DRYING AS A UNIT OPERATION IN

DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING

Prof. Kehinde Taiwo

Dept of Food Sci & Tech, OAU, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

0803 582 9554, [email protected] 1
 3 rd International Conference on
Bioprocess & Engineering

• Double Tree by Hilton

• Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• 14 & 15 Sept. 2015
• organised by OMICS Group Conferences
 Introduction
• All foods and biomaterials need some form of
preservation to
– Reduce or stop spoilage
– Make them available throughout the year
– Maintain desired levels of nutritional and
bioactive properties for the longest possible
time span and
– Produce value added products
 Downstream processing
• Refers to the recovery of biomolecules from
natural sources such as animal or plant tissues
besides fermentation broth
• It is an essential step which determines final cost
of the product in the manufacture of
biomolecules e.g.
– Antibiotics, vaccines, antibodies,
– Hormones (e.g. Insulin and human growth hormone)
– Antibodies (e.g. Infliximab and abciximab), enzymes,
and
– Natural fragrance and flavor compounds
 Drying
• Air-drying is an ancient preservation method
• Foods are exposed to a continuously flowing
stream of hot air
• It involves simultaneous mass and heat
transport
• Moisture availability has a great impact on the
transfer of heat to microorganisms
• Consumer demand has increased for
processed products that keep more of their
original characteristics
 Drying Methods
• This requires the development of operations
that minimize the adverse effects of
processing
• There have been various advances in the
drying of foods with respect to quality,
rehydration, and energy minimization
• Some of the improvements and advancements
made leading to the new developments in
drying are discussed
 Intermittent batch drying
• By varying the operating conditions of a
drying process
– Airflow rate
– Temperature
– Humidity or
– Operating pressure
• It can be monitored in order to reduce
the operating cost e.g. thermal input and
power input
 Intermittent batch drying
• The objective is to obtain high
energy efficiency without subjecting
the product beyond its permissible
temperature limit and stress limit
while maintaining high moisture
removal rate
 Hybrid drying techniques
• May include either use of
–More than one dryer for drying of a
particular product (multi-stage drying)
–More than one mode of heat transfer
–Various ways of heat transfer or
–Multiprocessing dryers
 Hybrid drying techniques
• For particulate drying
– Variants of fluid bed or
– Fluid bed with some other techniques can be used
in series to achieve faster drying
• For liquid feedstock
– Generally spray drying is followed by the fluid bed
dryer
• To reduce moisture content to an acceptable
level which is not possible by spray dryer
alone
 Modified atmosphere drying
• The presence of oxygen results in various
unwanted characteristics in dried food
materials
– oxidation of the drying material
– destruction of its bioactive compounds
– browning
• O2 can be replaced by N2 or CO2
• In addition, it increases the effective moisture
diffusivities of some food products
 Superheated steam drying
• Superheated steam does not contain oxygen,
hence oxidative or combustion reactions are
avoided
• It also eliminates the risk of fire and explosion
hazard
• It allows pasteurization, sterilization and
deodorization of food and bio-products
• Net energy consumption can be minimized if
the exhaust (also superheated steam) can be
utilized elsewhere in the plant and hence is
not charged to the dryer
 Impinging stream drying
• In Impinging stream dryers
• The intensive collision of opposed streams
create a zone that offers very high heat, mass
and momentum transfers
• Hence rapid removal of moisture from surface
• Other advantages - low foot prints and high
robustness due to absence of moving parts
• Effective alternatives to flash dryers for
particulate materials with very high drying
loads
 Contact sorption drying
• The contact-sorption drying can be
achieved by
• 1) contacting a wet material with heated
inert particles, thereby removing the
moisture as a result of heat exchange or
• 2) contacting of wet material with heated
sorbent particles where the moisture is
transferred from wet solids to the
sorbent particles
 Contact sorption drying
• A typical contact-sorption drying technique
involves good mixing of wet solid particles
with the sorbent particles to achieve the heat
and mass transfer and then separation of
these two media
• The sorbent particles are regenerated and
returned back to the dryer
• The typical inert sorbent particles (also called
a carrier) are molecular sieves, zeolites,
activated carbon, silica gel, etc.
 Heat pump-assisted drying
• Heat pump dryers use low temperature
dehumidified air as the convective drying
medium
• It incorporates a dehumidification cycle,
where condensation of water allows the
removal of water from the closed system of
drying air circulation
• The heat pump recovers the sensible as well as latent
heat by condensing moisture from the drying air
• An auxiliary heater is generally added for better
control of the temperature at dryer inlet
 Radio frequency drying
• Dielectric heating is the use of either
microwave or radio frequency (RF)
technologies to heat materials
• Microwave and RF interact with individual
molecules to quickly generate heat within a
product
• This is in contrast to conventional heating
where heat is applied externally
• A wet product submitted to a RF field absorbs
the electromagnetic energy, so that its
internal temperature increases
 Radio frequency drying
• If sufficient amount of energy is supplied, the
water is converted into steam, which leaves
the product; and gets dried
• The amount of heat generated in the product
is determined by the
– Frequency
– Square of the applied voltage
– Dimensions of the product and
– The dielectric "loss factor" of the material which is
essentially a measure of the ease with which the
material can be heated by this method
 Microwave drying
• Microwave oven has ability to heat food products
rapidly, conveniently and economically in a compact
space
• The primary drawback is its inability to heat
materials in a predictable and uniform manner
leading to
• -hot spots that damage the item being heated
• - cold spots - under heated or under processed,
thereby compromising product quality and
repeatability
• Microwave heating in combination with vacuum has
been used extensively for drying in pharmaceutical
processing
 Drying in Downstream Processing
• Process industries manufacture different
products from a variety of raw materials
• The raw materials are pretreated and
conversion takes place in a reactor and
separation of product of interest and its
purification takes place in subsequent steps
• All the steps that are prior to the reactor form
“upstream processing”
• All the steps after the reactor form
“downstream processing”
 Drying in Downstream Processing
• In all the unit operations involved in
downstream and upstream processing only
physical changes occur and do not involve
chemical changes
• Unit operations for separation and purification
during downstream processing include:
– distillation, absorption,
– extraction, crystallization,
– drying, mixing,
– evaporation
Downstream Processing Vs Analytical Bioseparation

