GEA launched its new RAY PP (Pilot Plant) batch freeze dryers

The new RAY PP line consists of two sizes of dryers: the new RAY 1 and RAY 2. The RAY 1 uses two freezing trays providing 0.76 m2 of drying surface; the RAY 2 has four trays and can accommodate the larger trays from GEA’s continuous freeze dryers (CONRAD). Sublimation capacities are 15 kg and 30 kg of water per day respectively with production capacities of 4 kg and 8 kg/day respectively. This enables the production of larger samples for customers or for use with tasting panels. Alternatively, the RAY PP can work with small samples of just 100 grams for R&D purposes.

In designing the RAY PP dryers, GEA has included some important features that significantly improve performance. For example, the vapor traps are located at the bottom of the cabinet; this allows a larger surface area, lower pressure loss; and a better distribution of the ice on the condenser. The heating system has also been changed from direct electrical to indirect heating via hot water heat exchangers.This is identical to larger industrial plants and gives better scalability, allows for wet cleaning of the entire cabinet and the heating plates to be cooled with water to give a more accurate/flexible heating profile. GEA has also included a range of features for control and monitoring such as: loss of weight registration during drying; adjustable vacuum during drying; adjustable set-point for condenser temperature; online monitoring and control of product temperature; integrated batch reporting; automated drying endpoint determination; the ability to manually overwrite drying profiles during operation; and the storage of drying profiles.

The RAY PP dryers benefit from GEA’s 50 years’ experience in designing freeze drying technology. In common with larger machines in the range it provides highly efficient drying, vacuum evacuation in under eight minutes, minimal pressure losses even with products that contain high levels of non-condensable gasses, a PC-based control system with access to all parameters and trend curves, a short changeover time and water-based de-icing. They offer the easiest, most efficient way of developing new freeze-dried products in the food, nutrition and health industries. As the principles are the same as the larger dryers, the results from the two units can be directly scaled up to an industrial level.

GEA delivers both the RAY 1 and RAY 2 dryers as complete units that have been fully tested prior to delivery. Installation can be completed in a few hours by simply connecting the unit to power, water and drainage. The dryers are fully operational after only a few days of operator training. As with all GEA equipment, RAY PP customers have access to the experience and know-how of GEA process specialists to help with commissioning and training on site and to provide continued support during the development of new products or the optimizing of existing products. Of course, all GEA equipment is backed by its global service support network for ongoing maintenance and spare parts throughout the service life of the equipment.