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Food Science & Technology vocabulary · Food Processing

Spray drying

Meaning in food science & technology, with examples

nounCommon term

In food science & technology, spray drying means: A drying method that sprays a liquid as very fine droplets into hot air, so that the water evaporates in seconds and a fine powder is collected.

In Turkish: püskürtmeli kurutma, sprey kurutma

How it is used

Used for milk powder, instant coffee, whey protein, flavorings and egg powder. The liquid is usually concentrated first by evaporation. Key settings are the inlet and outlet air temperatures and the atomizer, which is either a nozzle or a spinning disc. Engineers talk about powder moisture, bulk density and solubility.

Example sentences

  1. Spray drying turns the concentrated milk into powder in a few seconds.

  2. During spray drying, the outlet air temperature controls the moisture of the powder.

Common collocations

  • spray dryer
  • inlet temperature
  • outlet temperature
  • milk powder
  • spray-dried powder
  • dryingRemoving water from food, usually with heat and moving air, to lower its water activity so that microorganisms cannot grow and the product keeps for a long time.
  • evaporationRemoving part of the water from a liquid food by boiling it, usually under vacuum at a lower temperature, to make a concentrate such as tomato paste or juice concentrate.
  • moisture contentThe amount of water in a food, usually given as a percentage of its weight and measured by drying a sample and weighing the loss.
  • water activityA measure from 0 to 1, written aw, of how much of the water in a food is free for microorganisms and chemical reactions; pure water has a value of 1.0.

More terms: Food Processing

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