Flash Dryers & Coolers
The Heyl Patterson Flash Dryer is used for quickly drying high moisture, temperature-sensitive material with high thermal efficiency. These materials include chemicals, minerals, sludge, foodstuffs, plastics, gypsum and pre-drying hemp and wood fibers. Using the principle of selective processing, this unit ensures that every particle’s resistance time is proportional to its size and weight, resulting in a high-quality product that’s free of physical and chemical degradation.
With selective processing, your production line will deliver a high-quality commercial product with a homogeneous final moisture content, free from physical or chemical degradation.
Features & Benefits
- Provides a homogeneous final moisture content without product degradation.
- Small footprint flash design efficiently processes high capacities in less space than conventional dryers.
- Quickly and efficiently dries powders and granules with high-moisture content.
- Speed of drying makes flash dryers ideal for use as a pre-dryer to expand production capacity on existing process lines.
- Handles feed rates ranging from 50 to 1600 pounds per hour.
- Alumina
- Flour
- Fluorspar
- Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
- Polyethylene
- Sodium Bicarbonate
Flash Drying Designs
From conventional flash drying technology to our Rotacurrent and Venturijet design, materials are quickly and efficiently dried. We also offer flash coolers to quickly bring down the temperature of your products.
We also offer Rotary Dryers & Coolers and Fluid Bed Dryers & Coolers for our customers’ other specifications.
Our industrial flash dryers can utilize higher gas temperatures than other drying technologies since the material retention time is very short.
Built to your unique specifications, or designed by our engineers to exceed your specific application requirements, each Flash Dryer can be pilot tested at our Innovation Center & Test Lab before the final design is implemented.
Speak to an expert.
Options & Accessories
- Drying & cooling options
- Pneumatic conveying while drying
- Bag filters
What is a Flash Dryer & Cooler?
The Heyl Patterson Flash Dryer and Cooler is a pneumatic thermal processing unit designed to rapidly dry high-moisture materials by dispersing them in a high-velocity stream of hot gas. Its purpose is to deliver fast, continuous moisture removal with minimal residence time, making it particularly effective for temperature-sensitive materials and high-capacity operations where speed and product quality cannot be compromised.
How It Works
The Heyl Patterson Flash Dryer and Cooler uses pneumatic conveying and direct gas-to-particle contact to achieve rapid heat and mass transfer. It is engineered around four integrated principles that work together to give processors precise, high-throughput drying performance.
Selective Processing
Material is introduced into a high-velocity hot-gas stream, where particles are immediately dispersed and conveyed upward through the drying column. The key principle is selective processing: larger, heavier, and wetter particles resist the gas velocity and remain in the active drying zone longer, while smaller, lighter, and drier particles are carried out of the column more quickly. This means every particle’s residence time is proportional to the drying it actually needs, producing a homogeneous final moisture content without over-drying fines or under-drying coarse particles.
High-Temperature Short-Exposure Drying
Because residence time in the flash dryer is measured in seconds rather than minutes, inlet gas temperatures can be significantly higher than those used in conventional dryers without damaging the product. The material surface temperature remains close to the wet-bulb temperature of the gas throughout the active drying phase, protecting heat-sensitive materials from thermal degradation while still achieving rapid moisture removal.
Feed Preparation and Dispersion
Wet, sticky, or pasty feed materials are conditioned before entering the drying column using mechanical disintegration devices, custom feeders, or back-mixing systems that blend incoming wet feed with already-dried product. This dispersion step is critical to performance: it ensures the material enters the gas stream as individual particles rather than agglomerates, maximizing surface area exposure and enabling efficient drying from the first moment of contact.
Design Flexibility
Heyl Patterson offers conventional flash drying technology alongside proprietary Rotacurrent and Venturijet designs, each suited to different material characteristics and throughput requirements. Flash coolers are also available to rapidly reduce product temperature after drying or other thermal processing steps. The main body can be clamped or bolted for interior access, and custom feeders, air slides, and bag filters can be integrated to match the specific demands of the application.
Key Benefit
This design is well-suited for quickly drying powders, granules, filter cakes, and high-moisture materials, including chemicals, minerals, plastics, gypsum, flour, and municipal solid waste, where minimizing thermal exposure, maintaining product integrity, and achieving consistent final moisture content across variable feed conditions are essential to production quality.
Flash Dryers & Coolers FAQs
What is a flash dryer & cooler?
A flash dryer and cooler is a pneumatic processing system that rapidly dries or cools fine particulate materials by suspending them in a high-velocity stream of hot or cool gas. Because the particles are dispersed in the gas stream, heat and mass transfer occur very quickly, allowing moisture removal or cooling in a matter of seconds.
What materials are typically processed in flash dryers & coolers?
Flash dryers & coolers are commonly used for fine powders, filter cakes, pastes, and slurries. Typical applications include starches, minerals, chemicals, pigments, and food ingredients.
Why choose flash drying instead of other drying methods?
Flash drying is ideal for materials that require rapid moisture removal and short residence times. The process can handle heat-sensitive materials while maintaining consistent product properties.
How does a flash dryer handle sticky or wet materials?
Flash dryers often include mechanical disintegration devices or feed systems that break apart wet agglomerates before drying. This allows the material to disperse in the air stream and dry efficiently.
What are the benefits of flash drying & cooling systems?
Flash dryers offer compact system design, rapid drying times, continuous processing capability, and efficient moisture removal. They are commonly used when production requires high throughput and consistent powder characteristics.