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New Atomization Nozzle for Spray Drying

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New Atomization Nozzle for Spray Drying

a b b
Henk van Deventer , René Houben & Robin Koldeweij
a
TNO , Zeist , The Netherlands
b
TNO , Eindhoven , The Netherlands
Published online: 10 Jun 2013.

To cite this article: Henk van Deventer , Ren Houben & Robin Koldeweij (2013) New Atomization Nozzle for Spray Drying,
Drying Technology: An International Journal, 31:8, 891-897, DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2012.735734

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 Drying Technology, 31: 891–897, 2013
Copyright # 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0737-3937 print=1532-2300 online
DOI: 10.1080/07373937.2012.735734

New Atomization Nozzle for Spray Drying

Henk van Deventer,1 René Houben,2 and Robin Koldeweij2
1
TNO, Zeist, The Netherlands
2
TNO, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

The commonly used atomizers create a rather broad and

A new atomization nozzle based on ink jet technology is intro-
duced for spray drying. Application areas are the food and dairy
industry, in the first instance, because in these industries the quality
demands on the final powders are high with respect to heat load,
powder shape, and size distribution. The ink jet nozzles can atomize
fluids with a higher viscosity than conventional spray-drying nozzles,
leading to energy savings. The produced monodisperse droplets
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uncontrolled size distribution of droplets, resulting in a
large size distribution of particles as well. Large and small
droplets are created simultaneously and the drying tower
must be designed to be able to dry even the largest parti-
cles, resulting in overdrying and overheating of the smaller
particles. The very small droplets that are formed as well,

undergo less shear force in the nozzle and all droplets experience
the same heat load during drying. The monodisperse droplets lead
to monodisperse powder particles, a completely different product
compared to conventional atomization nozzles that deliver particles
with a wide spread in size and form.
The ink jet technology, the state of the development, and the
integration in existing spray dryers are elucidated in this article.
Advantages with respect to energy savings, emission reduction,
and increased possibilities for energy recovery are discussed. Atten-
tion will be given to the quality aspects of the resulting powders.
Keywords Energy saving; Ink jet nozzle; Monodisperse particles;
Spray drying
INTRODUCTION
Different powder production systems exist; most of
them are based on the production of powder from a liquid
that contains the ingredients for the dry powder.[1] To pro-
duce powder from this fluid or slurry requires atomization
of the fluid and a certain drying method to produce the dry
powders. One commonly used powder production system is
a so-called spray dryer. A schematic representation is
visualized in Fig. 1. An atomizer on top of the dryer gener-
ates small droplets with a certain size distribution (Fig. 2).
By creating a heated airflow past these droplets inside the
drying chamber, the solvent, mostly water, evaporates
from the droplets and powder particles are formed. Differ-
ent sizes and shapes are formed and powder particles might
stick together, or agglomerate, to larger agglomerates. The
powder is subsequently removed from the bottom of the
drying tower or is removed from the drying air by means
of a cyclone or filter.
Correspondence: Henk van Deventer, TNO, P.O. Box 360,
Zeist 3700, AJ, The Netherlands; E-mail: henk.vandeventer
@tno.nl
resulting in so-called ‘‘fines’’ or extremely small powder
particles, are very difficult to separate from the airflow.
These fines make air cleaning indispensable and obstruct
recirculation of drying air and heat recovery because of
fouling of the heat exchangers. Also, potentially hazardous
situations can occur due to the increased risk of dust explo-
sions. The high pressures and high shear rates in the atomi-
zers can affect sensitive ingredients.
A more controlled way of creating the initial droplets is
desirable. A solution came from developments in rapid
manufacturing, where ink jet nozzles are applied to print
molten plastic droplets that, after hardening, are used to
build up in layers any arbitrary construction. These prin-
ters are able to cope with high viscosities and produce
monodisperse droplets. This possibility, the usage of high
viscous ink jet technology for spray drying, is patented[2]
and developed for applications in the food industry. This
ink jet technology can replace the atomization head in
spray dryers.[3,4]
The principle of the droplet formation is based on
Stimulated Rayleigh break-up of the fluid stream.[5,6] The
viscous fluid, viscosity up to 500 milliPascal second, mPa.s,
is pushed through a well-defined hole with a periodically
changing speed due to a vibrating piezoelectric element,
with frequencies of about 20,000 Hz. This results in mono-
disperse droplets emitted in lines. Droplet size and fre-
quency of droplet shake-off depend on the opening size,
the fluid pressure, the fluid viscosity, and the piezoelectric
frequency.
The development started with a single-hole nozzle (see
the generated droplets in line in Fig. 3).
The print head design is based on the pressure inde-
pendent set-up as described in WO2009151332: ‘‘Pressure
independent droplet generation.’’[7] Several experiments
are performed with the single nozzle.[8]

