Features of Pilotech Food Drying Machine
- Temperature control accuracy of ±1°C with PID control
- Minimum sample volume of 10 mL on selected laboratory spray dryers
- Integrated low-temperature vacuum option down to 50 ℃
- PLC touchscreen with real-time data export for traceability
- SUS316L food-grade contact parts meeting GMP standards
- CE-compliant configurations for applicable EU machinery requirements
Your Trusted Food Drying Machine Manufacturer
Food drying machines are used to remove moisture from food or to control the final moisture content. In the case of food spray dryers, they can also directly convert liquid materials into dry powders. This helps extend the shelf life of food and makes it easier to store. Furthermore, reducing moisture content lowers the product’s weight, which can reduce transportation costs.
Pilotech is a manufacturer specializing in the research, development, and production of laboratory equipment. With 21 years of industry experience, we hold more than 50 patents and 10 software copyrights. Thanks to our excellent product quality and reliable after-sales service, our products are sold in more than 70 countries and regions, serving over 6,000 customers. We offer a wide range of food drying machines, including food spray dryers, food fluidized bed dryers, spray freeze dryers, and vacuum belt dryers. These machines are available in various configurations, providing flexible options to meet your diverse R&D needs.
Rapidly atomizes liquid foods into fine droplets and dries them into powder. Suitable for low-viscosity, low-solids-content liquids, such as milk, beverages, and condiments.
Uses heated air to fluidize wet particles or granules for efficient drying. Suitable for food granules, powders, protein products, extracts, and liquid materials requiring controlled moisture and particle processing.
Combines spray atomization with freeze drying. Low-temperature processing helps handle heat-sensitive food ingredients while producing porous powders with good rehydration properties.
Dries concentrated or heat-sensitive food materials continuously under vacuum with adjustable temperature zones. Suitable for viscous products, extracts, fruit powders, instant beverages, and ingredients requiring low-temperature drying.
Food Drying Machine Specifications
The technical parameters outlined below reflect standard and customizable configurations across our lab and pilot food drying machine series. Specifications vary by model and configuration.
| Parameter | Laboratory / Pilot-Scale Specification |
| Drying Technologies | Spray Drying / Fluidized Bed Drying / Spray Freeze Drying / Vacuum Belt Drying |
| Feed Material | Liquid / slurry / emulsion / suspension / wet powder / granules / concentrated liquid |
| Processing Scale | Laboratory / Pilot Scale |
| Spray Drying Capacity | Approx. 0.5–10 L/h for water, depending on model and material |
| Fluidized Bed Capacity | Approx. 0.3–3 kg/batch, depending on model and material |
| Spray Freeze Drying Capacity | Up to approx. 3 L/batch |
| Vacuum Belt Drying Capacity | Model- and material-dependent; pilot-scale configurations available |
| Spray Dryer Inlet Temperature | Approx. 50–200°C; low-temperature/vacuum configurations available |
| Fluidized Bed Drying Temperature | Approx. 40–150°C |
| Spray Freeze Drying Temperature | Spray freezing typically below −50 to −100°C; cold trap typically ≤−60°C |
| Vacuum Belt Drying Temperature | Approx. 35–90°C, depending on material and configuration |
| Final Product | Powder / dry particles/granules/flakes |
| Spray Atomization | Two-Fluid Nozzle; optional nozzle sizes according to model |
| Typical Spray Particle Size | Approx. 1–120 μm, depending on atomization and feed properties |
| Spray Freeze-Dried Particle Size | Approx. 1–100 μm |
| Fluidized Bed Airflow | Model-dependent; laboratory units up to approx. 240 m³/h |
| Atomizing Air Pressure | Approx. 1–3 bar |
| Vacuum Level | Application-dependent; spray freeze drying systems can reach <20 Pa |
| Minimum Sample Volume | Approx. 10–200 mL for laboratory spray dryers, depending on model |
| Temperature Control Accuracy | Typically ±1–2°C, depending on model |
| Control System | PLC / Touchscreen HMI / automatic or manual control, depending on model |
| Contact Material | SUS304 stainless steel; SUS316/SUS316L available for selected components or configurations |
| Drying Gas | Air / Nitrogen, depending on material and process |
| Heating Method | Electric heating / hot water/steam / thermal oil, depending on dryer type |
| Application | Food ingredients / beverages / extracts / dairy ingredients / flavors / functional food materials / powders / granules |
How Does a Food Drying Machine Work?
