Setting Up A Baby Cereal Plant Made Easy

Infant Baby Cereal Made Easy

Gerber is one of the leading trademark manufacturers for baby food and is the name many of us think of when someone says Baby Cereal. Do you think you have the next great recipe for infant baby cereal? Need a ready to go manufacturing plant set up? The timeline to set up an efficient manufacturing plant is very important. Drum drying has been part of the manufacturing process for infant cereal-based baby food for over 100 years. At Drum Drying Resources we have the expertise to design, build and install a compete drum drying infant baby cereal production plant seemlessly. .

HIGH PROTEIN

The drum drying process can create a product that will have high protein, will plump pleasingly and have good water absorption for your customers so they will come back for more of your product. Read more on our Infant Cereal Plant Set Up Page - click here.

DELICIOUS

So you have been working on that special recipe. Your friends have been asking for more samples.  Is it time to move out of your garage? DDR as solutions.

NEW & REBUILT DRUM DRYERS

Our engineers can design a baby food cereal production line that meets your needs using all new equipment, using rebuilt drum dryers or a combination of both that will help your budget. Learn more about purchasing drum dryers - click here.

Dried Products Processing

Dried Foods & General Dried Product Processing

Dry product, like baby cereal, dried fruit or vegetables, is produced by drying on the steam heated drums of a drum dryer is usually conveyed, cooled, sized, screened, accumulated and stored for packaging, and finally filled into a commercial package for sale. Our DDR basic dry product processing and packaging system technical bulletin describes the elements of the equipment and operations dedicated to accomplish this objective after the drum drying process.

Drum Dryer Food Product Processing

The dry product leaves the drum dryer  as a hot material due to the drying process. It also leaves the dryer in random sized pieces since the product is scraped from the drying rolls into an accumulating conveyor.

Product specifications usually call for a uniformly sized product flake, particle, or powder form and cooled to ambient temperature for proper storage and packaging. Also, variations in the final product characteristics due to the formulation and processing of the product slurry may occur. This requires the accumulation and blending of various segments of the dryer production to yield a more uniform final product. Read more in our DDR16 Technical Bulletin click here.

You may also visit our Technical Bulletins Page for a list of over 18 technical bulletins. Click here for the Technical Bulletins Page.

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Sold! Ready to Install Double Drum Dryer Available Now

42 X 120 Double Drum Dryer Ready Now!

Available ready to go 42″ x 120” double drum dryer. This dryer was built by Drum Drying Resources for a large company. The project was cancelled. This dryer was never used. Update: Sold 2016.

Description: Newly chrome plated used drums, drums are rated for 150 psi steam pressure, National Board numbers are available with all reports. The frames that are exposed to the product zone are stainless steel skinned for sanitation. This dryer has a lot of new items, stainless steel hood with slurry distribution system, hood exhaust fan, independent drum drives, stainless steel screw conveyors with cross conveyor, stainless steel take away rolls, stainless steel product diversion shields, complete steam system with rotary valves, traps and steam regulating valve all piped, stainless steel knife blade holders, pneumatic operators control box, the hood, knife blades and end dams are all pneumatically operated, main electrical panel with VFD’s and controls all wired, operators electric panel. All electrical is set up for 480 V, 3 phase, 60 hz.

Contact Dave at 231-924-1000 for more information and pricing.

Turning Food Waste Into Land Applicable Waste

Recycling with Drum Dryers

We are very excited about a recent project being developed to help recycle left over food waste and turn it into land applicable waste. With the use of drum dryer processing of food waste we can reduce BOD’s in the environment. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is an indirect measurement of the concentration of biologically degradable material present in organic wastes that directly effects how long it takes for the waste to breakdown. Please watch for more developments regarding our recycled food waste project.

Drum Dryers on Facebook

It’s time. Facebook has become such an icon for this era, and the social media giant that we all know it to be. So… Drum Dryers should be there too. In an effort to lead the way, Drum Drying Resources has joined the ranks and created a face book page where they will be sharing photos of the latest drum drying processing equipment. You will find images of the latest stainless steel drum dryer frames, pilot plant pictures as well images of drum dryers as they are being used for food processing, pharmaceuticals, polymers and more.  Please find us at www.facebook.com/drumdryers

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Drum Dryers & Room Ventilation

Optimum Operating Conditions for Drum Dryers

Optimum operating conditions for your food or pharmaceutical drum dryers, or any other type of drum drying process, is important.

Humidity in the dryer room can cause undesirable condensation on ceilings and walls. The walls and ceilings should have an insulating valve, high enough to insulate the interior room surfaces from cooler outside temperatures and prevent the water vapors from condensing. Each dryer room should be evaluated and designed to specifications which take into account the physical operating conditions of the drum dryer, the product being produced, the interior room environmental conditions, and the exterior plant environmental conditions.

The drum dryer must operate in a uniform controlled environment in order to produce a uniform controlled product. Variations in humidity, temperature, and air currents in the dryer room can affect the overall productivity of the drying process, the stability of the gap between the dryer drums, the percent of moisture in the final product, and other factors related to the drying process. A qualified ventilation engineer should establish the dryer room ventilation conditions and specifications for a particular production installation.

Drum Drying Resources can provide data and review the recommendations for conformance to proper conditions for drum drying. Drum Drying Resources supplies new, rebuilt, and retrofitted Double Drum Dryers to the drying industry. Each dryer is configured to specific designs, specifications, and systems to produce your product at maximum quality, sanitation, and productivity levels.

