Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)

Description

Aarhus University wants to buy a laboratory scale spray drier. the equipment purpose is to support the leading research carried out in the FOOD Department related to ingredient extraction and design of emulsions and delivery systems. The researchers are familiar with spray drying technologies available and are aware of all the pilot scale options and the Buchi system is the only entry point at the laboratory level. Other options are available in stainless steel, however, larger amounts of samples are needed and much of the sample would be lost in the drying chamber. This is the only equipment available with a small glass vessel and for this reason, the Buchi Mini Spray drier, B290 is the entry point spray drier for both academia and industry. After researching all the available options we have concluded that the Buchi Mini spray drier, B290 is the only equipment fitting the purpose of our work and our choice. The Department of food science at Aarhus University is at the forefront of research in food colloids and emulsions, dairy products technology and food ingredients science. Recent work has moved to the extraction and development of ingredients of carbohydrate or protein nature, as well as encapsulation. For this reason, a system to spray dry the extracts and create small batches of samples is necessary. Furthermore, it is becoming critical to be able to fine tune processing conditions to optimise the quality of the products and, again, research on spray drying conditions is needed. Before moving to larger scale,we require fine tuning by processing small batches and an evaluation of the powder properties which includes a visual observation of the material while is drying. This is possible only by using a laboratory scale, small volume system equipped with glass vessels. The instrument must have the following specifications: — handle small volumes; — be mounted on a table and be movable without major infrastructure costs; — have a glass assembly and a visible collection vessel; — have an evaporation capacity of about 1 L per hour; — be equipped with various nozzles; — have an hygenic design; — be able to work with mixtures of water and organic solvents for work on delivery systems and flavor development; — give some indication of upscalability to larger spray driers.