Freeze Drying

Atlas CONRAD Plants for the Food and Beverage Industries

GEA Niro

Fresh, Convenient, value-Added

Freeze Drying with Unique Advantages
Freeze Drying Facts 3,000 KG OF FROzEN STRAWBERRIES WIll R E S u lT I N 3 0 0 K G FREEzE DRIED BERRIES. ThE SAME AMOuNT OF ChICKEN WIll GIvE 1,000 KG O F D R I E D P R O D u C T.

We live in unique times. Never before has there been such variety in food. And never before has the quality of that food been under such scrutiny.

No wonder consumers prefer freeze dried products. They represent the ultimate in 21st century convenience, with none of the goodness taken out.

Freeze drying Food for our times

Food for modern families should be convenient, nutritious, delicious, and devoid of additives, preservatives, and artificial colours. Freeze drying fits the bill perfectly. A freeze dried product retains its original nutritional value, texture, product shape, and taste. It is the fresh product with just the water removed and nothing added. Freeze drying is the drying of an already deep-frozen product in a vacuum below the triple point. The vacuum allows the ice to turn directly into vapour without first passing through the water stage, in a sublimation process. This ensures that the product retains most of its original shape, colour, taste, and nutrients.

Advantages of profit
Freeze dried products have other advantages too: they have uniform, high quality; a very long shelf life; require no refrigeration during storage;

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Pressure Torr

Water Phase Diagram

1000 760

LIQUID Freezing Product

(Room Temperature at sea level pressure)

Finned trays provide a greater freeze drying area

Hot air drying

100

ICE

Evacuation Vacuum drying 10 4.6 Triple point

In our ConrAD freeze dryers, frozen products are dried at temperatures below 18 C. no thawing of the product takes place and its quality is preserved.

1 Freeze drying

VAPOUR Temperature -18 0 0 32 100 212 C F

they are lightweight, making them easy and inexpensive to transport; and they reconstitute quickly and completely with the addition of water. That is why freeze dried products are in such great demand and why the freeze drying process is able to add significant value to a wide range of food products including: vegetables; fruit and berries; meat and seafood products; prepared meals including baby food, TV dinners, camping provisions, and military rations; and beverages such as tea and coffee. Coffee is by far the biggest single freeze dried food commodity in the world today.

Benefits of freeze drying

Retains, to the greatest possible extent, the original shape, colour, taste, texture and nutrients Instant rehydration Lightweight for easy handling and transportation No refrigeration needed during transportation and storage Long shelf life

Products created with freeze drying

Coffee, tea and other extracts and liquids Vegetables, fruit and berries Meat and seafood products Prepared meals Milk products Dyes, pharmaceuticals, pigments and enzymes And many more

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CAB (Continuous Air Blast) freezer, alternatively more quickly on a Atlas Rota-freeze or in other freezing devices for obtaining a solid frozen form. The product is then granulated and sieved to produce granules of optimum size depending on requirement. The granules are loaded onto the CONRAD trays to pass through the freeze dryer. Everything is weighed to ensure the correct volume on each tray for perfect freeze drying. The trays are automatically loaded using specially developed tray feeders to secure a uniform and accurate filling.

CONRAD
Freeze Drying
Preparation
Products for freeze drying fall into three basic categories: liquids, Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) products and combined products. Liquids include coffee, tea, juices and other extracts. IQF products include products such as segments of, or whole fruit, berries, seafood, meat and vegetable. Combined products include soup blocks, rice dishes, baby foods, camping foods, etc.

IQF and combined products

IQF products are loaded by weight or volume directly onto the CONRAD trays before passing through the CONRAD. Combined products are normally loaded into special plastic moulds placed into the CONRAD trays defining the block size of the product. Freezing takes place in a tray freezer prior to the further automatic transport into the CONRAD. Each product has to be prepared carefully to ensure it retains its original characteristics and to meet the requirements of the finished product.

One process a world of products

The Atlas CONRAD freeze drying process from GEA Niro is designed for high volume processing of high addedvalue products. The drying process is fundamentally the same for any type of product, but the way in which different products are prepared for drying varies considerably.

The challenge of liquid processing

Preparation for the freeze drying of liquids is the most complex part of the process. First, the liquids must be treated to achieve the required density and colour characteristics. The concentrate is then frozen slowly on a

CONRAD Benefits
Continuous production Economical operation 98% efficiency Low maintenance costs Low maintenance requirements

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Atlas Secret
The internal vapour condenser, with built-in de-icing system, is the unique feature of all Atlas freeze dryers. The benefits: it saves space, it is more reliable, it does not cause the loss of product, and it uses less energy compared with external condenser systems. on large external vacuum valves with pressure drops that are difficult to secure. Using the internal system, de-icing is performed under vacuum avoiding the need to seal the chamber against large pressure differentials. the need to re-establish vacuum. This, combined with optimal vapour flow conditions, reduces energy consumption by up to 40% compared with competing freeze drying technology.

The

Low product loss

No product abrasion and low vapour velocities within the dryer guarantee as little as 0.1% product loss during the process.