Food Spray Dryer
Working Principle
A spray dryer atomizes liquid material into extremely fine droplets using an atomizer. These tiny droplets come into direct contact with hot air inside the drying tower, causing the moisture to evaporate instantly and transforming them into dry powder within a few seconds.
Advantage
Because the food spray dryer dries at an extremely fast rate, it reduces the exposure time of heat-sensitive ingredients to hot gas, thereby preserving their activity. Furthermore, the powder produced by the spray drying machine has good flowability, high solubility, and a relatively uniform particle size.
Fluid Bed Dryer
Working Principle
Place the moist granular or powdered material on a distributor plate, and direct hot air through the material layer. When a certain air velocity is reached, the solid particles are lifted and suspended in the airflow, forming a fluidized state similar to liquid boiling. In this state, the entire particle comes into full contact with the hot air, thereby achieving uniform drying.
Advantage
This drying method is highly efficient in terms of heat and mass transfer, ensuring uniform heating of food particles and allowing for precise control of the final moisture content. In pilot-scale equipment, granulation and coating functions are often integrated, enabling a single machine to serve multiple purposes. This helps reduce contamination caused by material transfer and lowers your long-term equipment costs.
Spray Freeze Dryer
Working Principle
A spray freeze dryer combines spray technology with freeze-drying technology. First, the liquid material is atomized into small droplets and rapidly sprayed into an extremely low-temperature medium. The droplets instantly freeze into ice crystals. These crystals are then transferred to a vacuum environment. There, the ice crystals are directly converted into water vapor and removed through the process of sublimation.
Advantage
The spray freeze dryer is highly effective at preserving the heat-sensitive active ingredients, color, and volatile flavor compounds in your material. This method takes less time than traditional freeze-drying technology and offers better rehydration properties. The resulting product is non-clumping and has good flowability.
Vacuum Belt Dryer
Working Principle
Liquid or paste-like materials are evenly applied to a conveyor belt inside the vacuum chamber by a feed pump. Beneath the conveyor belt are multiple independently controlled heating zones and a cooling zone. Under vacuum conditions, the materials rapidly lose moisture at a low temperature and are then scraped off and pulverized by a scraper at the end of the conveyor.
Advantage
The vacuum belt dryer uses low-temperature continuous drying and is resistant to clogging, making it highly recommended for drying materials with high sugar content, high viscosity, and high hygroscopicity. It features multiple adjustable temperature zones that allow for precise control of drying temperatures at different stages. Additionally, the material can foam under vacuum, resulting in better product solubility.
Laboratory Food Drying Machine vs. Pilot-Scale Food Drying Machine vs. Industrial Food Drying Machine
| Comparison Dimension | Laboratory Scale | Pilot Scale | Industrial Scale (For Reference Only) |
| Main Objective | Recipe validation, feasibility testing, and small-sample R&D | Process parameter optimization, trial production, and basis for linear scale-up | Large-scale continuous commercial production |
| Capacity | 30 mL/h to 2 L/h (Small sample size) | 5 L/h ~ 10 L/h (Medium batch size) | 100 L/h to several tons per hour |
| Footprint | Benchtop or compact vertical design, space-saving | Modular structure, suitable for R&D and pilot workshops | Large-scale system requiring multi-story facilities |
| Process Control | High sensitivity, easy to quickly adjust parameters | High-precision PLC temperature and pressure control, simulating industrial control logic | Centralized automated control, focusing on long-term continuous operation stability |
| Sample Yield | High yield, optimized to maximize recovery of expensive materials | Good yield, close to industrial recovery rates | Micro-losses ignored, focusing on overall output efficiency |
| Cleaning and Flexibility | Fast disassembly, manual or semi-automatic cleaning, easy recipe changeover | Fast disassembly or integrated mini-CIP system, suitable for multi-product line switching | Large automated CIP systems with high changeover costs |
What Foods Can Be Processed with Our Food Drying Machine?
