Spray Drying

Peter Walker Consultants Ltd (PWCL) has the requisite experience to project manage the entire process of installing a spray dryer. We can walk you through the process from experimenting to see how best to spray-dry your product, through to the commissioning of production-level quantities of your product, spray-dried, packaged and ready to be delivered.

Unlike many multi-national spray drying firms, we are not associated to one brand—instead we will help you select the best choice for your task. And, again unlike much of our competition, we are confident working with secondhand spray dryers in order to reduce the final cost of your project.

PWCL can act as your representative, allowing a smooth interface between you and the contractors. We will help you specify your requirements, prepare and manage the tender process and recommend contractors. We will define the contractors' scopes of work and write the contracts. We will assist in scheduling an efficient and realistic timetable. But most importantly we will be there from the start to the end of the process, ensuring an excellent final outcome: on time and on budget.

Secondhand Equipment

Although the use of secondhand equipment may add to the engineering complexity, we have the experience to ensure it will meet your needs. The benefit is a reduction in cost of commonly around 50% of the most expensive component of the project: the spray dryer. This is often a saving worth considering.

Very frequently secondhand plant that is entirely suitable for your project can be found on the market, and we have experience working with international brokers. However, if secondhand equipment cannot be found, we have considerable experience working with new equipment from many of the major international spray drying brands.

Experimental Phase

The experimental phase of working out how best to spray-dry your product can be managed by our subsidiary company Pearl Solutions. Our previous experience in spray drying a range of products will help stream-line the experiments on your product. This experience includes the spray drying of meat, blood, fish extracts, vegetable extracts, soup bases, avocado pulp, whole milk, skim milk, cream, cheese, casein, sweet and lactic whey (which produces whey protein concentrate, WPC, and whey protein isolate, WPI), and a milk calcium compound.

The Complete Task

As well as being involved from the start to the end of the project, we will also make it our business to ensure that your product is correctly pre-processed, spray-dried, packaged, pelleted, and stored.

This task is not necessarily simple.

We are aware of one project that unintentionally installed a packing system capable of only 70–80% of the production rate of the spray-dryer. This mistake meant that 20–30% of the drying capacity of the spray-dryer remained unused; the spray-dryer is almost certainly the greatest cost in the project, so that 20–30% represented an enormous waste of capital. PWCL will endeavour to ensure that such mistakes would never happen in your project.

As well as ensuring the specifications of the equipment are well aligned, our project management will ensure that appropriate contractors are selected for each role. Large multi-nationals typically only select their own equipment for such tasks—equipment that is frequently not the best choice for the client. PWCL will help you choose the right contractor for the job at hand.

You can rely on PWCL to ensure your project is a success.

Previous Experience

The following is a list of our previous experience that is directly related to spray drying. All figures are in New Zealand dollars unless otherwise stated.

• Process and Financial Modelling, NZ

  Computer Modelling of various milk processing options including spray drying, cheese, casein, and whey products manufacture.

• Spray Drier Air Heating System - Fonterra Dairies Ltd, NZ ($1.6m)

  Turn-key rebuild of Hot Air System for No. 2 Spray Drier including new filters, supply fan, steam/air heater, ductwork, steam supply and control systems and plant automation.

• Note: PWCL has project managed some $500m of work on the Kiwi Dairies Ltd Whareroa site, taking its milk processing capacity from about 6 million litres per day to in excess of 12 million litres per day. It is one of the largest milk-processing sites in the world.

• Powder 5 Plant - Kiwi Dairies, NZ ($110m)

  Project management of milk treatment upgrade, evaporators and drier, powder transport and packing, services and utilities, effluent (including chemical recovery), civil design and construction of the 53m high concrete process building, labs, offices, and boot exchange areas.

  At the time of completion Powder 5 was the largest milk powder plant (at 20 tonnes per hour) in the world. A significant aspect of the project was integrating the existing Powder 3 and Powder 4 operations with the new plant, particularly the control room, powder transport system and powder packing.

• Powder 3 and 4 Plants - Kiwi Dairies, NZ ($55m and $80m resp.)

  Project management of the design, construction and commissioning of P3 (6.25tph) and P4 (10tph). At the time of commissioning the P4 plant was the largest of its type in the world. These projects included the necessary milk treatment upgrade, evaporators and drier, powder transport and packing, services, utilities, effluent removal (including chemical recovery), and civil design and construction including labs, offices, and boot exchange areas.

• WPC 80 Complete Plant - Kiwi Dairies, NZ ($80m)

  Project management of the design, installation and commissioning of a complete WPC80 production plant for both sweet and lactic whey, from whey clarification to powder packing.

• WPI and Alamin Complete Plants - Kiwi Dairies, NZ ($8m and $12m resp.)

  Project management of the design and installation of the world's first commercial WPI and "Calcium Salts from Whey" plants.