[PROCESSING]

by Tara McHugh

Freeze-Drying Fundamentals
F
reeze-drying is a very gentle dehydra- Freeze-drying is currently used as a pres- process by which the solvent (usually
tion process used for preservation of ervation method for foods, pharma- water) and/or suspension medium is
high quality foods. The history and ceuticals, and a wide range of other crystallized at low temperature and
market for this technology will be products. removed by sublimation. Sublimation is
reviewed in this month’s column, as will The global freeze-dried food market is the direct transition of water from solid
the science. Applications will be growing at 7.4% a year, according to state to gaseous state without melting.
discussed as well. Mordor Intelligence, and the U.S. market There are three stages in the pro-
is expected to reach $66.5 billion by 2021. cess: freezing, sublimation drying, and
The History and Market Fruits comprise the largest portion of the desorption drying. The freezing phase is
Freeze-drying was invented by Jacques- global freeze-dried food market, holding the most critical in the entire freeze-
Arsene d’Arsonval at the College de a 32% share. In addition, North America drying process. It is important to freeze
France in Paris in 1906. Later, during has the largest share of the global freeze- foods rapidly in order to avoid the forma-
World War II, it was widely implemented dried market, holding a 35% share. South tion of large ice crystals, which
to preserve blood serum. Since then America and Asia-Pacific are the fastest- deteriorate the final product quality.
freeze-drying has become one of the growing markets. During the primary drying phase, the
most important processes for preserva- pressure is lowered through the applica-
tion of heat-sensitive biological The Basic Science and Associated Benefits tion of a high vacuum, and heat is applied
materials. During the 1950s, industrial Lyophilization is the technical term for to provide the energy needed for the ice
freeze-drying of foods began. freeze-drying. Freeze-drying is the to sublime. This initial drying phase
removes about 95% of the water present
The FD1000 industrial scale freeze-dryer from Cuddon is appropriate for large food processing applications. Photo in the food. This slow step can take any-
courtesy of Cuddon Freeze-Dry where from several hours to two days.
Application of too much heat during this
phase could result in a loss in final prod-
uct quality.
Another component of the primary
drying process is condensation of the
sublimed water vapor. Sublimation
accounts for about 45% of the total
energy consumption for the process,
while application of vacuum and conden-
sation each represent about 25% of the
total energy consumption (Ratti 2001). A
secondary drying phase is then needed to
remove unfrozen water molecules
remaining after primary drying. During
this phase, the temperature is raised
higher than in the primary drying phase in
order to vaporize the water molecules.
Pressure is frequently lowered during
this phase, but not in all cases.
The final freeze-dried food typically
contains between 1% and 4% moisture.
Final food products are nitrogen sealed
and packed in polybags or cans. They can

