1. Physical principles
In practice, the freeze-drying process is based on two chronological operations: freezing and dehydration. Freezing is considered to be a preliminary stage to the dehydration operation, and although it is crucial to the final result, it will not be detailed in this article. Dehydration involves two physical principles: the sublimation of ice (crystals formed by freezing) and the final desorption of the residual, unfrozen water. This latter water fraction can represent from 10 to 30% of the water initially present in the product.
1.1 Phase change diagram for pure water
The sublimation of a body is characterized by the direct transition from the solid state to the vapor state, given an appropriate heat input (endothermic change of state). The change in enthalpy...
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References
Manufacturers (non-exhaustive list)
FTS Systems Inc (USA) : http://www.ftssystems.com
S.G.D. Division Serail (France)
Usifroid (France) : http://www.usifroid.com
European food processors
Européenne de Lyophilisation S.A. (Belgium)
Lyophal (France) : https://www.synerlab.com/en/production-sites-synerlab-group/lyofal/
Nestlé (France)
SPAB (France) : www.spab.fr
...
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