Customized properties – drying and stabilization of microorganisms by fluid bed and spouted bed technology (German article)

Compact granules with homogeneous particle structure quite elegantly by spray granulation in the fluid bed or spouted bed

Microorganisms of various kinds play an essential role in a wide range of applications in many areas of the food industry. The health-promoting effect of probiotic foods depends to a large extent on the cultures used and the number of living microorganisms in the product. For this reason, application-specific product formulations require that the organisms are kept in a state capable of multiplying from the time of their production through storage to transport to the place of release. The aim is to preserve the cultures as effectively and gently as possible and to ensure an application-specific release at the intended site of action.

Fluidized bed and spouted bed processes offer a very high potential for different heat and mass transfer processes due to their unique fluid mechanical and thermodynamic properties. The drying and stabilization of microorganisms for food and nutraceuticals is one of many examples that illustrate the close interplay between formulation, process engineering and plant engineering.
(article in German language)

• Author: Dr. Michael Jacob, Head of Process Technology Food, Feed & Fine Chemicals, Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH
• originally published in the trade magazine Pharma+Food, June/2015 issue, Hüthig GmbH
• Trocknung und Stabilisierung von Mikroorganismen durch Wirbelschicht- und Strahlschichttechnologie (pharma-food.de)