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be stored between 6 months and 3 years chambers are typically either a
in polybags and 25 years or longer in manifold with attached flasks
cans. or a larger chamber with a
Freeze-dried foods possess superior system of shelves/trays on
quality as compared with food dehy- which the product is dried.
drated by other methods. The high quality The drying chamber is typi-
is due to the absence of a liquid phase, as cally a horizontal cylinder
well as the low temperature of the pro- containing the condenser,
cess. Freeze-drying preserves flavor, which is installed close to
color, and appearance, while minimizing the trays. The food is
thermal damage to heat-sensitive nutri- spread on the trays and
ents. In addition, the texture is well heat is supplied through
preserved due to the process occurring radiation or conduction to the
in solid state. Freeze-dried products are food. The condenser attracts
typically crisper and have rehydration the vapors being sublimed off
ratios four to six times higher than con- the product and condenses them
ventional air-dried foods. Other key back into solid form (ice). In shelf
benefits of freeze-drying include the high freeze-dryers, the condenser can be
recovery of volatiles, retention of struc- located inside the product chamber
ture and surface area, high yield, long (internal condenser, as shown in the
shelf life, and reduced weight for storage, image on page 72) or in a separate cham-
shipping, and handling. ber (external condenser) connected to
The main disadvantage of freeze- the product chamber by a vapor port. Scientists at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in collaboration with a
researcher at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
drying is cost, due to its high energy Both continuous and batch freeze-
developed a process that allowed them to dramatically reduce the time
consumption and high costs for both dryers are commercially available. Batch required to freeze-dry salmon cubes. Photo by Peggy Greb, U.S. Dept. of
operation and maintenance. The energy dryers with capacities ranging from Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
required for freeze-drying is almost dou- 100 kg to 1,500 kg per batch are common.
ble that required for conventional air There are two basic types of continuous
drying. In addition, the cost of freeze- freeze-dryers: 1) tray dryers in which the soups. Third, copacking freeze-drying
drying is four to eight times higher than product is stationary on a tray and 2) tray facilities can custom freeze-dry foods for
conventional air drying (Fink 1977). As a dryers where the trays move through the third parties.
result, the process is only economically dryer tunnel with locks for introducing
feasible for high value food products. and removing food without breaking the Equipment Manufacturers and Copackers
vacuum. In addition, dynamic or tray-less Equipment manufacturers include the
Freeze-Drying Equipment dryers can be used, in which the product following: GEA Process Engineering,
Freeze-dryers consist of a few basic is moved through the dryer by some Columbia, Md.; Cuddon Freeze-Dry, New
elements: refrigeration system, vacuum means other than a tray, including belt, Zealand; Zirbus Technology, Germany;
system, control system, product chamber circular plate, and vibratory dryers. HarvestRight, North Salt Lake, Utah;
or manifold, and condenser. The refriger- Industrial freeze-drying is practiced Parker Freeze-Dry, Pulaski, Wis.;
ation system cools the condenser located through three types of commercial SaintyCo, China; American Lyophilizer,
inside the freeze-dryer. It can cool arrangements. The first is through large- Yardley, Pa.; Millrock Technology,
shelves in the product chamber to freeze scale, in-house freezing operations that Kingston, N.Y.; and others.
the product. The vacuum system consists typically only process one or very few Copackers include the following com-
of a separate vacuum pump connected to products. Alternately, small to moderate panies: Mercer Foods, Modesto, Calif.;
an airtight condenser and attached in-house freeze-drying can be performed Oregon Freeze-Dry, Albany, Ore; Van
product chamber. Control systems vary in to produce a range of freeze-dried ingre- Drunen Farms, Santa Rosa, Calif; Freeze-
complexity and typically include temper- dients that are then combined to make Dry Foods, Germany; Chaucer
ature and pressure sensing. Product the final commercial products, such as Freeze-Dry, United Kingdom; Paradise

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Freeze-Drying Fundamentals continued...

Fruits, Germany; Asahi Group, Japan; smaller pieces prior to freeze-drying. osmotic dehydration, ultrasound treat-
Apex Lyo, Country Club, Mo.; Thrive Thermally sensitive materials, such as ment, and infrared heating, have all
Foods, American Fork, Utah; European fruits, are good candidates for freeze- shown potential to save energy and cost.
Freeze-Dry, Denmark; and others. drying. These have become popular as In addition, final product quality can be
improved through infrared pretreatment.
Freeze-drying is the process by Replacement of the heating source with
microwaves or use of spray nozzles in the
which the solvent (usually water) and/or suspension medium drying chamber also offer promise to
is crystallized at low temperature and removed by sublimation. reduce the cost of freeze-drying.
Advances in these areas are expected to
Commercial Applications in Food Processing snacks and ingredients in other foods, support a solid future for freeze-drying. FT
Some foods freeze-dry very well, but not such as breakfast cereals. Meat and
all food is suitable for freeze-drying. seafood require cooking before freeze- Tara McHugh, PhD, Contributing Editor
Freeze-drying is commonly used for cof- drying. For some foods, freeze-drying is • Research Leader, USDA Agricultural Research
Service, Albany, Calif.
fee, fruit, juice, vegetables, herbs, food not cost-effective. • tara.mchugh@ars.usda.gov
flavorings, fish, seafood, eggs, and dairy.
Individual food types can be freeze-dried, Freeze-Drying Forecast
as can dishes with multiple ingredients, The cost of freeze-drying remains the REFERENCES
such as stews or soups. As a result, greatest challenge around increased Flink, J. M. 1977. “Energy Analysis in
freeze-dried foods can be used for back- commercial implementation of this Dehydration Processes.” Food Technol. 31(3):
packing, camping, military rations, remarkable technology. Future advances 76–83.
survival food storage, and space explora- will likely focus on this challenge. Ratti, C. J. 2001. “Hot air and freeze-drying of
high-value foods: a review.” Food Eng. 49(4):
tion. Generally, larger-sized foods (such Pretreatments are one approach to 311–319.
as fruit or meat) need to be cut into reducing costs. Pretreatments, such as

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