We’ve spent 75 years developing a broad and adaptable range of freeze drying systems so that you, our customer, can innovate, create, and bring to market freeze dried products that will be competitive in well-established markets and in new and niche areas. We’ve designed our family of RAY® batch freeze drying plants to combine efficiency, reliability and great functionality with user friendly operation and automation that keeps you in control. Whatever your product type, market, challenges or size, we’ll aim to configure a RAY® freeze drying system that will give you top performance right from day one.
Decades of experience freeze drying a wide range of applications
The first RAY® freeze drying plant was installed in 1955, so we really can say that we have focused many decades of expertise developing state-of-the-art freeze drying technologies so that our customers can innovate and push boundaries. And it’s not all about ready meals, fruit, coffee and petfood. We’ve carried out more than 3000 tests and worked with about 1000 product types. Supported by RAY® freeze drying technology and GEA expertise, manufacturers around the world are moving into bold new markets, from candy to paint.
A wealth of freeze drying opportunities
Freeze drying is a proven food preservation technology that presents many opportunities for creating new products that meet growing markets and expectations for healthy, sustainable foods and ingredients.
Freeze drying is really versatile, and can be used to process a wide range of food types, from coffee and herbs, to dietary supplements and ready meals, so you can think creatively and develop new concepts.
Freeze-dried candy
Freeze drying preserves the candy’s original shape and flavor, while transforming its texture from chewy or sticky to light and crunchy.
Freeze-dried dairy products
Freeze-drying can convert yogurt, cheese and cream into light, rehydratable pieces or powders that have a long shelf life without refrigeration
Industrial freeze dryers for more sustainable food manufacturing
Freeze dried products also require no refrigeration for long term storage or long distance transport, which not only helps to reduce waste, but can offer up all sorts of potential for new export markets, as well as simplifying transport logistics for local and national markets. For food producers, freeze drying offers up new prospects for creating additional value from perishable fresh foods, for preserving surplus crops and “wonky foods” and preventing waste. So as well as setting the stage for product innovation and generating new revenue streams, freeze drying helps to support a greener future both for you and for your customers.
Why freeze drying?
Key benefits of freeze drying:
- Supports maximum retention of nutrition, taste and aroma, color, shape and texture
- Creates a product that can be rehydrated with water for simple, fast preparation
- Maintains product stability for a long shelf life at ambient temperatures
- Preserves perishable or surplus foods to reduce food waste
- Reduces or completely cuts the need for cold chain distribution, which reduces carbon footprint
- Preserves products with low weight and easy handling, which cuts shipping costs.
From pilot plant to large-scale freeze drying
At GEA we have developed a portfolio of freeze drying systems for processing a wide range of foods and beverages. Our RAY® family of batch freeze drying plants combines cost efficient, automated operation with great functionality and reliability. Systems can be configured to process input volumes from about 20-30 kg/day (RAY®1), up to 20-30 T/day (6 x RAY®125). Designed to be adaptable so you can freeze dry a wide range of food types, the RAY® technology can also be supplied with full sanitary design, for freeze drying bacteria, enzymes and other bioactive products.
The RAY® batch freeze dryer technology offers:
- Fast and uniform drying
- High sublimation capacity
- Precise control of temperature and vacuum
- Negligible product loss (less than 0.1%)
- Easy access for cleaning and maintenance
- Simple and reliable operation
RAY® Pilot Plant
A compact, flexible solution for testing new products, recipes, and processes. Ideal for research, development and initial validation.
RAY® Freeze Dryer
A robust and proven system for medium-to-large batch production. Balances efficiency and quality across a wide range of applications.
RAY® Plus Freeze Dryer (patented)
Our most advanced solution, designed for high-capacity, automated production. Includes integrated controls and energy-efficient features.
RAY® pilot plant freeze dryers
Of course, GEA offers a range of freeze drying systems to match our customers’ products, site setup and business goals. The RAY® Pilot Plant is a batch-based freeze drying system designed to process a range of general food products like freeze dried fruit and vegetables, freeze dried meat and seafood as well as sensitive products including lactic acid bacteria, enzymes and lactoferrin. A true plug-and-play system requiring only water and power supply, the RAY®1 is fully scalable to industrial systems.
