Wet solids are metered (typically by screw feeder) into a rotor, stator cage mill that disperses and deagglomerates the feed. Tangential hot air entrains the particles, drying them in a short vertical or looped path. Dried solids are recovered in cyclones/bag filters; cleaned air is exhausted or recycled.

Filter cakes, pastes, and lumpy powders that benefit from instant dispersion, e.g., minerals (kaolin, bentonite), chemicals (pigments, resins), detergents, and select food/nutraceutical ingredients. Environmental sludges can also be dried for volume reduction or energy recovery.

Primarily deagglomeration/dispersion to expose internal moisture; some size reduction of soft agglomerates occurs as needed. Configurations can be tuned to emphasize dispersion without aggressive milling.

Residence time is usually sub-seconds to a few seconds. Gas temperatures can be higher than in other dryers because contact time is short, boosting throughput while minimizing thermal damage. Exact set-points depend on product limits.