Method and apparatus for manufacturing improved puffed borax

A method for producing a free-flowing, agglomerate free puffed borax product having high bead strength, comprising the steps of:

• (a) introducing hydrated borax particles having a given particle size distribution into the upper end of a vertical tower in the form of a horizontally dispersed sheet of said particles;
• (b) introducing a low velocity downwardly moving laminar flow of air into said tower to intercept and carry with it the borax particles in said dispersed sheet;
• (c) said borax particles being carried in said air stream for a time sufficient to remove a portion of the hydrated water and to produce said puffed particles of borax;
• and
• (d) gravitationally separating the puffed borax particles at a point downstream from the point of introduction of the borax particles and recovering the same.

A method for producing a free-flowing, agglomerate-free puffed borax product having high bead strength, comprising the steps of:

• establishing a top to bottom low velocity laminar flow of heated air through a vertical spray tower;
• continuously introducing hydrated borax particles as a dispersed substantially horizontal sheet into said heated laminar flow air stream at the upper end of said tower;
• permitting said borax particles to descend in said tower under gravity and in co-current relation to the said flow of heated air through said tower;
• said particles passing in their vertical descent through a puffing zone extending a vertical distance of from about 2 to about 15 feet in said tower;
• and
• gravitationally separating the puffed borax product and recovering same at the lowermost output end of said spray tower.