Ultrasonic atomizing-assisted spray drying: Effect on the quality of skimmed milk powders

Abstract

Skimmed milk powders (SMP) were produced by ultrasonic atomizing-assisted spray drying (UASD). It was found that UASD can produce high quality SMP (with < 5% moisture content and < 2% insolubility) at lower inlet temperatures (~130℃). The particle size of the UASD-SMP was 10 times smaller (decreased from ~20 µm to 4 µm) than the tranditionally spray-dried SMP and the color appeal of UASD-SMP was also better (L* value increased by > 6 %). Overall, this research shown that UASD can be used to produce small particle size and high quality SMP. Keywords: Skimmed milk powder; ultrasonic atomization; spray dryer; particle size distribution; color