Evaluation of Environmental Impact of the Spray-Drying Process

The article presents an introduction to life cycle assessment (LCA) and application of the LCA to the analysis of spray-drying processes. Environmental load produced by two dryers, a laboratory spray dryer and an industrial-scale spray dryer, was compared using the Eco-indicator technique. Three different functionality systems were considered: the operation of an industrial dryer compared to the operation of a laboratory dryer, the operation of both dryers during one-year operational time, and the operation of both dryers according to the functional unit, defined as the amount of water evaporated per second. Results of the analysis show that for the first analyzed functionality of the system the main environmental load for the lab dryer is generated at the assembly stage, whereas for the industrial dryer it is generated at the usage stage. For the other functionality system, both dryers generate the greatest environmental load for the usage stage of the life cycle. At usage stages, the main effect of both dryers on the environment is the depletion of resources because of combustion of natural gas in the industrial dryer and use of electricity in the lab dryer to heat up a drying agent. Environmental superiority of the industrial dryer performance for massive production has been proved.