Drying & Evaporation Focus - February 09

Paddle Dryer
The K-S Paddle Dryer obtains low moisture levels of 0.5 to 0.1% or lower. The unit’s dual intermeshing agitators with heated wedge-shaped paddles provide for uniform heat transfer to the product and high heat-transfer rates. Residence time is controlled by the feed rate. The amount of off gas is minimal. Heating can be done with steam or circulated thermal fluid at up to 750ºF. Paste, cakes, granules, and powders can be dried. The dryer can also be used for heating, reacting, pasteurizing, and calcining.
Komline-Sanderson, Peapack, NJ 800-225-5457 www.komline.com

Custom Shaft Seals
Meco-DR custom shaft seals accommodate thermal shaft growth and effectively hold vacuum in a dryer. Product is excluded from the seal cavity, which prevents abrasion damage to the shaft. A low-flow air purge is used to maintain seal face pressure and provides a monitoring tool. The seals need infrequent rebuilding; split internal rotating parts are quickly replaced. Users have reported the seals holding as little as 2–3 torr of vacuum, which results in 20–50% shorter dryer cycles. The seals are available fully split and in FDA-approved materials.
Woodex Bearing Company, Inc., Georgetown, ME 800-526-8800 www.woodex-meco.com

Fluid Bed Dryer
This vibrating fluid bed dryer system is designed to process a wide range of products without degradation. The system provides continuous passage of air through the product bed, which maximizes surface area contact and results in a more efficient drying process with minimum retention. Features include: high-temperature alloy construction with aluminum skin insulation; a patented Iso-Max dynamic reaction reducer that reduces already-low dynamic reactions by up to 90%; and the Delta Phase Drive, which provides precise control of several important vibration parameters.
Carrier Vibrating Equipment Inc., Louisville, KY 502-969-3171 www.carriervibrating.com

Dryers and Coolers
Bella Series-506 dryers and coolers offer a new method of drying or cooling powders, granulates, and filter cakes. The dryer can be used for drying, mixing, spraying, agglomerating, and cooling in the same unit without additional equipment or costs. Operation is extremely efficient because air flows around material while it is suspended in the weightless zone of the mixer. This maximizes the total surface that is exposed to the air and increases the desired effect. The drying process will go through an adiabatic evaporation with thermal efficiency at about 80 %. Only small air volumes are required compared with other fluidizing dryers.
Dynamic Air Inc., St. Paul, MN 651-484-2900 www.dynamicair.com

Granulizing-Drying System
Consisting of a centrifugal screener, a spheroidizer, circular fluid bed dryer, and a vibratory screener, this granulizing-drying system converts nonflowing moist solids discharged from cartridge and vacuum filters, filter presses, mixers, and other equipment into uniform, compact, dry, de-dusted, free-flowing granules. These are ready for storage, shipping, packaging, or secondary processing. A Centri-Sifter centrifugal screener uses rotating helical paddles to break up lumps and drive nonflowing materials through apertures in a horizontal cylinder, which produces moist pellets continuously and at high rates. The unit handles smooth, lumpy, sticky, and otherwise difficult-to-handle materials, and is reportedly more productive, compact, and economical than screw-type extruders.
Kason Corp., Millburn, NJ 973-467-8140 www.kason.com

Jacketed Vacuum Dryer
This newly designed horizontal Ploughshare jacketed vacuum dryer is easy to clean. The full-access door across the front of the unit allows greater access to perform frequent cleaning operations. The easy-clean design provides a benefit to manufacturers that are concerned with cross-contamination from batch to batch in their operation due to allergens, flavors, colors, and formula changes.
Littleford Day, Florence, KY 800-365-8555 www.littleford.com

Conical Screw Vacuum Dryer
The Saturn conical screw dryer is used for drying powders and granules, and removing solvent from the product. The unit can be supplied in carbon steel, varying grades of stainless steel, and other exotic alloys. Available sizes range from 2 to 2650 cu ft. The standard tapered screw is more efficient than a straight screw, which reduces the unit’s overall height, decreases blending time, and improves dryer efficiency.
Jaygo Inc., Union, NJ 908-688-3600 www.jaygoinc.com

Fluid Bed Dryer-Screener
This circular vibratory fluid bed dryer-screener reduces moisture content of bulk materials, removes agglomerates and dust, and discharges on-size material into bulk bags. The system consists of a circular fluid bed processor, heater, blower, and vibratory screener. The circular fluid bed dryer is approximately half the size and weight of a rectangular fluid bed dryer of equivalent capacity, and allows all primary system components to be consolidated on a shippable frame. The inherent strength of the circular processor eliminates the need for heavy-gauge walls and cross braces otherwise required to withstand continuous vibration, thereby allowing vibratory motors to be downsized. The circular unit also requires only one air inlet and outlet and has fewer weld seams, which reduces size and cost, especially when finished to 3A, FDA, and BISSC sanitary standards.
Kason Corp., Millburn, NJ 973-467-8140 www.kason.com