Method and apparatus for making agglomerated product

A plant for producing an agglomerated powder of a milk product or a mother's milk substitute product, comprising:

• a) a drying chamber;
• b) an atomizer arranged in the drying chamber for atomizing a concentrated liquid feed of the product in the drying chamber to produce fine particles;
• c) means for recirculating the fine particles to a wet zone around the atomizer to perform an agglomeration of the product;
• d) an internal fluid bed in the drying chamber for accommodating the resulting agglomerates;
• e) an external fluid bed with a fluidized layer of agglomerates;
• f) means for transferring the agglomerates from the internal fluid bed to the fluidized layer of agglomerates in the external fluid bed;
• g) a separating device for splitting the fine particles up into first and a second fractions;
• h) means for transferring the fine particles from the drying chamber to the separating device;
• i) means for leading the first fraction of fine particles to the wet zone around the atomizer in the drying chamber;
• j) means for leading the second fraction of fine particles to the external fluid bed;
• and
• k) a second atomizer in the external fluid bed to atomize water over the fluidized layer of agglomerates to perform a further agglomeration of the product.