초록
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Methods and apparatus provide for spray drying a liquid product into a dried powder without applying heat, including: forming a slurry including a liquid solvent, a carrier, and an active ingredient; applying an electrostatic charge to the slurry; atomizing the charged slurry to produce a plurality of electrostatically charged, wet particles; suspending the electrostatically charged, wet particles for a sufficient time to permit repulsive forces induced by the electrostatic charge on at least some wet particles to cause at least some of such particles to...
Methods and apparatus provide for spray drying a liquid product into a dried powder without applying heat, including: forming a slurry including a liquid solvent, a carrier, and an active ingredient; applying an electrostatic charge to the slurry; atomizing the charged slurry to produce a plurality of electrostatically charged, wet particles; suspending the electrostatically charged, wet particles for a sufficient time to permit repulsive forces induced by the electrostatic charge on at least some wet particles to cause at least some of such particles to divide into wet sub-particles; and continuing the suspending step, without the presence of any heated drying fluids, for a sufficient time to drive off a sufficient amount of the liquid solvent within most of the wet particles to leave a plurality of dried particles (the powder), each dried particle containing the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier.
대표
청구항
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1. A system for spray drying a liquid product into a dried powder, comprising: a drying chamber, including an inlet end, an outlet end, and an internal volume within which the liquid product is dried in contact with a drying fluid therein;an atomizer adapted to receive the liquid product in a form including a liquid solvent, a carrier, and an active ingredient, and to discharge atomized liquid product into the drying chamber for contact with the drying fluid to form the dried powder containing the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier;further...
1. A system for spray drying a liquid product into a dried powder, comprising: a drying chamber, including an inlet end, an outlet end, and an internal volume within which the liquid product is dried in contact with a drying fluid therein;an atomizer adapted to receive the liquid product in a form including a liquid solvent, a carrier, and an active ingredient, and to discharge atomized liquid product into the drying chamber for contact with the drying fluid to form the dried powder containing the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier;further comprising a source of said liquid solvent, a source of carrier, and a source of active ingredient(s), a tank equipped with a stirring device and arranged to receive liquid solvent, carrier, and active ingredient(s) from said sources to form the liquid product comprising a slurry having viscosity in a range of from 500 to 16,000 mPa-s, wherein the liquid solvent comprises water, wherein the carrier comprises starch, and wherein the drying fluid comprises air at temperature that is above freezing temperature of the liquid solvent and below 100° C. 2. A method for spray drying a liquid product into a dried powder without applying heat, comprising: providing a system according to claim 1;forming the liquid product as a slurry including a liquid solvent, a carrier, and an active ingredient;applying an electrostatic charge to the slurry;utilizing the atomizer, atomizing the charged slurry to produce a plurality of electrostatically charged, wet particles and discharging the electrostatically charged, wet particles into the drying chamber;suspending the electrostatically charged, wet particles in the drying chamber in contact with the drying fluid for a sufficient time to permit repulsive forces induced by the electrostatic charge on at least some wet particles to cause at least some of such particles to divide into wet sub-particles; andcontinuing the suspending step in the drying chamber, without the presence of any heated drying fluids at temperature in a range of 180 to 200° C., for a sufficient time to drive off a sufficient amount of the liquid solvent within most of the wet particles to leave a plurality of dried particles in the dried powder, each dried particle containing the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier. 3. The method for spray drying of claim 2, wherein the drying fluid comprises a non-heated drying fluid. 4. The method for spray drying of claim 3, wherein a temperature of the drying fluid is less than about 100° C. at introduction into the drying chamber. 5. The method for spray drying of claim 4, wherein the temperature of the drying fluid is at least one of: less than about 75° C. at introduction into the drying chamber; less than about 45° C. at introduction into the drying chamber; less than about 35° C. at introduction into the drying chamber; less than about 30° C. at introduction into the drying chamber; and at about an ambient temperature of a room within which the drying chamber is located. 6. The method for spray drying of claim 3, further comprising dehumidifying the drying fluid prior to introduction into the drying chamber. 7. The method for spray drying of claim 3, further comprising applying the drying fluid under pressure to suspend and agitate the wet particles within the drying chamber. 8. The method for spray drying of claim 3, further comprising applying the drying fluid under pressure and in one or more direction to impart a swirling motion to the wet particles within the drying chamber. 9. The method for spray drying of claim 3, further comprising applying one or more electric fields within the drying chamber to urge at least one of the wet particles and the dried particles to travel in a direction defined from an inlet end of the drying chamber to an outlet end of the drying chamber. 10. The method for spray drying of claim 2, further comprising controlling a viscosity of the slurry during formation such that the viscosity of the slurry at the atomization step is at least one of: greater than about 300 mPa-s; greater than about 350 mPa-s; greater than about 400 mPa-s; greater than about 500 mPa-s; greater than about 600 mPa-s; greater than about 700 mPa-s; between about 500-16,000 mPa-s; and between about 1000-4000 mPa-s. 11. The method for spray drying of claim 2, wherein the liquid solvent comprises water, said method further comprising controlling a ratio of water within the slurry during formation such that the ratio of water within the slurry at the atomization step is at least one of: between about 20-50 weight percentage; between about 20-45 weight percentage; between about 20-45 weight percentage; between about 20-40 weight percentage; about 30 weight percentage. 