Liquid and Slurry Foods
For solutions or low-viscosity suspensions, you can use a spray dryer to rapidly atomize the material and dry it into a powder. If the liquid material has extremely high viscosity, direct spraying may cause clogging or material buildup on the chamber walls. You can consider a vacuum belt dryer. Its continuous, temperature-controlled spreading process enables efficient drying while preventing clogging. For extremely valuable and heat-sensitive liquid raw materials, a spray freeze dryer is the best choice.
Granular and Particulate Foods
The fluid state created by a fluid bed dryer allows hot air to evenly envelop each particle, preventing uneven heating caused by particle agglomeration. Furthermore, fluid bed dryers can perform secondary granulation or coating during the drying process, thereby enhancing the product’s physical properties, such as flowability and resistance to caking.
Heat-Sensitive Food Ingredients
The spray freeze dryer operates below freezing and under vacuum conditions, maximizing the retention of active ingredients such as probiotics. The vacuum belt dryer also uses a vacuum environment, enabling drying at lower temperatures to prevent the degradation of heat-sensitive components.
Although the spray dryer uses hot air, you can select a configuration suitable for heat-sensitive materials. For example, in a co-current spray dryer, the material’s surface remains at wet-bulb temperature while moisture evaporates, and it is exposed to heat for only a few seconds, making it suitable for the rapid drying of moderately heat-sensitive raw materials.
| Factor | Spray Dryer | Fluidized Bed Dryer | Spray Freeze Dryer | Vacuum Belt Dryer |
| Feed form | Liquid and slurry | Wet particles and powder | Liquid | Liquid, slurry, and concentrate |
| Main process | Atomization and hot air | Hot-air fluidization | Atomization, freezing, and vacuum drying | Vacuum drying on a heated moving belt |
| Typical output | Powder | Dry particles and granules | Fine powder | Dried sheets, flakes, and powder |
| Heat sensitivity | Moderate | Depends on material | High | High |
| Typical use | Liquid food ingredients | Granules and powders | Heat-sensitive ingredients | Concentrated or heat-sensitive food materials |
What Factors Affect Food Drying?
Drying Temperature
Drying temperature directly affects the heat transfer rate and material reactivity. If the temperature is too high, it can cause heat-sensitive components to deactivate or result in case hardening. If it is too low, it can lead to inefficient drying or a final product that is too moist.
Feed Rate
The feed rate determines the material load inside the drying chamber. If the feed rate is too fast, there may be insufficient heat, resulting in incomplete drying of the product or material sticking to the chamber walls. If the feed rate is too slow, it may cause localized overheating of the material, leading to gelatinization.
Airflow
In spray and fluid bed drying, the airflow rate determines the suspension of the material, the uniformity of heat transfer, and the rate at which water vapor is removed. An excessively high airflow rate may result in material loss, while an excessively low airflow rate may lead to incomplete drying.
Drying Time
Drying time refers to the retention time of the material in the drying chamber. You need to take both the rate of moisture migration and production capacity into account to determine the drying duration and avoid over-drying.
Feed Concentration
In general, the higher the feed concentration, the less water needs to be evaporated, and the lower the energy consumption. However, excessively high concentrations can increase viscosity, which may affect spray atomization or the uniformity of material distribution.
Initial Moisture Content
The initial moisture content determines the total heat required for the drying process and the process step settings. For example, if your material has an excessively high moisture content, it is best to perform a dehydration pretreatment first.
Vacuum Level
Vacuum level is primarily used for vacuum belt dryers and spray freeze dryers. The higher the vacuum level, the lower the evaporation temperature of water, which more effectively protects heat-sensitive components and helps form a loose, porous structure.
How to Choose a Food Drying Machine?
Initial Form of Materials
To choose the right food drying machine, first assess the material’s initial physical form. If you are processing a low-viscosity liquid, a spray dryer is the fastest drying option. For wet granules, powders, or small chunks, a fluid bed dryer is more suitable. For high-viscosity pastes or high-sugar concentrates, we recommend choosing a vacuum belt dryer.
