Integrated drying system can boost plant efficiency, claims Kason

Kason Corporation said that its Granulizing-Drying System is suitable for any moist food powders or wet cakes that need to be in dry granular form prior to their storage, shipping, packaging or secondary processing.

According to the company, the components are compliant with Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Baking Industry Sanitation Standards Committee (BISSC) standards.

The centrifugal screener, continued the company, uses rotating helical paddles to break-up lumps and drive non-flowing materials through apertures in a horizontal screen cylinder, producing moist pellets continuously, at high rates.

A spokesperson for Kason told FoodProductionDaily.com that the unit is more productive, compact and economical than screw-type extruders and can handle smooth, lumpy, sticky and otherwise difficult-to-handle materials.

Moist pellets are then discharged into a spheroidizer that utilizes vibratory energy to produce high-strength, uniform, spherical particles, he continued.

The next stage of the drying process involves the particles being conveyed into a circular vibratory fluid bed dryer that vibrates and dries the particles on a perforated screen within a rising column of heated air on a first-in-first-out basis, said the spokesperson.

He claims that the circular design of the fluid bed dryer yields greater efficiency and economy than conventional rectangular fluid bed dryers, while cleaning is made easier through the elimination of cross braces that are required on the heavier rectangular models to maintain their integrity.

“The quick-disconnect housing requires only one air inlet and outlet, and is inherently rigid, allowing materials to be down-gauged, vibratory motors to be down-sized, and associated components to be eliminated,”​ he added.

The end stage in the cycle, said the spokesperson, involves a vibratory screener that employs an upper screening deck to remove any oversize particles, and a lower deck to remove particles to be re-processed, on a batch or continuous basis.

He added that the integrated system can be tailored to either small or large-scale granulizing applications in the food manufacturing industry.