891
 892 VAN DEVENTER ET AL.

FIG. 1. Schematic representation of a spray dryer.

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A typical industrial spray dryer has a drying capacity

in the order of tons of solvent evaporation per hour. A
single-nozzle print head has a material throughput of
0.15 kg=hour only. Therefore scale-up is necessary to
achieve a commercial applicable system. The system is
scaled up towards a multi-nozzle system, with 500 holes
and one actuator, a piezoelectric element capable of proces- FIG. 3. Stroboscopic picture of a monodisperse droplet chain from a
sing up to 100 kg=hour material feed. This makes the single-hole nozzle.
system applicable at pilot-scale spray-drying facilities.
Figure 4 shows a schematic representation where, next the performance of the system. The results can be
to the pressure independent design, the nozzle orientation categorized on the one hand by the effects on the system’s
is shown; when the holes in the nozzle are positioned under energy performance and, on the other hand, by the effects
an angle with respect to the nozzle plate itself, a conical of the process on the powder properties (see Figs. 7 and 8).
spray pattern will result. Further scaling up is progressing by increasing the num-
Figure 5 shows the multi-nozzle print head in action. ber of holes and=or by putting multi-hole nozzles in parallel.
Figure 6 shows a detail of the holes in the printing head.
Several experiments were performed with the multi-
nozzle print head[9] at a pilot spray dryer to investigate

FIG. 2. Conventional process (swirl flow nozzle) (color figure available FIG. 4. Schematic representation of the multi-nozzle print head
online). (WO2009151332[7]).
 NEW ATOMIZATION NOZZLE FOR SPRAY DRYING
FIG. 5. Multi-nozzle print head droplet pattern (color figure available
online).
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Energy Efficiency
High Dry Matter Concentration
The spray nozzles used in up-to-date spray towers, either
rotating wheel or high-pressure nozzles, are to their limits
with respect to the maximal viscosity, 300–350 mPa.s, which
means for milk a dry matter of about 55%.
The limited dry matter content means that relatively
large amounts of water have to be evaporated during spray
drying. With ink jet nozzles, the maximal viscosity is up to
500 mPa.s, therefore the product can be fed with a higher
dry matter concentration; consequently, less water needs
to be evaporated during the spray-drying phase. For
example, for one commercial creamer the dry matter con-
centration can be increased from 62% to 67%. In this
creamer, palm fat is replaced by sunflower oil in order to
maintain a fluid at room temperature. For a commercial
high-protein product, an increase in dry matter content
from 25% to 35% is possible.[8] For product streams
FIG. 6. Detail of the holes in the printing head.
893
FIG. 7. Powders from conventional swirl nozzle after spray drying, with
size distribution (color figure available online).
containing a lower percentage of water, the water has to
be subtracted from the feed before spraying. This, however,
can be done using multi-stage evaporators with a much
higher energy efficiency compared to the spray-drying step
itself. When one is able to remove more water during
pre-concentration, this results in a more energy-efficient
processing.
Monodispersity
Energy saving can also be achieved due to the fact that
monodisperse droplets are generated. The drying process
can then be optimized towards this specific droplet size.
This is contrary to the current dryers, which are designed
to be able to dry even the largest droplets, wasting energy
on overheating and overdrying of the other droplets.
To examine the energy advantage of the monodisper-
sity, a calculation based on the model of Langrish[10]
was performed for lactose[11] comparing a monodisperse
and polydisperse droplet distribution. The reaction engin-
eering approach, stipulating threshold energy to start
evaporation, was used as a correction factor.[12] The
model calculates droplet trajectory, momentum, and heat
equations.
A Rosin Rammler distribution was chosen to represent
the polydisperse spray, which is defined as a cumulative
mass distribution in the form.[13]
 894 VAN DEVENTER ET AL.

