Drying & Dewatering

Innovations in drying and dewatering play a key role when it comes to reducing energy use and CO₂ emissions in the Dutch industry. Drying and dewatering are important processes, since all kinds of products require drying, from vegetables and dairy products to paper and sewage. But it’s also one of the most energy-consuming processes, requiring 80 PJ a year (2013 NEVI).

We focus on reducing energy and costs, strongly linked to the manufacturing of high quality and sustainable products. Together with our partners we identify joint drying issues and aim to improve (or develop) new technologies that use less energy. This will result in a reduction of CO₂-emissions while maintaining (or improving) product quality.

Reducing energy, improving quality

In all of our projects, the interaction between industry and academia is key. We aim to realise cost-effective R&D and ensure the effective and rapid transfer of technology from the laboratory to industrial practice.

Drying is one of the most energy-consuming processes in the process industry

Partnership with the Dutch drying community

Within our program Drying and Dewatering we work in close partnership with the Dutch working society on drying Nederlandse Werkgroep Drogen (NWGD). We have the joint ambition of innovating the area of drying technology in the Netherlands. NWGD stimulates the development and application of sustainable drying technology by connecting experts, amongst others via networking events.

Joint drying issues

Convective drying, spray drying, fluidised bed drying, radio frequency drying, microwave drying
Conductive or dielectric drying
Drum drying, vacuum drum drying, vortex drying, agitated thin film drying, refractance window drying
Freeze drying or Lyophilization
Waste recovery
Smart sensoring
Hydrodynamics
Heat recovery and re-use

Latest news

October 10, 2023

EPRoTrans enhances energy efficiency in plant-based food production

The transition towards more plant-based ingredients and products holds promise for sustainability goals. However, it is often associated with increased energy use. How can we overcome this challenge?

September 28, 2023

DRAGONS Egg: Advancing energy efficiency in spray drying for industry

The energy use in industry due to drying operations is significant, accounting for about 15% of the total industrial energy consumption. How can we advance its energy efficiency?

Less asparagus waste, more taste

Joanne Siccama, researcher from the Waste2Taste project, discovered that the residual flow of white asparagus is very suitable for spray-drying into powder.

February 16, 2023

“Replacing current plants leads to an insurmountable loss of capital”

According to Anne van der Zwaan, replacements of current plants leads to an insurmountable loss of capital. How do we optimize the existing process lines while maintaining the best possible...

FrieslandCampina’s goals and ambitions for a zero carbon emission future

How will FrieslandCampina realize their goals and ambitions for a zero carbon emmission future? Lei Weiwei goes in depth on their future plans.

February 7, 2022

PINcHED: final conclusion on integrating heat pumps into drying processes

PINcHED has officially completed its project concerned with establishing heat pumps integrated in drying processes. Today, drying processes account for approximately 15% of the primary energy used by Dutch industry,...

November 5, 2021

Food Roadmap: sustainability in the food industry

ISPT is working with a range of partners that share one overall aim: to save energy.

The Heat is On!

The Heat is On will reduce CO₂ emissions through integral innovation of heat driven processes.

Related projects

FreezeCon – Freeze Concentration

Saving energy, improving product quality with freeze concentration as economically feasible bulk dewatering technology. Background Several technologies are available for liquid concentration in the food industry, the most common being...

StAgglop: Reducing energy use and material loss by better control of agglomeration during spray drying

Project stAgglop aims to improve agglomeration control to contribute to the reduction of emissions for industrial drying systems.

Engender: Compact Energy Efficient Dryer

Engender works on an energy efficient drying method of foods. Expected energy savings are estimated up to 30%.

Thin Film Drying

A part of the drying and dewattering program with Thin Film Drying as a new technology for product quality and energy consumption

RMZD – Radial Multi-Zone Drying

The Radial Multi-zone Dryer (RMD) project investigates new type of spray dryer for premium product properties and low specific energy consumption.

GRIP on Drying

This project investigates how inline sensors can help improving product quality and efficiency.

Single Droplet Modelling

Multicomponent analysis of single droplet spray drying techniques and PhD research for the drying and dewatering program of ISPT.

W2T – Waste2Taste

Waste to Taste is a project about closing the circle in food waste streams using vegetable waste for the production of fully natural food ingredients.

Probiotics – Low energy living bacterial food formulations

Research towards a novel and generic strategy for probiotics in low energy living bacterial food formulations

The Heat Is On

The Heat is On aims to make processes for dewatering, drying and heat integration more efficient.

EEMS – Energy Efficient Milky Sprays

Spray drying is a very energy intensive process. EEMS is about energy efficient drying which can lead to 20% energy reduction.

DRAGONS Egg – Increasing energy efficiency by steering DRoplet AGglomeratiON in Spray dryers

The DRAGONS Egg-project aims to unravel the dynamics of atomisation behaviour in drying and agglomeration of the droplet.

PINcHED – Process INtegrated HEat pump Drying

This project creates greenfield conceptual design packages for contact and convective drying of a full scale. In addition, it focuses on establishing a fully heat pump integrated drying process, including...