The invention relates to a drying device for drying a product comprising: a housing having a drying chamber, a product inlet at a first end and an product outlet at a second end; a drying rotor arranged rotatable within the drying chamber and having at least one helical groove at the outer surface thereof; a screw having a flight with a flight channel there between and arranged rotatable within the drying chamber and substantially parallel to the drying rotor; a driving mechanism configured for driving the screw in rotation around a screw axis; and a heater for providing thermal energy to the drying chamber, wherein the drying rotor and/or the screw at least are configured for moving the product from the first end to the second end, and such that the flight of the screw engages into the at least one helical groove of the drying rotor.

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.

A condenser assembly comprises: a main cabinet; one or more filters mounted to a filter frame that is moveable between a first (operating) position within the main cabinet and a second (maintenance) position substantially outside of the main cabinet; and a condenser box that is moveable between a first (operating) position within the main cabinet and a second (maintenance) position substantially outside of the main cabinet. In some applications, the condenser assembly is part of an apparatus for removing liquid from a suspension.

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.

Feeding a slurry comprising inert solids, liquid hydrocarbons, liquid water and sometimes dissolves solids to a unit having a casing defining a thermal extraction chamber heated both directly and indirectly in which first and second intermeshing screws rotate, the screws in close tolerance with each other and with inside casing surfaces. The casing and screws define a tortuous flow path in which the slurry and a vaporous composition evolved therefrom flow. The intermeshing screws push the slurry toward a discharge end of the chamber at a first velocity while reducing pressure and increasing temperature in the chamber, while rotating the screws to create turbulent vacuum thermal conditions in the chamber to physically transform some or all of the slurry into the vaporous composition. The vaporous composition traverses the tortuous flow path with a second velocity at least 1.5 times the first velocity, optionally forming a heated, substantially dry, composition comprising the inert solids.

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.

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.

An installation for crystallizing and drying granular polymer material with a low level of crystallinity includes: a crystallization hopper, in which the granular polymer material is maintained in an agitated state and is processed with a first gas flow which is heated to a first temperature; a heating hopper which is arranged downstream of the crystallization hopper and in which the crystallized granular polymer material is heated to a second temperature which is greater than the first temperature, a drying hopper which is arranged downstream of the heating hopper and in which a predefined level of pressure reduction is maintained to dry the granular polymer material, and a supply hopper which is arranged downstream of the drying hopper and which is provided to supply a transformation machine with the granular polymer material.

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.