d n
Fm ðd Þ ¼ 1
e
ðdÞ

Where d [m] is a droplet diameter, d and n are empirical

constants with n chosen as 3, and

dmM
d¼ 1
0:693n

With dmM the mass median diameter, similar to the

monodisperse droplet diameter:

d ¼ 110 lm

The polydisperse flow is discretized using droplet size steps

of 5 mm. Other parameters chosen can be found in Table 1.
Figures 9 and 10 show the difference between drying a
monodisperse and polydisperse droplet stream under simi-
lar conditions. Monodisperse drying is clearly more
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efficient due to a better area to volume ratio. In most dry-
ing situations the capacity of the drying air is not optimally
used. By having a monodisperse distribution, this can
easily be optimized.
Absence of Fines
Although the absence of fines cannot directly be seen as
an energy reduction, it results in a more efficient usage of
materials. With conventional systems, percentages of
material are lost as fines and for the removal of these fines
out of the airflow measures have to be taken, from cyclones
to complex filter systems. The absence of fines therefore
results in a higher yield and less investment and operational
costs for the filtration system. A second advantage in the
absence of fines lies in the possibility of using a heat
exchanger to recover excess heat from the outlet air. In
the usual drying system, fines stick to the heat exchanger
surface and are condensation nuclei, thus limiting the pos-
sibilities in heat exchangers and representing the danger of
FIG. 8. Powders from ink jet nozzle (top), after spray drying. Bottom
left: Monodisperse size and shape of the particles; bottom right: high-
density, spherical particles (color figure available online).
(bio) fouling, especially if recovery of latent heat is applied.
With monodisperse atomization, this problem is overcome.
Powder Properties
Monodispersity
As mentioned as an advantage for energy efficiency, the
monodispersity of the generated powders can also be seen
as an advantage for the powder properties. When the
amount of dying energy is more in line with the particle
size, there is less overheated material, increasing the overall
powders’ performance. Figure 11 shows the increase in
monodispersity. The monodispersity of a powder can be

TABLE 1
Parameters for drying calculation
Parameter Property Value
A [m2] Tower area 5
L [m] Drying length 15
U [m3=s] Air flow 10
Ti [K] Initial air temperature 383 (110 C)
vmi [g=kg] Initial air moisture content 10
Ui [m=s] Initial droplet velocity 8
h [0] Droplet spray angle 27
Td [K] Initial droplet temperature 313 (40 C)
vdi [%] Droplet solid content 0.5
/ [m3=hr] Fluid flow 1 FIG. 9. Dry mass percentage to drying height (color figure available
online).
 NEW ATOMIZATION NOZZLE FOR SPRAY DRYING
FIG. 10. Moisture content drying air (color figure available online).
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characterized by the relative span, S, of the particle size
distribution:
D90
D10
S¼
D50
From Fig. 11 we can determine that the relative span of the
particle size distribution, 1–2 for a conventional powder,
can be reduced to 0.6 and 0.7, respectively, for two differ-
ent ink jet powders. The D10, D50, and D90 values are
respectively 80, 105, and 144, and 103, 150, and 206.[8]
Structure
Since the droplets are generated in a very controlled
manner, the droplets contain no air-entrapments, resulting
FIG. 11. Reduced span of an ink-jet-printed powder.[8]
895
FIG. 12. Powder generated by means of the printing process (color
figure available online).
in solid particles. Also, the generated powder consists of
spherical particles (Figs. 12 and 13), in contrast to the var-
iety in shapes and morphologies that can be seen with con-
ventional powders (Figs. 14 and 15). This round particle
shape results in an excellent flow ability of the dried
material.
One has to keep in mind that, although the absence of
air entrapment is an advantage for the powder properties,
it might be more difficult to dry a fully dense particle com-
pared to a particle with air entrapment. Therefore longer
drying times could be required for massive droplets,
depending on their size.
Density
For a model material (maltodextrin) a 50% density
increase is measured; for a real product, a creamer, a
density increase of 30% is realized.
Mild Processing
Compared to high-pressure or swirl-nozzle, the print
head handles the materials quite gently with low shear
stresses on the slurry, resulting in the ability to process
FIG. 13. SEM image of maltodextrin generated by means of the printing
process.
 896 VAN DEVENTER ET AL.