• Both refer to the separation or purification of

biological products, but at different scales of
operation and for different purposes
• Downstream processing implies manufacture of a
purified product for a specific use in marketable
quantities
• Analytical bioseparation refers to purification for
the sole purpose of measuring a component or
components of a mixture, and may deal with
sample sizes as small as a single cell
Complexity Of Downstream Processing
• Two factors
• 1) the desired product is generally present in low
concentrations and
• 2) it is present along with several impurities or
undesired components
• The economics of downstream processes are
determined by the required purity of the product
which in turn depends on the applications of the
product.
• As a result downstream processing mostly
contributes 40-90 % of total cost
Applications in Downstream Processing
• Thermal drying is more expensive than mechanical
dewatering
• For dehydration of the biomass after harvest
– Thermal drying should be preceded by a
mechanical dewatering step such as filtration or
centrifugation
• Harvesting generally results in a 50 to 200-fold
concentration of biomass
• The harvested biomass slurry (5–15% dry solids)
must be processed rapidly, or it can spoil within a
few hours in a hot climate
• The specific postharvest processing necessary
depends strongly on the desired product
Applications in Downstream Processing
• Membrane processes such as microfiltration,
ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis
– the recovery and concentration of microbial
cells/biomolecules
– enable volume reduction of slurry/solution
before downstream processing operations
(chromatography, electrophoresis, freezing
or freeze-drying )
• Drying methods include spray drying, drum
drying, freeze-drying and sun drying
 Additives/Carriers/Transporters
• Use of additives offer protection to microorganisms
during drying
• The choice of an appropriate carrier is important to
increase their survival rates during dehydration and
subsequent storage
• Differences exhibited are related to their water-
binding capacity and prevention of intracellular and
extracellular ice crystal formation
• Additive materials increase the glass transition
temperature and result in a dried product with
increased stability and less hygroscopicity
• The characteristics of the transporters involved in
sugar uptake lead to differences in their performance
 Carriers/transporters
• Protein (whey protein, skim milk)
• Mrs-broth-based protectants
• Sugars (e.g. maltodextrin, glucose,
fructose, lactose, mannose and sucrose)
• Sugar alcohols (e.g. sorbitol and inositol)
• Non-reducing sugars (e.g. trehalose)
• Disaccharides give better viabilities after
freeze-drying than monosaccharides
Fig 1. Schematic diagram of a spray-drying process
 Spray Drying - Advantages
• Used to dry thermo-sensitive bioactive
compounds and probiotics
• Increases surface to volume ratio of the liquid
particles and consequently enhance the heat
and mass transfer during the drying process
• Continuous operation
• Short time of contact with hot air
• Drying taking place at wet bulb temperature
• Process larger volumes and operate at higher
energy efficiency
 Spray Drying -
• Allows preparation of stable and functional
powder products
• Can be implemented for large scale
throughputs
• Main disadvantages
• High installation costs
• Removal of aromatic volatiles
• Prone to damaging heat sensitive components
such as enzymes and probiotic bacteria
 Process conditions in spray drying

