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Drying heat-sensitive food products with sustainable solutions

Learn how Bepex's drying technologies can preserve product quality and maintain high nutritional value for heat-sensitive food products.

Maintaining high product quality during the drying operation is a primary concern in food drying applications. The dryer design should minimize product discoloration and preserve the desired flavor, aroma, and efficacy. At the same time, there is an increasing demand for sustainable solutions that use less energy and reduce environmental impact.

One such sustainable solution is Bepex's direct dispersion dryer technology. This innovative drying system is designed to handle higher-solids content feeds, which means that it requires less energy to dry the solids to an acceptable moisture level. This results in a significant reduction in energy consumption and operational costs.

Bepex's direct flash dryer technology also offers other benefits for heat-sensitive food products. It protects the nutritional quality of the products while improving overall quality, including color. The dryer design ensures that the product is not exposed to excessive heat for a prolonged period, which can result in degradation and discoloration.

The direct flash dryer technology is just one of many unique proprietary drying technologies offered by Bepex. The company specializes in the development of continuous drying processes for heat-sensitive materials. When approached with new and novel drying applications, Bepex typically begins its review with two of its proprietary technologies.

The first option is the PCX Flash Dryer, a dispersion flash dryer that utilizes heated air streams and rotating dispersion plates to generate a thin layer of material. This provides intimate contact between the particles to be dried and the heated gas stream, resulting in more efficient heat transfer. Material residence time inside the dryer is short, which minimizes the risk of degradation and color change.

The mechanical design of the PCX enables you to dry solids with higher-moisture contents than other flash dryers. The rotating dispersion plates help break apart any lumps into consistent particles, allowing for even heating, leading to better quality and more consistent product.

In situations where energy cost or emissions are of extreme concern, or if there is a volatile present other than water, our Solidaire Paddle Dryer provides an attractive alternative to flash drying. The paddle dryer uses conductive heating to carry out evaporation, with a heated gas stream (often inert) running counter-current to material flow. This provides more efficient operation and lower operating utility requirements.

Like the PCX, the solids are forced into a thin layer along the periphery of the vessel. This drastically increases the heat transfer into the solids, providing the most efficient operation available. The mechanical design of the Solidaire offers gentle agitation and conveyance and is capable of working through the difficult transition phase while moisture is evaporated.

Bepex's Process Development Center provides the ability to test, generate market-ready samples, and provide proof of concept for your process prior to scaling to commercial capacities. Whether drying vegetable protein, starch, yeast, or another temperature-sensitive material, Bepex has the experience, products, and capability to serve as a valued partner in your product and process development.

Bepex's direct flash dryer technology offers a sustainable solution for drying heat-sensitive food products. The technology uses less energy and reduces environmental impact while protecting the nutritional quality and improving overall quality. Combined with Bepex's other proprietary drying technologies and process development capabilities, the company provides a comprehensive solution for the food industry's drying needs.