Bühler Aeroglide, a global leader in thermal process engineering and technology for food, feed, and industrial materials, will hold a drying seminar in Cary, NC, on December 9-11, 2014. The seminar aims to help participants learn and apply drying theory to enhance the performance of processing equipment and improve product quality.
 
Most conveyor dryers operate 10%-30% below their potential efficiency and this is a frequent source of lost revenue, even in smaller production lines. Bühler Aeroglide’s seminar teaches participants the basics of drying theory through a combination of focused and concentrated lectures followed by hands on laboratory sessions. Its December seminar will be held at the company’s technical center, where a variety of dryer simulations are used to demonstrate and evaluate processing.
 
“Our most recent drying theory seminar in Barcelona helped European participants understand drying and apply knowledge to their own specific products and processing operations,” said Joe Tordella, manager of field engineering at Bühler Aeroglide. “Each time, our goal is to teach particular skills needed to evaluate drying operations and produce a baseline of improvements regardless of a dryer’s make or model. In the end, participants should be able to go back and train their own colleagues on best drying procedures to improve efficiency, increase production and achieve optimum product quality.”
 
Drying Theory Put to Practice explores drying basics including parameters, balancing, evaluating, mechanical inspections, and troubleshooting with a dryer simulation. By learning how to adjust and regulate the process for the desired outcome, participants find hidden areas of opportunity in the drying process. In the long run, this can mean large savings and increased capacity. Bühler Aeroglide also provides site evaluations to establish baselines for these improvements.
 
“We recently helped a processor of dried fruit realize significant improvements,” said Tordella. “With adjustments in zone temperatures and modifications in product bed depths, the processor achieved a 20% increase in product capacity. For a charcoal briquette processor, modifications meant a 25% savings in energy and a moisture adjustment meant more product weight could be packaged.”
 
To provide an example scenario, if a processor generates 10 tons of a product in an hour at a 10% discharge moisture content, this equates to 240 tons per day. Operating 325 days a year, the result would be 78,000 tons a year. But if the processor raises the moisture set point by as little as a quarter of a percent to 10.25%, there could be an improvement of 217 tons a year. Therefore, a small adjustment like this can mean a significant increase in production as well as a better use of dryer energy.
 
The three-day-interactive training program was created for plant managers, project managers, plant engineers, and quality control personnel. It also teaches advanced drying concepts and measurement practices in a hands-on lab session combined with advance calculation methods used for dryer sizing. On day two, the class gets to address a mystery product and develop an out-of-the-box approach to solve a drying issue. For more information and to register, contact Carolyn Gill at 919-851-2000 or email [email protected].
 
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