12. The method for spray drying of claim 2, wherein the step of atomizing is carried out using at least one of: a nozzle technique, a centrifugal technique, a pneumatic technique, and an ultrasonic technique. 13. The method for spray drying of claim 2, wherein at least one of: the active ingredient includes at least one of foods, flavors, fragrances, medicaments, pigments, probiotics, bacteria;the carrier includes a modified starch; andthe liquid solvent includes water. 14. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a first electrode located at or near the inlet end of the drying chamber; anda second electrode located at or near the outlet end of the drying chamber,wherein application of a source of voltage potential between the first and second electrodes induces an electric field within the drying chamber sufficient to urge particles of the liquid product, produced by way of atomization, from the inlet end toward the outlet end of the drying chamber. 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first and second electrodes are disposed external to the drying chamber, yet induce an electric field within the internal volume of the drying chamber by virtue of the formation of the drying chamber from the non-electrically conductive material. 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the atomizer comprises: a nozzle operating to atomize the liquid product comprising a slurry to produce a plurality of wet particles as said atomized liquid product discharged into the drying chamber for contact with the drying fluid. 17. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one electrode operating to contact the slurry and apply an electrostatic charge thereto, such that the nozzle operates to produce a plurality of electrostatically charged wet particles. 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one electrode is disposed within the nozzle such that the slurry contacts the electrode and becomes electrostatically charged while flowing from an inlet end to an outlet end of the nozzle. 19. The system of claim 16, wherein the nozzle includes an inlet for receiving a source of pressurized, drying fluid and an outlet end including a plurality of channels operating to direct the drying fluid to swirl as it leaves the nozzle, thereby imparting a swirling agitation to the plurality of wet particles as they leave the nozzle. 20. A dried powder, comprising: a plurality of dried particles formed by the method of claim 2, which individually contain an amount of final active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier resulting from drying the slurry containing initial active ingredient, the liquid solvent and the carrier, wherein:the initial active ingredient includes one or more constituent components, at least one of which is among one or more principle molecular types from which at least one of a desirable food, flavor, fragrance, medicament, and pigment is obtained;the final active ingredient includes one or more of the constituent components corresponding with those of the initial active ingredient as modified by the drying of the slurry; anda weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the final active ingredient is within about 5% of a weight percentage of the corresponding principle molecular types in the initial active ingredient. 21. The dried powder of claim 20, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the final active ingredient is within about 3% of a weight percentage of the corresponding principle molecular types in the initial active ingredient. 22. The dried powder of claim 20, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the final active ingredient is within about 2% of a weight percentage of the corresponding principle molecular types in the initial active ingredient. 23. The dried powder of claim 20, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the final active ingredient is within about 1% of a weight percentage of the corresponding principle molecular types in the initial active ingredient. 24. A dried powder, comprising: a plurality of dried particles formed by the method of claim 2, which individually contain an amount of the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier, wherein:the active ingredient includes one or more constituent components, at least one of which is among one or more principle molecular types from which at least one of a desirable food, flavor, fragrance, medicament, and pigment is obtained; anda weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the active ingredient does not vary by more than about 5% during aging of the dried powder during any period of elevated temperature of about 95° F. up to about 1000 hours. 25. The dried powder of claim 24, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the active ingredient does not vary by more than about 3% during aging of the dried during any period of elevated temperature of about 95° F. up to about 1000 hours. 26. The dried powder of claim 24, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the active ingredient does not vary by more than about 2% during aging of the dried during any period of elevated temperature of about 95° F. up to about 1000 hours. 27. The dried powder of claim 24, wherein the weight percentage of at least one of the one or more principle molecular types in the active ingredient does not vary by more than about 1% during aging of the dried during any period of elevated temperature of about 95° F. up to about 1000 hours. 28. The system of claim 1, further comprising a source of said liquid solvent, a source of carrier, and a source of active ingredient(s), a tank equipped with a stirring device and arranged to receive liquid solvent, carrier, and active ingredient(s) from said sources to form the liquid product comprising a slurry having viscosity in a range of from 500 to 16,000 mPa-s, wherein the liquid solvent comprises water, wherein the carrier comprises starch, and wherein the drying fluid comprises air at temperature that is above freezing temperature of the liquid solvent and below 100° C. 29. A method of forming a dry powder comprising an active ingredient encapsulated within a carrier, said method comprising: providing a system according to claim 28;forming the slurry in the mixing tank from the liquid solvent, carrier, and active ingredient(s) while stirring the mixing tank with the stirring device;atomizing the slurry in the atomizer and discharging atomized slurry into the drying chamber for contact with the drying fluid to form the dried powder containing the active ingredient encapsulated within the carrier. 30. A dried powder containing an active ingredient encapsulated within a carrier, formed by the method of claim 29. 31. The system of claim 1, wherein the drying chamber is formed from a non-electrically conductive material.