[b]bold[/b]Spray Dryer vs. Evaporator

[workingbugs]

I was just trying to decided which piece of equipment would be better suited for my process. I have a process of producing Succinic Acid by E. Coli fermentation and once the fermentation is complete I need to reduce the volume of my batch so I can concentrate the Succinic Acid. I first thought that an evaporator would be best to reduce the water and then I can filter out any solids and crystallize the Succinic Acid with Sulfuric Acid and continue the process but then I came across spray drying and thought this might work because later on downstream I have to decolor a solution after I dissolve the crystals and redry the Succinic Acid which most likely use a spray dryer. I know that spray driers can be finiky due to clogging so I was wondering if the spray dryer would be useful here or if the evaporator would be better suited? What is the usual industrial practice on this?

 

[gpbche]

Your process sounds similar to one I worked on. It fermented bateria to produce an amino acid. After fermentation, we sent the solution to a series of decanting/washing tanks to let the cell bodies settle out.

The decanted liquid was evaporated to increase the acid concentration before crystallizing. The crystals were dried in a Bepex indirect heating dryer.

I wouldn't recommend evaporating the water before filtering out the solids. The solids could clog your system and you would waste energy heating the solids during evaporation.