Energy requirements and production cost of the spray drying process of cheese whey

The influence of spray drying conditions on the energy required, production cost, and physicochemical characteristics of cheese whey was researched. The factors investigated were the inlet air temperature (180-220 degrees C), outlet air temperature (80-100 degrees C), and silica and maltodextrin (DE-10) as additives at 2 and 5% (w/w), respectively. Analysis of variance revealed that the inlet and outlet air temperatures, and the addition of additives had significant effects (p < 0.10) on the response variables. The best drying conditions were a T-inlet of 180 degrees C, T-outlet of 80 degrees C, and the addition of 5% additive material. Under these conditions, 0.2165kg/h of dried product was obtained, with a moisture content of 2.08% and water activity of 0.125, and the product cost was $17.06kg with an energy consumption of 2.0490 kW.h/kg of dry product.