By Rise Pfi
The laboratory spray dryer is used to convert liquid formulations, including solutions, suspensions and emulsions, into dry powders. Spray drying is a widely used particle production technology in research and development within biomaterials, chemicals, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials. Typical applications - Production of powders from cellulose and nanocellulose suspensions - Drying of solutions, suspensions and emulsions - Formulation development and screening Powders produced by spray drying may subsequently be characterized with respect to: - Particle size and size distribution - Particle morphology - Moisture content The laboratory spray dryer is used to convert liquid formulations, including solutions, suspensions and emulsions, into dry powders. The instrument is part of the NORCELlab research infrastructure (The Norwegian Cellulose Laboratory). Spray drying is a widely used particle production technology in research and development within biomaterials, chemicals, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals and advanced materials. During the process, a liquid feed is atomized into fine droplets and brought into contact with a heated gas stream. As the solvent evaporates, dry particles are formed and collected as a particulate product. Process conditions can be adjusted to influence powder properties and process performance. The BUCHI Spray Dryer equipped with the Inert Loop S-395 allows spray drying of formulations containing organic solvents in a closed-loop system operated under an inert gas atmosphere. The system is designed to condense and recover organic solvents and incorporates oxygen and pressure monitoring for safe operation. The equipment can be used to study the effect of processing parameters, including inlet temperature, feed rate, atomization conditions and gas flow, on powder formation and drying performance. Such studies can support formulation development, process understanding and preparation for further scale-up. Typical applications - Production of powders from cellulose and nanocellulose suspensions - Drying of solutions, suspensions and emulsions - Formulation development and screening - Process development and optimization - Studies of particle formation during spray drying - Production of powder samples for further analysis or downstream processing - Characterization of spray-dried powders Powders produced by spray drying may subsequently be characterized with respect to: - Particle size and size distribution - Particle morphology - Moisture content - Bulk density - Flow properties - Storage stability - Process yield and powder recovery The selection of characterization methods depends on the material, application and available analytical techniques. Read more about NORCELlab here.