• Air inlet temperature

• Feed flow rate
• Feed formulation
• Out let air temperature and
• Nozzle pressure
• Affect
• Retention of activity of bioactive compounds
• Survivability of microorganisms
 Process conditions
• Low outlet temperature, lower residence
time, low nozzle pressure - good enzyme
activity retention and survivability of
microorganisms has been observed
• However, too low out let air temperature
may result in higher residual moisture
content leading to loss of viability and
enzyme activity retention during storage
 Selection of Dryers
• Drying technologies have become more
diverse and complex
• Dryer selection has become an
increasingly difficult task
• The need to meet
–Stricter quality specifications
–Higher production rates
–Higher energy costs and
–Stringent environmental regulations
 Selection of Dryers
• Characteristics of different dryer types
should be recognized when selecting
dryers
• Changes in operating conditions of the
same dryer can affect the quality of the
product
• The dryer type & right operating
conditions for optimal quality and cost of
thermal dehydration
 Selection of dryers
• Drying of products require adherence to Good
Manufacturing Practice and hygienic
equipment design and operation
• Drying kinetics play a significant role
• Location of the moisture (whether near
surface or distributed in the material)
• Nature of moisture (free or strongly bound to
solid)
• Mechanisms of moisture transfer (rate limiting
step)
 Selection of dryers
• Physical size of product
• Conditions of drying medium (temperature,
humidity, flow rate of hot air for a convective dryer)
• Pressure in dryer (low for heat-sensitive products)
• Demands on product quality may not always permit
one to select the least expensive option based solely
on heat and mass transfer considerations
• In the drying of non-aqueous (organic) solvent or a
mixture of water (pharmaceutical products) with a
solvent, care is needed to recover the solvent and to
avoid potential danger of fire and explosion
 Classification of dryers
• Mode of operation
• Heat input-type
• State of material in dryer
• Operating pressure
• Drying medium
• Drying temperature
• Relative motion between drying medium
and drying solids
• Number of stages
 Table 1 - Classification of dryers
Criterion Types
Mode of Batch
operation Continuous*
Heat input- Convection*
type Conduction
Radiation
Electromagnetic fields
Combination of heat transfer modes
Intermittent or continuous*
Adiabatic or non-adiabatic
 Table 1 - Classification of dryers
Criterion Types
State of Stationary
material in Moving, agitated, dispersed
dryer
Operating Vacuum*
pressure Atmospheric
Drying Air*
medium Superheated steam
(convection) Flue gases
Drying Below boiling temperature*
temperature Above boiling temperature
Below freezing point
 Table 1 - Classification of dryers
Drying temperature Below boiling temperature*
Above boiling temperature
Below freezing point
Relative motion between Co-current
drying medium and drying solids Counter-current
Mixed flow
Number of stages Single*
Multi-stage
Residence time
Short (< 1 minute)
Medium (1 – 60 minutes)
Long (> 60 minutes)
* Most common in practice
 Drying system includes

• Pre-drying stages
• Post-drying stages
 Drying system - Pre-drying stages
• E.g. -
–Evaporation Mechanical dewatering
–Dilution Pelletization
–Feeding Size reduction
–Flaking Extrusion
–Pre-conditioning of feed by solids back-
mixing with dry product
 Drying system - post-drying stages
• Exhaust gas cleaning
• Product collection
• Partial recirculation of exhausts
• Cooling of product
• Coating of product
• Agglomeration, etc.

• The optimal cost-effective choice of dryer will

depend on these stages
 Over-drying

• Increases the energy consumption

• Increases drying time
• Can be avoided by
• Reducing the feed liquid content by less
expensive operations such as
– Filtration
– Centrifugation and
– Evaporation
 Future Potentials and Challenges
• Downstream processing of biological
products has been affected by
–The growth of the biopharmaceutical
industry
–Drastically changing purity
expectations
–Processing volume
–Production flexibility to accommodate
new products
 Future Potentials and Challenges
• A volume-reduction step should achieve high
cell concentration, with minimal product loss
or change in product quality even at large
scale
• Such high cell concentrations can be achieved
with appropriately sized systems and
consideration of system hold-up volume
 Future Potentials and Challenges
• Detailed knowledge on protein stability i.e.
understanding of structural changes of
biomolecules as a result of environmental
influences can help in process design
• The product bioavailability challenge is more
related to improving solubility which may play
an important role as it may promote super
saturation
• In the scale-up process control over particle
size is a priority in spray drying
 Conclusions
• Drying of heat labile biological materials
preserves activity of enzymes/cells
during storage and stabilize the bulk
product until it can be formulated
• Drying becomes expensive unless the
product is of high value and low volume
• Suitable drying methods need to be
selected depending on the value of the
product
•Thank you