As the cost of water removal by
evaporation is cheaper than that of spray drying an increase in
the total solids of the feed from the evaporator into the dryer has
been explored to reduce energy costs. An increase in total solids
from 50% to 52% reduces energy consumption by 6% (Fox et al.,
2010). However, increasing viscosity reduces the solubility of powders
(Baldwin et al., 1980) and the efficiency of the drying process
(Bloore and Boag, 1982).