Did you know that the concept of using superheated steam in drying was originally proposed over 100 years ago? Even though it provides for many benefits, the use of dryers with steam haven’t gotten the attention it deserves.
In short, to generate superheated steam you have to heat the steam to a higher temperature than its vaporization point. In this state, the steam is “dry”. Dry steam wants to be wet, therefore it will extract the moisture from the wet product in the dryer. The superheated steam acts both as a heat source and as a drying medium to take away the evaporated water from the product, producing excess steam. When the product is separated from the steam, the steam will be recirculated in the dryer and reheated to remain superheated and the process repeats.
Our Pressurized Superheated steam dryer (ExergyPSSD®) was invented at Chalmers University in Gothenburg in the late 1970s by Claes Münter, founder of the company, and is a closed, pressurized system dryer using superheated steam as the drying media.
Many industries are afraid of the high temperature that the wet product is exposed to with superheated steam, but forget that the drying time in our ExergyPSSD® is significantly shorter than in a traditional hot-air dryer. The total drying time in our steam dryer is around 10 seconds, but it still provides a uniform dryness up to to 99.9% of dry solids.
Instead of using hot-air in the dryer, that often results in a non-uniform dryness, poor product quality with nutrient degradation and oxidation of the product, the ExergyPSSD® can enhance the quality of the product. In DDGS drying for example, the Exergy pressurized Superheated steam dryer will increase the by-pass protein value by creating protected protein, increase gelatinization of starch, improve taste and make the DDGS 100% sterilized. All above leading to an improved milk production and weight gain in livestock, in other words, healthier animals and reduction in VOC’s like methane-gas and ammonia. This is just one of many applications where our dryer is applicable. Biomass, pulp and paper, ethanol and sludge are some of the other industries where steam drying provides benefits that traditional dryers don’t.
The drying is, in many processes, a high energy demanding and costly stage. But our steam dryer, in comparison to other traditional dryers on the market, have the lowest net energy consumption and the excess steam produced from the drying process can be recovered and recycled as an energy, heating or evaporating source used in other processes for example. Other benefits of the ExergyPSSD® are:
- No Fire or Explosion risk due to the oxygen free environment within the dryer
- No emissions to the atmosphere due to a closed loop design, making it environmentally friendly.
- Very small footprint, built on height
- Easy Maintenance and high availability due to few rotating parts
- Easy integration with other processes for energy optimization
Don’t sleep on steam, create new opportunities with the most energy efficient and green dehydration solution with the lowest life cycle cost in the world.
Choose a solution that will reduce your carbon footprint, water usage, energy waste and production cost, all while you increase the production safety, reliability and maximize profits.
Contact us for more information!
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