Preliminary study of superheated steam spray drying: A case study with maltodextrin

A spray dryer was modified and tested with superheated steam as the drying medium. The effect of the inlet temperature on the recovery and morphology of the dried powder was then investigated. The results were compared with those obtained from hot-air spray drying. The results showed that the use of superheated steam and an increase in the inlet temperature led to an increase in the product recovery. The morphological results correlated with those of the product recovery in that superheated steam powder exhibited more inflated skin, leading to less adhesion of the sprayed droplets to the dryer wall.