A dedicated freeze drying test center and GEA RAY® rental freeze dryers
We want you to be confident that your GEA freeze drying equipment will give you great performance for all of your products. At our GEA center of excellence you can work with our experts to evaluate your processes, test new recipes, and configure the best GEA system for your needs. Whether you are new to freeze drying, or you want to upgrade, expand and diversify, we’ll sit with you, listen to your challenges and expectations, and help to select and configure the right technology. We also offer rental pilot equipment for on-site development, with expert engineers ensuring seamless startup and staff training.
Newsletter Lyophilisation
Restons en contact
How freeze drying works: explore the process
Want to learn more an understand what makes freeze drying so effective? Our short explainer video shows how the process works and why it’s such a valuable technology for today’s food systems.
Pour en savoir plus Contactez nos spécialistes aujourd'hui
Next generation freeze dryers – GEA RAY® Plus (patented)
We’ve developed the next generation of GEA freeze dryers - RAY® Plus – to combine the latest design in industrial scale freeze drying with some major improvements in energy efficiency, productivity and ease of cleaning.
Backed by 70 years of GEA expertise in freeze drying R&D and engineering, our RAY® Plus freeze dryers (patented) are designed to give your large-scale processes a real boost, with a redesigned chamber that can offer better resource efficiency coupled with lower associated costs. By reducing the pressure losses in the chamber, this new design allows for an impressive 30% greater capacity when compared with existing RAY® freeze dryers of equivalent footprint, which effectively increases throughput while optimizing space utilization. The RAY® Plus chamber is designed to enable thorough, fast cleaning, while the human-friendly user interface supports remote access.
Vidéos associées
RAY Plus freeze dryer - a plus for freeze drying
Solutions de lyophilisation pour l'agroalimentaire
Talk lyophilisation - Aliments pour animaux de compagnie
Downloads
Produits associés
Lyophilisateur CONRAD®
L'installation de lyophilisation CONRAD® est conçue pour la production en continu en grands volumes de produits tels que du café et du thé, des fruits et des légumes, de la viande et des fruits de mer, et des plats cuisinés. Le lyophilisateur CONRAD® est le cœur de la plupart des usines de café soluble, qui l’apprécient parce qu’il permet d’obten...
Lyophilisateur RAY® Pilot Plant
Le RAY® Pilot Plant (RAY® PP) de GEA est un lyophilisateur par batch conçu pour traiter les denrées alimentaires courantes telles que le café soluble, les fruits et légumes, la viande, les fruits de mer et les aliments pour animaux de compagnie, ainsi que les produits très sensibles comme les bactéries d'acide lactique, les enzymes et la lactofer...
Congélateur à l’azote liquide GEA
Pour une surgélation rapide et optimale des aliments sensibles, des boissons et des ingrédients dérivés de la fermentation, l’immersion dans l’azote liquide présente un certain nombre d’avantages. Le congélateur à l’azote liquide facile à utiliser de GEA permet d’obtenir des granulés stables et surgelés de manière uniforme, qui s’écoulent libreme...
Freeze dryer upgrades
Solutions to improve plant performance, safety, process control and resource-efficiency in freeze drying.
GEA Insights
The breakthrough that changed spray drying
In 1976, NIRO engineers responded to a competitive challenge by rethinking what spray drying could do. Their idea became the multi-stage dryer MSD. Fifty years later, the same fundamental principle helps turn liquids into the powders used in essential nutrition products and important medicines around the world. Refined through decades of engineering expertise, customer insight and continuous development, MSD is a story of innovation with lasting impact.
Au-delà des machines : exploiter les gisements de performance des installations
Ce n'est pas parce que vous avez des machines efficaces que votre usine l'est. Une trajectoire d'amélioration efficace commence souvent par une analyse qui ne se limite pas aux équipements pris individuellement, et cherche à comprendre comment les processus, les systèmes énergétiques et les décisions opérationnelles s'influencent mutuellement. C'est une démarche holistique, conçue pour repérer des opportunités qui, sans cela, risqueraient de passer inaperçues.
Comment une vanne révolutionne la production des aliments et des boissons
Dans les installations agroalimentaires, les vannes sont généralement actionnées en utilisant de l'air comprimé. La technologie d'actionnement GEA Hydract® Actuation Technology, quant à elle, actionne les vannes en utilisant de l'eau, au sein d'un circuit fermé à commande numérique. Résultat, une vanne peut être maintenue en place de manière exacte et réglée par petits paliers. Cela se traduit par une consommation d'énergie en baisse et un meilleur contrôle.
