Spray-Drying Process Optimization of Chicory Root Inulin

This work reports the optimization of a spray-drying process to obtain inulin powder from a concentrated solution extracted from chicory roots. The influence of inlet air, solution temperature, and feed pump speed on the mass yield of the drying process was studied. The resulting powder's microstructure was evaluated in a scanning electron microscope for all drying conditions. The best drying condition was at 25°C, atomized at 210°C, with 5% of the maximum pump speed, resulting in a white powder composed of smooth spherical particles of several sizes.