In this study the production kinetics are studied during drying in a conventional spouted bed drier, with inert particles, working at intermittent feeding of yeast, with initial moisture content of 70% (wet basis). In order to study the influence of the yeast concentration and the input air speed on the production kinetics of dry yeast, a series of 11 experiments according to a factorial design 22 plus a star configuration, with 3 experiments in the central point, was done. It was found that the increasing kinetics was practically linear in all the experiments. From this analysis, optimal operational conditions were found for the drier input air velocity and amount of yeast to be loaded. The attainment of a quality product to be used as a protein complement for animal feeding was also considered.
spouted bed drier; storage; Saccharomyces cerevisiae
