Heat treating apparatus for powder particles and method of producing toner

A heat treating apparatus for powder particles each of which contains a binder resin and a colorant, the heat treating apparatus comprising:

• (1) a treating chamber in which a heat treatment of the powder particles is performed,
• (2) a raw material-supplying unit for supplying the powder particles to the treating chamber,
• (3) a hot air-supplying unit that supplies hot air for heat-treating the powder particles to the treating chamber,
• (4) a cold air-supplying unit that supplies cold air for cooling the heat-treated powder particles, and
• (5) a recovering unit that recovers the heat-treated powder particles, wherein
• the raw material-supplying unit comprises an introducing tube and a distributing member provided opposite to an outlet portion of the introducing tube,
• the distributing member is provided with a protruding member on a portion opposite to the outlet portion of the introducing tube,
• the distributing member comprises a supplying tube having two or more flow paths, the flow paths guiding a raw material in a direction from the protruding member toward a wall surface of the treating chamber,
• the supplying tube comprises a compressed air-injecting port or an external air-sucking port, and
• the compressed air-injecting port or the external air-sucking port is equipped with a flow rate adjustment mechaniam.