Optimisation of spray drying process in microencapsulated cream powder production

Abstract

In this Research Communication we describe the optimisation of spray drying conditions in the production of microencapsulated cream powder. Oil-in-water emulsions were prepared using maltodextrin (18 DE) and sodium caseinate as wall materials (with the total wall material per total solid content ratio of 30%) and then converted into powder by spray drying. Response surface methodology was used to optimise the factors of spray drying system i.e. inlet drying temperature, feed flow rate, and aspiration rate, where the levels were in the range of 150–190°C, 9–30 ml/min, and 50–100%, respectively. Our objective was to perform spray drying with the highest drying yield and to obtain a microencapsulated cream powder with the highest bulk density, the shortest wetting time, and the lowest surface fat content. The calculated and validated optimum conditions for the spray drying process were found to be 162.8°C for inlet drying temperature, 11.51 ml/min for feed flow rate, and 72.8% for aspiration rate. At these optimum conditions, drying yield, bulk density, wettability, and surface fat content values were 36.37%, 269.9 kg/m3, 115.2 s and 26.2%, respectively.

Optimization of spray drying conditions for improved physical properties in the production of enzyme‐modified cheese powder

“…Powdered products are widely used as additives in industrial applications, and high rehydration properties provide important advantages in the industrial usage of powders, whereas high‐fat powders experience significant problems in rehydration due to their low bulk/particle densities. For this reason, the wettability of EMC powders is included in the optimization as a factor that provides information about powder rehydration characteristics (Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020; Ji et al., 2016). Fat oxidation is another important quality problem for powders that occurs during storage, whereas it is inevitable in high‐fat powders.…”

“…The results obtained varied in the range of 17.66–43.31%, which seems to be relatively low (Table 1). The reasons for this are low efficiency in laboratory dryers (Langrish et al., 2006) and significant losses occur in the production of high‐fat powders (Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020). The main reasons for the decrease in drying yield during spray drying are the high stickiness of the droplets, reduced flowability of the powders, and low separation efficiency in the cyclone (Erbay & Koca, 2015; Gallo et al., 2011; O'Callaghan & Hogan, 2013).…”

“…The drying yield (%) was defined as the ratio of the dry matter content of the produced powder to the dry matter content of the liquid EMC fed to the drying system. In this way, the recovery of the solid material was measured during spray drying (Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020).…”

“…Spray drying is an energy‐intensive and widely used unit operation in the food industry; however, it is not possible to recover the dry matter of the feed completely because of the stickiness and flowability problems especially for the high‐fat powder production (Fournaise et al., 2020; Gallo et al., 2011). The physical properties of the products in powder form are critical for industrial applicability, and in this context, powder flowability and wettability are two of the most important quality characteristics (Fournaise et al., 2020; Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020). Additionally, the surface fat content of powders is a critical feature especially for high‐fat powders in terms of physical, storage and flavor properties (Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020; Vignolles et al., 2007).…”

“…The physical properties of the products in powder form are critical for industrial applicability, and in this context, powder flowability and wettability are two of the most important quality characteristics (Fournaise et al., 2020; Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020). Additionally, the surface fat content of powders is a critical feature especially for high‐fat powders in terms of physical, storage and flavor properties (Himmetagaoglu et al., 2020; Vignolles et al., 2007). Moreover, non‐enzymatic browning reactions may be seen in powders as a result of thermal effects occurring during the spray drying process, and all powder properties are influenced by these variations (Erbay & Koca, 2019; Thomas et al., 2004).…”