The Ultimate Drier

Heat Pump Driers

Shed 4 / 43 Lilypool Rd, Sth Grafton, NSW

Mob. 0403 403 145

OVDMA The Ultimate Drying Process

OVDMA, Osmotic Vacuum Drying in a Modified Atmosphere, is a drying process developed over 20 years by Driedfresh™ NZ. OVDMA produces dried product of such quality, that Driedfresh™ have produced product that when reconstituted with water, cannot be distinguished from fresh product in flavour, texture and colour.

To achieve this amazing result, it is necessary to know why the process works.

	Product is dried at or below 35°C, temperatures the product would normally be subjected to, so there is no deterioration due to heat. The product is raw and not cooked as in many other drying processes.
	Product is dried under medium to high vacuum (depending on product), which gently extracts the moisture contained in the plant cells by osmosis without destroying the cell structure.
	The MA part of the process is Modified Atmosphere. Product is dried in an atmosphere which has low to no Oxygen, thus preventing any oxidation during the drying process. Product doesn't brown or get bitter tastes.

In addition drying is much more energy efficient due to the following reasons.

Because the Modified Atmosphere becomes very high in water content, and very low in other gases, very much higher than in normal atmospheric conditions, most of the energy required in the drying process goes towards condensing water, and not repeated heating and/or cooling of normal atmospheric gases as in other drying processes. This fact alone can produce water extraction rates double that of the already highly efficient Heat Pump Dehumidification Drier types, for the same energy input.

One of the largest problems in drying is getting the product to release the water to the surrounding air. This is especially so for high brix (high sugar) product, and waxy or hardy plant material, like leaves from plants in dry climates. After all, dry climate plants have evolved to retain as much water as possible. The medium to high vacuum used in the OVDMA process is very good at releasing water from these types of material.

The Ultimate Drier

The Driedfresh™ OVDMA Containerised Drier

This is the current embodiment of the Driedfresh™ OVDMA drier. The drier is self contained inside a 20 foot container, designed to be easily transportable to site so the raw materials are processed closest to where they are grown, reducing transport damage and deterioration due to the time between harvest and processing.

The container is designed to protrude through the wall of the processing facility while the rest of the unit stays outside.

Power requirements are one 40 Amp 3 Ph Outlet.

Product dried on a rotating carousel that is quickly loaded and unloaded from machine. Changeover ~ 5 mins.

Trays are loaded onto a carousel stack which is loaded and unloaded in one piece. Two Carousel stacks are used so that 1 can be processed while the other is drying.

Trays are easily removed from the stack, and can be quickly unloaded of product, cleaned if necessary and loaded back onto the carousel for the next drying cycle.

A stack holds up to 300kg of wet product, and can normally be dried in 8 to 30 hrs depending on the product. Some much faster.

Driedfresh™ Drier advantages

	Self contained and readily moved if required
	Relatively low power consumption
	High efficiency (energy used to weight of dried product)
	Extremely high quality product
	Easily loaded and unloaded
	Faster drying times
	Short time between drying cycles
	Available for purchase or lease
	24/7 Support if required

To discuss the advantages of this drier, purchase, lease, or even the possibility of some drying time in an existing drier, please contact us by phone or email.

Last modified: August 14, 2018