Dry Product Processing

How is Dry Product Processing Done on A Drum Dryer?

Dry product produced by drying on the steam heated drums of a drum dryer is usually conveyed, cooled, sized, screened, accumulated and stored for packaging, and finally filled into a commercial package for sale. The Drum Drying Resources basic dry product processing and packaging system describes the elements of the equipment and operations dedicated to accomplish this objective after the drum drying process. Discussion Dry product leaving a drum dryer is hot due to the drying process and usually of random sized pieces as it is scraped from the drying rolls into an accumulating conveyor. Product specifications usually call for a uniformly sized product flake, particle, or powder form and cooled to ambient temperature for proper storage and packaging. Also, variations in the final product characteristics due to the formulation and processing of the product slurry may occur. This requires the accumulation and blending of various segments of the dryer production to yield a more uniform final product. You can read more in our DDR Techinical Bulletin – DDR 16 by clicking here to download the pdf file in convenient Adobe Reader pdf format.

 

Inspecting a Double Drum Dryer

Inspecting Used Drum Dryers

 

 

The following information is suggested as a guideline for inspecting used double drum dryers

One Set (2) Dryer Drums

a. The drum must pass a hydrostatic pressure test of 1.5 times the rated pressure for 1 hour.
b. Drums must have a wall thickness which will permit the reconditioning of the drum surfaces and pass a Hartford Boiler re-certification pressure rating test. The drum diameters must not be less than a 1/2 inch under the original drum diameters.
c. The faces of the drums must not be damaged or have indentations more than .015 inches deep.
d. The shoulders of the drum faces must not be damaged or worn in excess of 1/32 of an inch.
e. The bearing shafts must not be damaged. For shafts with roller bearings, the shafts must measure to a tolerance of + .000 – .006 inches of the bearing diameter. For shafts with sleeve bearings, the shafts should measure no more than .012 inches below the bearing diameter.
f. Threaded holes in the shafts and drums for mounting covers, steam joints, caps, etc., should not be stripped or worn.
g. Key-ways in the shafts for drive gears or sprockets should not be worn.
h. Documents on the registration of the drums, as well as National Board of Boilers and Pressure Vessel Inspectors numbers should be available.

Read more in our Drum Drying Resources Technical Bulletin – DDR02 click here. Visit our Technical Bulletins Page to see all of our Technical Bulletins.

 

Drum Drying – What is it?

Potato Flakes & More With Drum Drying 101

Drum dryers were developed in the early 1900s. They were used in drying almost all liquid food materials before spray drying came into use. Nowadays, drum dryers are used in the food industry for drying a variety of products, such as milk product, baby foods, breakfast cereal, fruit and vegetable pulp, mashed potatoes, cooked starch and spent yeast.

A couple of very well known examples of the type of product produced in this type of machinery is baby cereal in the form of flakes or mashed potatoes in the form of flakes. I read an article recently that said Potato Flakes are considered a comfort food!  (Visit the blog for www.movethefood.org – a non-profit organization feeding the hungry in Iowa)

Drum drying is one of the most energy efficient drying methods, and is particularly effective for drying high viscous liquid or pureed foods.

In a drying operation, liquid, slurry, or puree material is applied as a thin layer onto the outer surface of revolving drums that are internally heated by steam. After about three-quarters of a revolution from the point of feeding, the product is dried and removed with a static scraper. The dry product is collected and is transferred (usually pneumatically) to a rotary hammer mill, reduced to the desired particle size and packaged. In order to ensure that the product is consistent and that it meets customer specifications, a delicate balance between feed rate, roll speed, steam pressure and roll gap must be achieved.

SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

A drum dryer consists of one or two horizontally mounted hollow cylinder(s) made of high grade cast iron, fabricated steel or stainless steel, a supporting frame, a product feeding system, a scraper, and auxiliaries. A typical drum dryer may have either a single drum with smaller applicator rolls or double drums. The diameter of typical food drums ranges from 24” (60 cms.) to 60” (152 cms.) and lengths that go from 24” (60 cms.) to 144” (365 cms.).

THE ADVANTAGES OF DRUM DRYING ARE:

• Products have good porosity and hence good rehydration due to boiling evaporation.
• Drum dryers can dry very viscous foods, such as pastes and gelatinized or cooked starch, which cannot be easily dried with other methods.
• Drum dryers normally have high energy efficiency
• Drum drying can be clean and hygienic.
• Drum dryers are easy to operate and maintain.
• The dryers are flexible and suitable for multiple but small quantity production

Read more? You may read more of our introduction to Drum Dryers in the Drum Drying Resources Technical Bulletin – DDR01 by clicking here.

 

What Does a Drum Dryer do?

Operating Principle of a Single or Double Drum Dryer

A drum dryer is basically a conduction dryer. A wet feed film (in liquid or paste form) is applied to a rotating metal cylinder or a pair of metallic cylinders, that are heated inside with steam. Material film dries to the final moisture level and is scraped off the drums via a set of knife-blades.

Special Features of a Drum Dryer:
  • Suitable for handling liquid or pasty feeds.
  • Product in powdery, flaky form.
  • Uniform drying due to uniform application of film.
  • Medium range capacities.
  • Very High thermal efficiency.
  • Minimum Thermal degradation.
  • Continuous operation.
  • Accomplishment of drying in single step, eliminating need for any intermediate concentration processes.
Applications:

Paraffin wax, Clay, fire clay, plaster slag, incinerating and composing refuse, waste products, residue and sewage sludge, agricultural products , greenstuffs, grain, root vegetables, etc.