50 Years of GEA NIRO MSD® Spray Drying
The original idea, continuously reimagined.
As a leading spray drying specialist, Danish company A/S, NIRO ATOMIZER now part of GEA, recognized the potential to take the technology further and make it suitable for more challenging products. The breakthrough came from changing how the spray drying chamber is designed and used. By integrating a fluid bed into the spray drying chamber and changing air flow, a new multi-stage approach was created that opened up possibilities for more challenging products and new levels of powder quality.
That idea became the multi-stage dryer MSD®.
What followed was not one innovation, but 50 years of continuous development. The original principle has remained recognizable while the engineering around it has evolved with changing products, production demands and possibilities for process optimization.
The Original began with an idea in 1976. Fifty years later, GEA is still taking that idea forward.
Born from a challenge
By the 1970s, spray drying was well established. A common approach used two stages, with drying in the spray drying chamber followed by final drying in a fluid bed. But difficult products exposed its limitations.
Inside the dryer, hot air removes moisture from atomized droplets while carrying the resulting particles through the chamber. If those particles reach the chamber wall while still too moist, they can stick and form deposits. The challenge was not simply getting a product into the dryer, but controlling how it dried and emerged from the process.
Our engineers approached that challenge by changing the use of the drying chamber by integrating a fluid bed into the spray drying chamber and changing the overall air flow pattern in the chamber, This allowed more of the moisture removal to take place through fluid-bed drying and keeping the moistest particles away from the chamber wall. The result was a multi-stage process capable of handling more challenging products while creating new possibilities for powder characteristics and quality. The improved agglomeration obtained simply brought the “functional” quality parameters of e.g Milk Powders and Infant Formulas to “next level” – a new standard was created.
The idea was documented in 1976. Following a period of development, the first NIRO MSD® was sold in 1982 to Isigny Sainte-Mère in France. Adoption accelerated from the late 1980s as more systems entered production and demonstrated what multi-stage drying could achieve.
Discover how GEA and Isigny-Sainte-Mère have built a partnership spanning nearly 50 years in dairy powder production
50 Years of GEA NIRO MSD® Spray Drying
50 years of innovation. The principle remains. The engineering keeps moving.
The breakthrough in 1976 established the principle. What followed was a continuing process of learning, engineering and development around it.
Air dispersion into the chamber is one example. How hot air enters the dryer influences airflow and product behaviour inside the chamber. Significant developments at the beginning of the 2000s helped further minimize deposits and thereby improve efficiency.
As production demands changed, MSD® changed with them. Hygienic operation, automation and process control advanced, while modern systems can support 24/7 production. In addition, developments in agglomeration and granulation technologies have provided further ways to influence powder characteristics.
Digital technology has extended that evolution into process optimization. Solutions such as GEA OptiPartner® reflect how automation and control have developed, using increasingly sophisticated tools to support continuous optimization of the process.
Energy efficiency has become an increasingly important focus of development. Spray drying requires significant energy, making drying economy important throughout a plant's operating life.
In relevant applications, MSD® can operate with lower outlet temperatures.In addition Heat recovery and wider process optimization provide further opportunities to improve efficiency as well. GEA AddCool® builds on this approach, using high-temperature heat pump technology to recover and reuse waste heat, helping reduce energy consumption and reliance on fossil fuels.
Fifty years on, the fundamental principle remains recognizable. The engineering around it has never stood still.
The breakthrough that changed spray drying
Discover the innovations and key milestones that have shaped the MSD® over the last five decades.
50 years of innovation
NIRO Atomizer 1974
Lean back and enjoy a piece of historical footage!
Step back to 1974 and discover the NIRO Atomizer, today known as GEA, reflecting more than 50 years of engineering heritage, innovation and spray drying expertise.
Scenes from “NIRO Film,” produced by Jørgen Bagger Filmproduktion and made for A/S NIRO Atomizer.
Søborg, Denmark, 1974.
