Drying high-solids feeds with an agitated flash dryer
Feeds with a high solids content can produce dry powder much faster and with less heat than feeds containing fewer solids, but they can also be more difficult to handle. An agitated flash dryer handles such high-solids feeds and provides other benefits. This article explains how the agitated flash dryer works and how to determine whether the dryer can meet your needs.
Because thermal drying is an energy-intensive process, mechanically dewatering a feed to remove moisture before drying can save money. However, many continuous dryers [such as a spray dryer] can't handle dewatered feed, which is typically paste or filter cake, and instead require a pumpable or more liquid feed. Other continuous dryers [such as conventional flash dryers] that can handle paste or filter cake require back- mixing dry product into the feed to improve fluidization. Still others [such as a conveyor dryer or a spray dryer] are very large, so they not only require a lot of floor space or ceiling height, but can be time-consuming to clean between products.