GEA has made a series of changes to its SANICIP bag filtration system for food and dairy spray dryers in a long-term development project.
The new SANICIP II (patent pending) maintains and controls the pressure drop through the filtration bags more effectively by promoting longer production times and reducing CIP intervals. Combined with other advances, such as easier maintenance and better space utilisation, bag life is now up to 50% longer.
GEA identified key areas where design modifications could be made in this new generation of SANICIP technology. Using the latest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to optimise airflow within the filter, GEA was able to reduce the length of the filter bags from up to 7 m to just 4.5 m and, by reducing the diameter, and increasing the number of bags within the filter chamber, retained the total filtration surface area of the system.
The inlet ductwork is simple and compact, allowing the filter to be placed closer to the dryer, and the shorter filtration bags experience less turbulence so are less prone to mechanical wear.
