Powder Characteristics of Proteins Spray-Dried from Different Spray-Dryers

The powder characteristics of bovine somatotropin and casein spray-dried from laboratory, pilot and production spray-dryers were investigated. The powder characteristics examined included particle size distribution and morphology; bulk density; and flowability as measured by angle of repose, compressibility index and shear cell indices. Morphology classification showed internal voidage, blowholes, expanded, smooth and folding for somatotropin and casein spray-dried from the various spray-dryers. Particle size distributions of the bovine somatotropin and casein were unimodal and skewed. As the drying-chamber size of the spray-dryer increased, the particle sizes of both somatotropin and casein increased from mean volume diameters of 6-8 μ using the laboratory and pilot spray-dryers to 13-24 μ when using the production size spray-dryers. Spray-dried bovine somatotropin and casein had bulk densities of 0.090 to 0.195 g/cm3. Three flowability tests showed casein and somatotropin spray-dried from the di...