A Brief History of Spray Drying Technology and Development

Why dry?
Drying is the process of removing liquid from solids by evaporation. The drying process has been used for thousands of years to reduce shipping weight and increase the storage life of many products and materials. For centuries, drying meant spreading the produce out in the open, allowing the sun to provide the energy for the moisture to evaporate. With the advent of the industrial age, many different drying processes have been developed to increase drying speed and improve product quality and uniformity.

Why Spray Dry?
In the world of industrial dryers, few types accept a pumpable fluid as feed at the inlet end of the process and produce dry particles at the outlet. Spray drying is unique in its ability to produce powders with a specific particle size and moisture content, regardless of dryer capacity and product heat sensitivity. This flexibility makes spray drying the preferred process for many industrial drying operations.

A Brief History of Spray Drying:
From the 1870s to the beginning of the 20th century, the development of spray drying equipment and technology has gone through decades. The first known spray dryers used nozzle atomizers, and rotary atomizers were introduced decades later. Due to the relatively simple design of early spray dryers and the continued difficulties encountered in practical operation, there were few commercial applications of this method before the 1920s.

By the 1920s, developments in spray dryer design made commercial operation practical. Emulsion drying was the first major commercial application of the technology. Over the next 20 years, manufacturers developed designs to accommodate heat-sensitive products, emulsions, and blends. The age of spray drying arrived during World War II, and there was a sudden need to reduce the weight of food and other substances shipped. This surge in interest has led to the development of technologies that have greatly expanded the range of products that can be successfully spray dried.

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