow.
Preheating device: For plant extracts with high viscosity or low temperature, a preheating device can be added to the feeding system to preheat the feed liquid to the appropriate temperature, reduce its viscosity and improve the atomization effect and drying efficiency.
(2) Optimization of atomization system
Atomizer selection and design: according to the characteristics of plant extracts, such as viscosity, surface tension, etc., select the appropriate type and size of centrifugal atomizer. For extracts with high viscosity, atomizers with higher rotational speed and greater centrifugal force can be selected to ensure the uniformity and fineness of the droplets, thus improving the drying efficiency and product quality.
Improvement of the structure of the atomizing disc: optimize the shape, aperture and groove design of the atomizing disc, so that the material liquid can be more uniformly distributed and thrown out under the action of centrifugal force, forming droplets with smaller particle size and narrower distribution. For example, the special guide groove design can guide the flow path of material liquid on the atomizing disk and reduce the agglomeration of liquid droplets.
Speed adjustment and control: Equipped with a fine que speed adjustment device, it can adjust the speed of the atomizer in real time according to different production demands and material characteristics. Under the premise of ensuring the drying effect. Appropriately reducing the rotational speed can reduce the energy consumption and wear and tear of the equipment and prolong the service life of the equipment.
(3) Drying chamber design optimization
Airflow distribution optimization: By improving the structure of the drying chamber and the airflow distribution device, the hot air can be more evenly distributed in the drying chamber, and fully contact with the fog droplets and carry out heat exchange. For example, special deflector and air splitter are used to adjust the flow direction and speed of hot air to avoid local overheating or dead space of airflow and improve the uniformity and efficiency of drying.
Temperature field control: Temperature sensors and control system are set up in the drying room to monitor and adjust the temperature of different areas in real time to ensure that the plant extracts are always in a suitable temperature environment during the drying process. For heat-sensitive extracts, segmented heating or gradient temperature control can be used, i.e., a higher temperature is used in the early stage of drying to quickly remove most of the water, and the temperature is lowered in the late stage of drying to minimize the effect of high temperature on the active ingredients of the extracts.
Optimization of drying chamber shape and size: According to the processing capacity and material characteristics, the shape and size of the drying chamber are reasonably designed. Generally speaking, a higher drying chamber is favorable to the full drying of droplets, but it will also increase the height and cost of the equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively consider all the factors and find the zui best balance point to improve the performance and economy of the equipment.
(4) Optimization of dust recovery and discharge system
Cyclone Separator Improvement: Optimize the structure and size of the cyclone separator to improve its separation efficiency, so that more dry products can be effectively collected and product loss can be reduced. For example, the use of new cyclone separator designs, such as multi-tube cyclone separators and high-efficiency cyclone dust collectors, can significantly improve the separation of dust.
Exhaust gas treatment and thermal energy recovery: The discharged exhaust gas is treated to remove the odor and harmful substances in it and reduce the pollution to the environment. In addition, heat recovery devices, such as heat exchangers, can also be considered to recycle the waste heat in the exhaust gas for preheating the air entering the dryer or other process links to improve energy utilization and reduce energy consumption.
(5) Improve the degree of material dispersion
Optimize the atomization effect: For centrifugal spray drying, good atomization effect is the key to improve the heat exchange efficiency. Ensure that the atomizer can evenly disperse the material into fine droplets, the smaller the droplets are, the larger their surface area, and the more adequate the heat exchange with the hot air. The atomization effect can be optimized by choosing the right type of atomizer (e.g. centrifugal atomizer, pressure atomizer, etc.), adjusting the rotational speed of the atomizer and the feeding speed.
Prevent material agglomeration: in the drying process, some materials may be viscous and other reasons for agglomeration, affecting the heat exchange efficiency. You can add appropriate amount of dispersant in the material, or set mechanical vibration device at the entrance of drying room to prevent the material from agglomeration and keep the material dispersed.
(6) Control system upgrade
The degree of automation control is improved: advanced automation control system, such as PLC, DCS, etc., is adopted to realize the fine que control and automation operation of each parameter of the dryer. Through the preset programs and algorithms, it can automatically adjust the operating parameters of the equipment, such as temperature, rotating speed, feeding flow, etc., according to different materials and production requirements, ensuring the stability of the production process and the consistency of product quality.
Remote monitoring and data analysis: Equipped with remote monitoring function, the operator can remotely monitor the running status, parameter changes and fault alarm information of the equipment through the network, and make timely adjustments and processing. At the same time, it collects, analyzes and stores a large amount of data in the production process, and explores the potential optimization space through data analysis to provide a basis for further process improvement and equipment maintenance.
Fault diagnosis and early warning: establish a perfect fault diagnosis system, which can monitor the operation of the equipment in real time, discover potential faults in a timely manner, and issue early warning signals. Through the identification and analysis of fault patterns, provide corresponding fault solutions to help maintenance personnel to quickly locate and eliminate faults, reduce equipment downtime and improve production efficiency.