Niro designs spray dryers, multistage dryers and FILTERMAT® dryers to produce a variety of products.

Starch from corn, grain, potatoes, yams and tapioca qualifies as some of the most important ingredients in the food industry. Inulin and gums are equally important, as these can be transformed into several products with special characteristics.

The product group includes:

• maltodextrins
• corn syrups
• sugar
• glucose
• malts
• sorbitol
• xylitol
• gum arabic
• carragenan
• pectin

The type of dryer selected depends on the product properties. Niro has supplied conventional spray dryers, multistage dryers and FILTERMAT® dryers for a variety of the products mentioned above. The success of the Niro spray dryers is unmistakable, seeing how hundreds of these dryers operate worldwide. Niro has experience in supplying industrial spray dryers for the products referred to on this page.


MALTODEXTRINS AND MALTS
Starch is a group of polymers based on glucose, and is a basic ingredient in several products. The structure and size of the starch granules depends on the crop, soil, weather, and harvesting.

Starches can be transformed into many important products through hydrolysis with acid or enzymes. The end products are assigned a value describing the Dextrose Equivalent. Products with DE-values from 6 to 19 are referred to as Maltodextrins, those with DE-values from 20 to 91 are generally termed Syrups (the most common being 'corn-syrup'). Products with DE-values of 92 to 99 are called 'Total Sugar'. A value of DE-100 equals pure Glucose (Dextrose).

Products with DE-values of 6 to 38 are either dried on conventional dryers for fine particle products, or on multi-stage dryers for coarse and agglomerated products.

Products with values of DE-10 to DE-100 can be dried on a FILTERMAT® dryer, which yields a coarse, agglomerated product.

Malts contain a high amount of Maltose known from brewing of beer and malt drinks. These malts can be spray dried on various types of dryers, depending on the wanted composition and thermoplasticity. Conventional spray dryers are often used for regular malts, while the FILTERMAT® is more suitable for the thermoplastic products.

Many artificial sweetener products are made by spray drying mixes of maltodextrins with small amounts of aspratam.

Dryers have been installed with capacities from 100-7000 kg per hour.

Spray Dryer, Fluidized Spray Dryer

SUGAR:
Sugar is not a normal spray drying product, but some 'low bulk density' products have been produced on Niro dryers for special use; such as sugar for breakfast cereals.


SUGAR ALCOHOLS:
Low-calorie sweeteners like sorbitol and xylitol have adapted the spray drying process, because they have known to obtain excellent properties to produce tablets, and have great solubility and handling properties. The products are normally extremely sticky and thermoplastic, and require a long process time to crystallise. The FILTERMAT® drying system is the most successful industrial installation to process this product, which can not be dried on conventional dryers.

FILTERMAT® Dryer


INULIN:
Inulin is extracted mainly from chicory roots and jerusalem roots. Inulin is a group of polymers made from a single glucose molecule and several fructose molecules. Composition depends on aspects of crop, soil, weather and time of harvest.
Inulin can be transformed into various important food ingredients by hydrolysis and other types of processing.

Standard inulins can be spray dried on conventional spray dryers to make fine particle products, or on multistage dryers to make coarse and agglomerated products. Many of the processed inulins are sticky and thermoplastic products, which may require the use of a FILTERMAT® dryer to produce powders with solid functional properties. A NOZZLE TOWER^TM dryer is also an option.

Niro has developed the technologies for spray drying of these products, and has supplied industrial dryers for them.

NOZZLE TOWERTM Dryer


PECTINS, SEA-WEED POLYMERS AND TREE-GUM POLYMERS:
These groups of natural carbohydrate-polymer products exist in:

• fruits
• sea-weed
• tree-gums

These complicated polymers are composed of different carbohydrates, such as:

• galacturonic acid
• mannuronic acid
• guluronic acid
• galactose
• arabinose
• xylose
• rhamnose
• mannose
• glucose
• fructose

The water solutions of these products have a high viscosity. These products are popular gelling agents and thickeners within the food industry.
The water solutions or melts are often dried by roller or drum drying. It is possible to spray dry several of these products low dust content, improved free-flowing properties and increased wet ability and solubility.

The online news services, Dairy Reporter has a brief description of GEA Niro A/S and informs readers of Niro Spray Dryers ability to handle starch and convert it into maltodextrin.