Abstract
Background
Highlights
- Functional ingredients need protection to preserve stability and bioactivity.
- Spray drying ensures rapid processing but creates fragile, fine particles.
- Fluidized bed agglomeration enhances solubility and powder handling.
- Combining both techniques improves performance and controlled release.
Scope and approach
Key findings and conclusions
The synergistic use of spray drying and fluidized bed drying significantly enhances the functional efficacy of bioactive ingredients, extends their stability over time, and ensures optimized release in food matrices. Recent studies validate the potential of this combined strategy for creating innovative, stable, and user-friendly functional food products.
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Spray Drying
Spray drying transforms a feed fluid, specifically an emulsion of core material and wall material, in a dry powder by spraying it in a stream of hot gas, usually air. The spray drying process is shown in Fig. 3 and consists of four main stages: 1) atomization of the liquid, 2) droplet – hot air contact, 3) evaporation of droplet water, 4) separation and collection of the final product (Binesh et al., 2023; Furuta, 2023).
Jessica Pidalà, Claudio Lombardelli, Ilaria Benucci, Marco Esti, Synergistic use of spray drying and fluidized bed in the microencapsulation of food ingredients, Trends in Food Science & Technology, Volume 165, 2025, 105323, ISSN 0924-2244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2025.105323.