Heat Sensitivity and Value
For high-value-added, extremely heat-sensitive ingredients, we recommend choosing the spray freeze dryer. If you’re dealing with general heat-sensitive agricultural extracts, you may want to consider the vacuum belt Dryer or spray dryer, which are more cost-effective.
Capacity and Processing Scale
If you are only conducting formulation screening with small sample sizes, we recommend choosing lab-scale equipment. This type of equipment can process as little as 30 milliliters, helping you save on R&D costs. If you need to collect process scale-up parameters or produce small batches of market samples, you can opt for pilot-scale equipment to ensure that its control logic is consistent with that of industrial equipment.
Target Product Properties
If you are looking for highly free-flowing, instant micro powders, spray dryers or spray freeze dryers are a good option. If you need porous, loose, lumpy material for grinding, vacuum belt drying is a good choice. If you want to integrate drying, granulation, and coating into a single process, a multifunctional fluid bed dryer is the way to go.
Compliance
Safety and compliance are critical in food processing. For R&D facilities that frequently change formulations, it is also important to consider the materials used for food-contact parts, ease of disassembly and cleaning, and CIP (Clean-in-Place) capabilities. Choose suitable materials and equipment configurations according to applicable regulations in your region and your specific process requirements.
Spray dryers are primarily used in the food industry to convert liquid raw materials into powders. They are widely used to process dairy products such as milk powder and whey powder. They are also used in formulating and optimizing processes for natural pigments, plant protein extracts, instant tea powder, and seasoning slurries. Due to the extremely fast drying speed, which takes only a few seconds, the material maintains its wet-bulb temperature while being heated, thereby maximizing the retention of the food’s flavor, nutritional value, and solubility.
The price of a food drying machine is primarily determined by the equipment specifications and technical configuration. First, there is a significant price difference between laboratory-scale micro-units and pilot-scale units. Second, there are the core materials and manufacturing processes. For example, using 316L stainless steel and high surface roughness (Ra) polishing for wetted parts will increase costs. In addition, automated control systems, explosion-proof configurations for organic solvents, and customized engineering services also directly impact the total cost.
Yes, but you must choose a closed-loop system and explosion-proof configuration. For food extracts containing trace amounts of organic solvents such as ethanol, conventional open-loop systems pose safety risks. Our laboratory and pilot-scale food drying machines can be equipped with inert gas recirculation systems, online oxygen concentration monitoring, and solvent condensation and recovery units. This not only effectively prevents explosions caused by dust and solvent vapors, achieving safety and compliance during the R&D process, but also enables efficient solvent recovery.
For food ingredients with high fat or oil content, the key to preventing wall sticking and caking lies in controlling the thermoplasticity and glass transition temperature (Tg). From a process perspective, you can add polymer carriers such as maltodextrin to achieve microencapsulation. In terms of equipment, pilot-scale units can be equipped with a wall air sweep system, a cooling jacket for the chamber walls, and a low-angle air knocker. These configurations help the material cool and solidify rapidly before it comes into contact with the chamber walls.
Our laboratory and pilot-scale food spray dryers are primarily equipped with two-fluid nozzles. These nozzles utilize compressed air to atomize liquids. They are suitable for micro-volume samples and capable of producing finer powders. We also offer flexible customization options to meet your various research needs. We also offer pressure nozzles, which produce coarser particles and provide an extremely uniform particle size distribution. Rotary atomizers use a high-speed rotating disc for atomization and are suitable for pilot-scale upscaling and high-viscosity materials.
Yes, we offer comprehensive professional after-sales and technical support services. For laboratory and pilot-scale customers, we provide complete FAT (Factory Acceptance Testing) and a one-year warranty service. In addition, our process laboratory can conduct material feasibility trial runs for customers before purchase and provide process scale-up guidance and custom engineering services during subsequent product development. Please contact us for specific after-sales solutions.
Yes. Our food drying machine can be configured according to the characteristics of different food materials, including feed form, moisture content, viscosity, heat sensitivity, and desired final product. You can adjust drying temperature, feed rate, airflow, atomization method, vacuum level, nozzle size, and drying time to match the process. Contact materials and other components can also be selected based on food-contact and process requirements.