Filament Extension Atomization Spraying of High Concentration Whey Suspensions

Conventional spray nozzles are used in industries to atomize fluids for many applications. But these nozzles cannot atomize fluids having large viscosities and non-Newtonian characteristics. Dairy fluids like whey suspensions are examples of such fluids. Nozzles used in atomization of such suspensions for spray drying only operate with fluids having high water content. Atomizing suspensions with low water content will conserve energy by lowering the load on the spray dryer. In this study, we have used Filament Extension Atomization (FEA) technology to spray sweet dry whey suspension at 80% solids loading and Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC 80) at 50% solids loading. These concentrations are 30% above current industrial standards. We present our formulation techniques and non-Newtonian rheology characterization of the suspensions. By spraying the suspensions with FEA, we demonstrate tight control over drop size distribution in the spray with a D50 < 200 μm. Finally, we present a novel design for high throughput spraying of such dairy suspensions to be incorporated into industrial spray dryers.