Energy, exergy and exergoeconomic analyses of single stage spray drying plant in the northern region of India for skim milk powder production.

Spray drying is a widely used technique for production of milk powder. This is a high level energy consumption process. There are scanty published studies on single-stage spray drying plant for skim milk powder production. In this study, thermodynamic analyses, i.e., energy and exergy analyses and exergoeconomic analysis of single stage spray drying unit has been executed for skim milk powder production. The analyzed parameters are specific exergy destruction ratio, exergy efficiency, relative irreversibility factor, energy improvement potential, exergy improvement potential, specific energy destruction ratio, energy efficiency, and relative energy destruction ratio. The energy and exergy equations were used for computation of these parameters. The energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of plant were computed as 89.63 and 49.19%, respectively. The energy and exergy improvement potential were maximum for drying chamber followed by booster pump, which indicated that there was vast scope in the technical improvement for drying chamber. Highest cost of processing was obtained for drying chamber (percentage relative cost difference: 59.84%) followed by cyclone separator (percentage relative cost difference: 48.98%). Based on these analyses, improvement of high improvement potential components of the spray drying plant may be carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]