Pulse Combustion Systems Completes "Ultra-Gentle" Spray Drying Trials
Pulse Combustion Systems Completes "Ultra-Gentle" Spray Drying Trials for food products exceeding all current standards for spray-dried instant coffee, egg whites, and yeast.
Payson, AZ, March 3, 2009. James A. Rehkopf, President of Pulse Combustion Systems, announced today the completion of a series of drying trials in which PCS technicians operated the company's pulse combustion spray dryer in an "ultra-gentle" mode for a variety of food products.
"Conventional spray drying causes considerable degradation to delicate products," explained Mr. Rehkopf. "The two main culprits are high-shear atomization and long residence times (15-30 seconds) at high temperatures. Our pulse combustion spray dryer uses zero-shear 'gas-dynamic' atomization, and only uses about ½ second to dry the product. And, perhaps most importantly, we can use dryer outlet temperatures as low as 125 F on some products."
The company conducted drying trials on egg whites, which are a delicate protein, and made an additive-free, beautiful white powder. When reconstituted, the pulse-dried egg whites looked, handled and cooked just like raw egg whites. In a second trial, brewed coffee was dried to an instant coffee powder that tasted as good as the original brew, and far better than currently available instant coffees. Finally, the company dried a filter-cake from a yeast culture line, and produced a yeast powder containing a very high proportion of intact microorganisms.
"We are pleased with the results because they exceed the current standards in the marketplace," continued Rehkopf. "We have the only technology that can make a pasteurized raw egg-white powder without the traditional processing steps of removing sugars from the whites and then adding artificial ingredients to restore some of the lost characteristics, such as whipping. And, although there are many instant coffees available, none of them taste nearly as good as ours, because our low drying temperature enables us to retain the flavorful volatiles that are driven off in conventional drying. Finally, with the yeast we prove our ability to dry products containing delicate microorganisms; currently, these are dried only in slow and expensive freeze dryers. We are excited about these results, and are planning more trials soon. We invite customers with delicate products to contact us for a trial run."
About Pulse Combustion Systems
Pulse Combustion Systems offers a complete spray drying solution for any product: development of drying parameters in PCS's pilot facilities; contract drying in the company's production-size dryer, and dryer sales, fabrication, and installation. Industries and applications served by PCS are diverse and include pharmaceuticals, nutriceuticals, food, chemical and mineral. PCS's patented spray drying technology makes a superior powder at reduced capital and operating costs, and is well suited for customers with mid-to-high-value products who demand excellent powder quality. The two step PCS process for determining client suitability is 1) performing a sample drying evaluation of the product in question and 2) evaluation of the results in terms of powder application suitability and client return on investment. Pulse Combustion Systems is available on the web at: www.pulsedry.com
