One stop explanation of a fluid bed dryer

Pharmaceutical companies include a lot of heavy machinery that is not found anyone else. Those who’re not acquainted with this industry mostly don’t know about all these and even when they do, it is quite complex to understand. Fluidized bed dryer (also called fluid bed dryer) can be defined as a kind of equipment used extensively within the pharmaceutical industries to scale back the moisture content of pharmaceutical powder and granules. The equipment works on a principle of fluidization of feed materials. In this process, hot air is introduced at high pressure through a perforated bed of moist solid particulate. The wet solids are lifted from the bottom and suspended in a stream of air in fluidized state. Heat transfer can be achieved by direct contact between the hot gases and wet solids. This vaporized liquid is carried away by the drying gasses. Sometimes the exit gas is partially recycled to save energy.

The typical components that are always present in the machinery regardless of who the fluid bed dry manufacturer is are the air preparatory unit, product container, exhaust filter, exhaust blower, control panel, air distribution plate and spray nozzle. These are the usual parts although they may vary.

There are a few parameters which define how good the fluid bed dryer working will be. Some of them are position of the air distribution plate, shape of the instrument and the nozzle height. Temperature, humidity and airflow rate/ gas velocity are parameters that one has to take care of manually. Apart from these settings, a lot also depends on the moisture content of the feed material, batch size, particle shape, size and diameter.

Although fluid bed dryers are a part of various industries, they’re irreplaceable in the Pharma world. They have replaced the traditional process of drying uses trays, thus making the process quicker and more efficient. With the system, inlet air temperature is often controlled in order that the right amount of moisture evaporates from the surface of the granule. An unnecessarily high inlet air temperature can result in a surface crust that prevents deeper moisture from being transported to the surface, delaying the drying process rather than accelerating it.

• A quality fluid bed dryer usually contains the following components:

·       Heat transfer that minimizes energy consumption;

•          Can multi-function: capable of heating, drying, cooling, coating, and more;
•          Adaptable to continuous or batch processing;
•          Vibration to aid in processing;
•         Manufactured from stainless steel, carbon steel, or nickel alloy;
•           Customized for your individual needs;
•          Low maintenance

Fluid bed dryer specifications that are commonly available in the market are the FBD600, FD400, FD300 and FBD Laboratory Bed Dryer. There are also different types of fluid bed dryers. The first one is the conventional kind, which is designed to facilitate drying of granules and particles without the use of vibration. These are static ones which transfer a gas directly via a bed of solid material with perforated nozzles, fluids and other material responsible for lifting and mixing the solids. The other kind is the customizable fluid bed dryer which is a more evolved version. They offer the flexibility of resident time and temperatures, allow contact between the drying and cooling products and provide the option of easy removal of the bed plate. For aesthetic purposes, they also allow the use of various designs.

We hope we have provided you with a clearer picture of what a fluid bed dryer is actually like and made it simple for the non-technical folks.  

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Created on Feb 27th 2020 05:41. Viewed 257 times.

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