FIG. 14. Powder generated by means of a swirlflow nozzle (color figure

available online).

sensitive emulsions. Figure 16 shows a comparison of FIG. 16. Emulsion droplet sizes before and after processing (color figure
available online).
emulsion droplet sizes before and after ink jet and
conventional atomization.[8]
powder particle, contrary to the conventionally
Discussion formed agglomerated particle consisting of a large
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The results show several advantages for the use of ink jet number of smaller initial droplets. Since it takes more
technology in spray-drying applications. Two challenges, time to dry large droplets than small droplets, the use
however, remain: of ink jet technology (although in principle resulting
in a much higher production efficiency) requires a
1. Maintaining monodispersity: In conventional spray dry-
drying tower with higher residence time to achieve
ing, a lot of small droplets are formed, and due to the
dry powder.
random nature of the process, collisions between dro-
plets occur, leading to the mean particle size required Thus, the printing process shows a lot of advantages; how-
(with a relatively large span around it). With the ink ever, to really prove the benefits the spray drying tower
jet printing process it is possible to generate identical needs to be adjusted as well. Therefore, within TNO
droplets and to keep control over the droplet paths as
well, preventing droplet collision, resulting in monodis-
perse powders. Unfortunately conventional spray
towers are not designed for this purpose, requiring a
whole new view on tower design.
2. Drying the generated droplets: The ink-jet-based pro-
cess is a significantly different process compared to
the conventional atomizers. To maintain monodisper-
sity, the initial droplet formed should lead to the final

FIG. 15. SEM image of maltodextrin DE32 generated by means of a FIG. 17. Spray tower under construction at TNO Eindhoven (color
swirlflow nozzle. figure available online).
 NEW ATOMIZATION NOZZLE FOR SPRAY DRYING
construction has started on a test facility specifically for
drying experiments on ink-jet-printed droplets. A 15 m
high drying tower will be constructed to further optimize
the process (Fig. 17).
CONCLUSIONS
It can be concluded that the ink-jet-based print head
initially developed for rapid manufacturing applications
has a much broader range of application areas. In the field
of powder processing, the use of the technology allows
monodisperse powders to be created. The monodisperse
nature of the droplets not only results in increased powder
properties, it also enables more exact dosing of drying air,
resulting in an increase in energy efficiency. The print head
is able to process material feed containing higher concen-
trations of solids, resulting in an even higher overall system
performance. The absence of fines results in a more econ-
omic process due to a reduction in the intensity of exhaust
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air filtration. The created powders reveal a different nature
compared to conventional agglomerated powders contain-
ing relatively large amounts of enclosed air. The resulting
powders are spherical without air enclosures, resulting in
high-density powders. The process, on the other hand,
handles the materials with care, allowing processing of
sensitive emulsions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Part of the experiments on pilot scale were performed at
the pilot spray dryer of Royal Friesland Campina in The
Netherlands.
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897
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