Ultrasonic Dehydration for Dental Liquid Meals

Technology International Incorporated (TII) will develop, design, fabricate, and test an ultrasonic dehydration process that can be used to dry ingredients in as little as 10 seconds, to produce ingredients with excellent quality for dental liquid meals, high calorie compact food modules, and other ration applications using a relatively inexpensive dehydration process. The energy cost will be far less than the freeze drying method currently being used to produce the same items. The ability to rehydrate and to retain the nutrients would be greatly improved due to the extremely short residence time at high temperatures. The Phase I work will involve identifying the ingredients most suitable for ultrasonic drying and establishing the range of process parameters applicable to them. Also, a bench test will be performed to validate the range and assure compatibility of the ingredients with ultrasonic drying.