Trade press release
GEA halves fossil fuel consumption in spray drying plants with an integrated heat pump
08 Sep 2022
GEA, one of the world’s largest systems suppliers for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical sectors, has developed an air heating system for spray dryers that more than halves a plant’s consumption of fossil fuels and its associated carbon footprint. Based on high-temperature heat pumps, GEA AddCool is a patent-pending solution that can be integrated into an existing powder spray drying process. By cutting the plant’s overall heating requirements and costs, it makes production processes more sustainable.
The GEA MSD® spray drying plant. Source: GEA
Recovering waste energy
Spray drying is an industry standard that uses a constant stream of hot air to manufacture high-quality, stable powders. As the heaters supplying that flow usually operate on fossil fuels, they emit high levels of CO2. In a milk powder processing plant, the spray dryer is responsible for up to 70 percent of the overall heating requirements. But all the heat input into the process is eventually released at low temperatures as waste. The new GEA technology uses CO2 heat pump technology to recover waste heat from the exhaust air or other plant cooling processes. That energy is upgraded and used to warm the air in the spray dryer up to 120°C before feeding it into the dryer’s conventional heating setup.
Ulrik Lund Jakobsen, CEO of GEA Business Unit Powder & Thermal Separation Technologies says: “GEA AddCool technology is a real milestone in energy conservation. During the more than five-year development process, our experts in engineering, heat pump systems, spray drying and powder processing collaborated closely to overcome the challenges associated with designing the CO2 heat pump technology while simultaneously planning its integration into existing spray drying plants.”
The GEA AddCool pilot plant installed at the GEA test facilities in Denmark. Source: GEA / Phillippe Falkesgaard)
Easy retrofitting into existing spray drying plants
Since the GEA AddCool heat pump system works as an addition to the native spray dryer air heating system without impairing plant throughput, final powder properties or quality, it can be easily retrofitted into conventional plants. Additionally, the option of reverting to the original setup during routine maintenance means that the spray dryer can continue powder production uninterrupted.
The GEA AddCool system has undergone extensive trials at the GEA testing station in Søborg, Denmark. Customers and interested companies are invited to attend proof-of-concept demonstrations at the facility. Furthermore, GEA will discuss how to make spray drying plants more sustainable in a webinar featuring the GEA AddCool.
GEA Webinar: “Time is up for fossil fuels in spray drying”, Wednesday, October 26, 2022
09:00 a.m. CET – link to the event
05:00 p.m. CET – link to the event
Excursus box:
How a heat pump works
The AddCool system harnesses CO2, which is a natural refrigerant, to recover waste heat for use in another process – in this case, preheating air for the spray dryer. First, warm water flows through an evaporator containing liquid CO2, which absorbs the water’s heat as it vaporizes. In passing through a compressor, the gaseous CO2 is further pressurized, resulting in a commensurate rise in temperature and transferable energy. This energy is transferred to a water loop, which is used to heat up the air in the spray dryer. As a result, the CO2 refrigerant cools again and moves through an expansion valve that reduces the gas’s pressure, further lowering its temperature. Then the cycle starts all over again. The advantage is that hot air for use in the dryer is produced at the same time as cold water, which can be channeled to chillers elsewhere in the plant, thus reducing electricity consumption.
Nicole Meierotto
Media Relations
GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft
Peter-Müller-Str. 12
40468
Düsseldorf
Germany
+49 211 9136-0
About GEA
GEA is one of the world’s largest suppliers of systems and components to the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. The international technology group, founded in 1881, focuses on machinery and plants, as well as advanced process technology, components and comprehensive services.
