A production process for production of water absorbing polymer particles, including drying an aqueous polymer gel in a belt drier with a conveyor belt having a drier setup in the interior, in which drying air in the interior of the drier setup is conducted in countercurrent counter to the conveying direction and the interior of the drier setup is kept substantially at a reduced pressure relative to the ambient pressure outside the drier setup, and the interior has and/or forms a pressure zone, and is especially divided into a number of pressure zones.

A process and apparatus for removing moisture from sludge. The process and apparatus comprise: conveying on a conveyor the sludge on an incline through a housing such that, as the sludge is conveyed, it is deposited onto an exposed portion of the housing; heating the sludge with a heater as it is conveyed on the incline to evaporate moisture in the sludge, whereby the sludge that it is deposited onto the exposed portion of the housing is also heated to thereby evaporate moisture from the sludge; extracting from the housing using a vacuum device an airflow comprising the evaporated moisture, whereby the airflow includes moisture that has been evaporated as a result of the sludge being deposited onto the exposed heated portion of the housing; and discharging from the housing, separately to the extracting of the airflow from the housing, the sludge from which the moisture has been removed.

An apparatus and process for removing moisture from sludge. The apparatus comprises a housing having an inlet and outlet for respective receipt and discharge of the sludge. A conveyor is located in the housing and is configured to transport the sludge from the inlet to the outlet. The apparatus further comprises a heater to heat the sludge to remove moisture therefrom whilst the sludge is being transported by the conveyor. The apparatus also comprises a vacuum pump arranged to extract air from the apparatus and, at the same time, to cause moisture removed from the sludge to flow therefrom together with the extracted air.

A freeze drying vessel having a drying chamber and moveable transfer belts each moved by a driven drum. Each transfer belt includes a transfer surface that transports frozen particles. Each transfer surface is arranged vertically in the chamber and moves in an opposite direction than a lower transfer surface. A removal device is located adjacent each driven drum that removes frozen particles from an end of each transfer surface, respectively, to enable removed frozen particles to flow downward to a lower transfer surface. A heating element is located adjacent each transfer belt to sublimate the frozen particles to form freeze dried product.

The present invention discloses a method for freeze-drying drug liposomes powder assisted by a variable-frequency alternating-current electric field, which includes the following steps: (1) preparing a drug-liposome suspension sample; (2) dehydrating the sample under a 1-10 kHz, 3-10 kV high-voltage alternating current; (3) freezing and drying the sample treated in step (2) at 20 C. to 40 C., under a 10-25 kHz, 0.2-1 kV high-voltage alternating current, until completion of the freezing process; and (4) heating and drying the sample in a vacuum until completion of sublimation and desorption, and obtaining the drug liposomes freeze-dried powder. The present invention not only greatly shortens a freezing and drying time, but also controls a size of nuclei and ice crystals, further ensuring a quality of the freeze-dried powder.

A rotary vacuum drum drying system is described. The system may include a plurality of sensors and a control system operatively coupled with the plurality of sensors. The control system includes a processing device to receive, from the plurality of sensors, a plurality of parameters of the rotary vacuum drum drying system and transmit, to a client device, the plurality of parameters of the rotary vacuum drum drying system. The processing device is further to receive, from the client device, a message comprising an adjustment one or more parameters of the plurality of parameters and adjust the one or more parameters of the plurality of parameters based on the received message.

A system is disclosed for drying a material to liberate a substance such as a liquid having a vapor pressure from solids and/or dissolved substances in the material. The system includes a plenum chamber and a blower providing a stream of air to the plenum chamber. An outlet communicates with the plenum chamber and a velocity accelerator is disposed downstream of the outlet. The velocity accelerator is arranged to receive air from the outlet of the plenum chamber into a progressively narrowing interior passageway terminating at a downstream choke point orifice. The choke point orifice discharges into a larger diameter discharge region. A throttle body is disposed in the discharge region and is selectively movable toward and away from the choke point orifice to decrease or increase the volume of the discharge region. A passageway is formed through the throttle body for receiving flashed material from the discharge region and conveying the material in a downstream direction. Also disclosed is a system for drying materials contained within a processing vessel wherein flash generators with vacuum throttles are used to maintain drying conditions within the vessel and to remove liberated substance from the processing vessel.

The present disclosure provides for a continuous drying apparatus and a method of using the apparatus in the preparation of dried solids from slurries. The methods and apparatus are useful for the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, particularly using Integrated Continuous Manufacturing (ICM), but can also be integrated with other manufacturing processes, such as batch and semi-continuous processes.

An apparatus 20 for microwave vacuum-drying organic materials such as foods and bioactives has a plurality of microwave generators 50 actuated so as to cause interference between their respective microwave streams and evenly distribute the microwave energy across the vacuum chamber 34. The microwave-transparent window 36 in the chamber is arranged so the organic material to be dried is moved across it on a conveyor belt 60 and the microwave energy passing into the chamber 34 immediately encounters the organic materials, thus attenuating the energy and reducing arcing.

An apparatus 20 for microwave vacuum-drying organic materials such as foods and bioactives has a plurality of microwave generators 50 actuated so as to cause interference between their respective microwave streams and evenly distribute the microwave energy across the vacuum chamber 34. The microwave-transparent window 36 in the chamber is arranged so the organic material to be dried is moved across it on a conveyor belt 60 and the microwave energy passing into the chamber 34 immediately encounters the organic materials, thus attenuating the energy and reducing arcing.