Keeping spray dryers dry
Maxwell House installs a proactive moisture measurement and control system to lower its downtime and energy costs.
"Good to the last drop." That's how Maxwell House -- a division of Kraft -- advertises its coffee. Maintaining its high level of product quality on its instant coffee production line in Houston, however, presented the company with a problem. While the finished product needed to meet exacting moisture specifications, the control system for the spray dryers in the line was incapable of proactively detecting moisture variations. As a result, the plant experienced expensive downtime for cleaning when slugs of wet coffee concentrate periodically clogged the spray dryers. They also experienced high energy costs when the dryers overdried the concentrate. Maxwell House needed a thoroughly modern moisture measurement and control solution to bring its historic plant up to date.