No matter Bench-top freeze dryer or large Industrial lyophilizer, all Vacuum freeze dryer follow a unified four-step Freeze-drying production workflow to process all kinds of food raw materials.
The first stage is raw material pre-freezing inside the Freeze drying machine, cooling material temperature below -30℃ to form stable internal ice crystal structure.
Second stage is vacuum pumping; operators start the vacuum system of the Freeze dryer to reduce internal pressure to preset 10–133Pa working vacuum range.
The third core sublimation stage is Lyophilization: heating plate provides mild heat to sublimate ice crystal into vapor under continuous low vacuum environment inside the Vacuum freeze dryer.
The total Freeze-drying time of Industrial freeze dryer stays 12–22 hours, determined by raw material thickness, water content and single-bin loading volume of each batch.
After finishing sublimation dehydration, the fourth post-processing stage releases vacuum pressure inside the Freeze dryer and takes out fully dry freeze-dried finished products.
Small Bench-top freeze dryer shortens partial pre-freezing and pumping time for lab small samples, but still strictly follows the same Lyophilization principle as Industrial freeze dryer.
Improper operation on any workflow link of the Freeze dryer will cause incomplete dehydration, flower/fruit shrinkage or pet meat nutrition loss after Lyophilization.
