Spray dryers for milk powder are a key investment for many dairy production facilities. With butter and milk powder prices continuing to trend upwards here at the end of 2019, the efficient and effective processing of milk into dairy powders comes into focus again.
As I‘ve been out visiting our customers’ drying operations a lot over the last year, I am reminded of the older legacy spray dryers for milk powder that were built for a different era of energy costs, safety standards, automation and expectations of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
New spray dryers for milk powder or spray dryers rebuilt or renovated with modern requirements in mind are able to operate more efficiently, with more operational stability and uptime, and for longer durations between CIP cleaning.
It may be worthwhile to consider the following questions:
- With tighter supply chains in your processing organization and for your customers, have you evaluated the impact of a business interruption caused by your spray dryer?
- Has your current spray dryer safety system been tested and validated recently?
- Have you automated your control system for the simplest, most repeatable and most reliable operation of your spray dryer in the current labor market?
- Are you losing uptime due to issues with the baghouse on your spray dryers or plugging of the cyclones?
- Your air filtration system and spray dryer heating system may meet the regulatory requirements, but does it meet the intentions and expectations of the buyer of the milk powder?
- Is your CIP still effective? Can your CIP be turned around more quickly to create more operating hours?
- …Or do you simply need more capacity?
As you can see, there is a lot to consider when it comes to the operation of spray dryers for milk powder. Contact Caloris today for assistance with an overall systems assessment, an evaluation of your spray dryer, and recommendations for increasing efficiency, safety and more.
This blog post was written by Caloris Business Development Manager and Spray Dryer Expert Jim Kent. You can contact Jim via email for more information or call Caloris at 410-822-6900.