Development of a Laboratory Ink-jet Spray Dryer

There has been continuing development in the area of spray drying technology to meet new challenges. Here, a concept of spray drying initially suggested by the second author is described to assess the possibilities of minimizing certain potential problems of spray drying. The principle of ink-jet technology is employed, where a single stream of uniform size droplets can be achieved. The ink-jet device was introduced to spray drying operations as an innovative atomizer due to its attractive ability to produce a monodisperse stream of uniform droplets with a better control over the droplet and possibly the particle characteristics. Several calculations on feasibility of this kind of drier are provided in this paper for the case of drying of a monodisperse stream of droplets. The advantages and possible drawbacks of the spray drying operation based on this relatively new concept of spray drying have been discussed. Finally, the recent laboratory results, using a single (ink-jet) atomizer spray drier developed at the University of Auckland (now located at Monash University), on the physical features of the lactose particles collected are reported.