Design
The Atlas CONRAD cabinet is made in a special high quality coating and is further available in a stainless steel execution. This is all in accordance with customer requirements as well as further regulations and standards prevailing within the specific industries.

Space saving
The special vapour condensers are optimized and built into the side of the drying chamber.

Low power consumption More reliable

The condenser system does not rely De-icing under vacuum, rather than at atmospheric pressure, eliminates

Capacity EXAMPLES for Atlas CONRAD Continuous FREEZE DRYING PLANTS Type CONRAD
Extracts with 45% dry matter

200
kg/h kg/h Output kg/24h 433 200 4,800 313 81 1,933 170 26 632

300
649 300 7,200 469 121 2,900 256 40 948

400
866 400 9,600 625 161 3,867 341 53 1,264

500
1,082 500 12,000 781 201 4,833 426 66 1,580

2x500
2,165 1,000 24,000 1,563 403 9,667 852 132 3,161
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Capacity input Capacity output

Extracts with 25% dry matter

Capacity input Capacity output

Solids with 15% dry matter

kg/h kg/h Output kg/24h

Capacity input Capacity output

kg/h kg/h Output kg/24h

ConrAD Cabinet Empty trays return Tray filling outlet airlock

Cold room elevator Tray emptying outlet elevator Tray replacement

Inlet airlock

CONRAD Process
The CONRAD process is fully automatic throughout and requires only minimal staff for continuous operation. All movement and process parameters
Freeze Drying Facts uP TO 30,000 30 x 40 MM SOuP BlOCKS CAN BE FREEzE DRIED PER hOuR IN ONE SINGlE CONRAD 500

The

When the elevator has a full stack of product trays, the entire stack is pushed into the first drying zone. More stacks follow and are pushed in turn through the various subsequent drying zones of the dryer - each adjusted to provide the drying characteristics required. When trays arrive at the dryer exit elevator they are unloaded, again through an airlock, and the product emptied from the trays.

are carefully controlled, monitored and logged with the most modern PLC/PC system. Trays with frozen product are loaded into the dryer through an efficient airlock system to an inlet elevator inside the CONRAD chamber.

The CDI System

Cabinet To vacuum pumps Sliding gate A number of vapour condensers in operation and one in de-icing

The vapour from the freeze drying process is collected on the special Atlas condensers. In order to ensure a continuous process, all CONRAD dryers are equipped with a Continuous De-Icing (CDI) System that enables automatic de-icing of the condensers with no loss of operating vacuum.

Heated de-icing water

Heating plates (Aluminium or coated steel) are arranged in a number of heating zones Tray with product

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Drainage

Cleaning and maintenance passage

Freeze Drying Facts APPROx 2.2 - 2.5 KG OF GREEN COFFEE B E A N S R E S u lT OPEN FlAP FOR Full PROCESS AND SySTEM SChEMATICS IN 1 KG OF FREEzE DRIED INSTANT COFFEE.

The ConrAD

Process at a Glance
Preparation
Foaming & prefreezing system to control colour, solubility and bulk density

Freezing and granulation

CAB (Continuous Air Blast Freezing) For slow freezing

Alternative direct feed of liquid to the freezing facility Fresh extract

rota Freeze

For quick freezing

1 2

Pre-breaking Fines return

Granulation Fines melting oversized granulates return

IQF
Feeding with IQF products Buffer tank

Tray freezing of prepared food e.g. soup blocks

Tray filling with granulate or IQF products

Freeze drying
Preparation and filling Flat or finned trays for products

System

Dimensions
Type CONRAD H h L l W
(m) (m) (m) (m) (m)

200
14 8 35 13 12.5

300
14 8.5 40 17.5 12.5

400
14 9 40 22.5 12.5

500
14 9 45 27 12.5

2x500
14 9 45 27 23

H h

L l

After Market and After Sales

Service

Your Partner for Original Niro Parts and Services

More than Just a Plant

GEA Niro has the process know-how and industry expertise to be more than just your supplier we can become your partner. Our research facilities are at your disposal for pilot freeze-drying tests of all food and related products, and our service engineers are always on hand to support production management at start-up, train factory staff, and provide plant optimisation assistance.

A Local Partner with a Global Presence

For every industry, in any culture, all over the World, GEA Niro makes a difference with innovative and reliable solutions. Our network of offices, subsidiary companies, and spare parts offices provide service on a global scale. For further enquiries, contact your local GEA Niro office or visit us at www.niro.com

Experience
GEA Niro has contracted and installed more than 10,000 plants worldwide
GEA Niro is a world leader in industrial drying, with spray drying, spray cooling/congealing, flash drying, freeze drying, granulation and fluid bed processing as core technologies. Having installed more than 10,000 plants around the globe, GEA Niro is known for delivering solutions that meet customers exact requirements. The GEA Niro companies are part of the Process Engineering Division of the GEA Group.

Process Engineering

GEA Niro
Gladsaxevej 305 PO Box 45 DK-2860 Soeborg Denmark Tel +45 39 54 54 54 Fax +45 39 54 58 00 E-mail: food.dairy@niro.dk Website: www.niro.com

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GEA Niro. All rights reserved.

Subject to modifcations. Printed in Denmark.