Since 1930, VetterTec has earned a worldwide reputation for quality, reliability, and return on investment in industrial drying — earning them the motto “Passion for Drying.” Headquartered in Kassel, Germany, with locations in Great Britain, North America, China, and India and representatives in 12 further countries, VetterTec is a true one-stop supplier of industrial drying solutions — from R&D-scale test equipment and standalone dryers to fully integrated production lines and continuous manufacturing systems serving sophisticated liquid, powder, and bulk solid production processes.

VetterTec’s key differentiator is technology independence: with over 90 years of experience across every major dryer and evaporator type, they select the best technology for each application from their own portfolio without preference — ensuring that every recommendation is driven by what is genuinely optimal for your product and process, not by what they happen to sell. Over 3,800 drying and dewatering solutions have been supplied worldwide across the starch, food, chemical, bioethanol, brewery, vegetable oil, and environmental industries.

Trotter Equipment represents VetterTec across Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Together, we combine VetterTec’s global engineering expertise and proven drying technologies with Trotter’s practical field experience — delivering drying systems that perform from day one and continue to deliver value over a long service life.

Why Choose VetterTec?

• 96 years of experience across the full spectrum of dryer and evaporator types
• Technology-independent selection — VetterTec chooses the optimal drying technology for your product from their own portfolio without bias
• Over 3,800 drying and dewatering solutions supplied worldwide
• Optimized and integrated drying processes for best energy recovery — reducing energy consumption and CO₂ emissions
• Proven customized solutions with high performance and top quality for best cost-benefit ratio
• Safe and highly reliable systems with a long service life expectancy
• In-house Test Centre for drying trials, product development, and process validation before purchase
• Global presence with local support — locations in Germany, Great Britain, North America, China, and India

VetterTec Technologies

VetterTec’s product portfolio covers four core technology areas — dryers, mechanical dewatering, complex integrated drying systems, and brewery equipment — each engineered to maximize energy efficiency, product quality, and long-term reliability.

Dryers

• Tube Bundle Dryers — VetterTec’s flagship technology and the product for which they are best known worldwide, with over 1,000 references installed. An indirect steam-heated dryer in which a rotating tube bundle slowly conveys product axially through a fixed housing while shovels transport material along the circumference, allowing it to fall through the heated tubes with each rotation. Drying is achieved by contact with the tubes and convection — delivering gentle, economical drying at low temperatures that preserves product quality. Heat source is typically saturated steam at 4–10 barg; lower steam pressure solutions are also available. Steam consumption is extremely efficient at 1.25–1.3 lbs of steam per lb of water evaporated. The tube bundle dryer is available with integral vapor filter, mixing and recycling system for sticky or high-moisture feed, ATEX explosion-proof design, gas-tight construction, vacuum operation, and integrated condensate recovery for energy recycling up to 67% in downstream evaporators. Applications include corn germ, corn fiber, gluten, DDGS, wheat germ, spent grains, yeast, soy meal desolventizing, oilseed conditioning, lignin, and more.
• Spray Dryers — Spray drying is an increasingly important drying methodology, particularly in food, chemical, and pharmaceutical applications where a liquid feed must be converted to a free-flowing powder in a single continuous operation. VetterTec designs and supplies spray drying systems with optimized atomization, drying chamber geometry, and powder recovery for a wide range of products. Applications include dairy powders, food ingredients, chemical intermediates, plant-based proteins, and specialty powders requiring precise particle size and moisture content.
• Ring and Flash Dryers — High-intensity pneumatic dryers for rapid drying of fine, free-flowing materials where a short residence time is required. The product is suspended in a high-velocity hot gas stream and dried almost instantaneously as it is conveyed through the ring or flash drying circuit. Suitable for heat-sensitive materials where exposure time must be minimized, and for products that would be damaged by the longer residence times of indirect dryers. Applications include starch, modified starch, fine chemicals, and specialty food ingredients.

Mechanical Dewatering

VetterTec mechanical dewatering equipment reduces the moisture content of wet process streams before thermal drying — significantly reducing the thermal energy required and lowering overall drying system operating costs. Mechanical dewatering is always more energy-efficient than evaporating water thermally, and VetterTec integrates dewatering as the first step in their complete drying systems. Equipment includes screw presses, centrifuges, and belt press systems tailored to the specific material and upstream process conditions.

Complex Integrated Drying Systems

VetterTec’s most significant differentiator in the market is their ability to engineer, supply, and commission complete integrated drying and processing plants — not just individual dryers. Their engineers design the full system from wet feed through finished dry product, integrating mechanical dewatering, thermal drying, evaporation, and product handling into a single optimized process with maximum energy recovery across all unit operations.

• Wheat Processing Plants — Complete integrated systems for wheat starch processing including gluten drying, starch drying, wheat feed drying, and process water evaporation. VetterTec integrates tube bundle dryers, ring dryers, evaporators, and mechanical dewatering into a single energy-optimized plant.
• Corn Wet Milling Plants — Integrated drying systems for corn wet milling including corn germ drying, corn fiber drying, gluten drying, corn feed (fiber with corn steep liquor) drying, and corn husk drying. VetterTec’s tube bundle dryer is the technology of choice for these applications worldwide.
• Bioethanol Plants — Complete DDGS (Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles) drying systems for fuel ethanol facilities processing wheat, corn, triticale, and other feedstocks. VetterTec’s largest tube bundle dryer systems achieve more than 80 tonnes per hour of water evaporation — among the highest capacities available in any single drying system.
• Alcohol Plants — Drying and evaporation systems for potable alcohol distilleries processing DDGS and other distillery by-products.
• Plant-Based Proteins — Drying solutions for the rapidly growing plant-based protein market, including pea protein, soy protein, wheat gluten, and other alternative protein isolates and concentrates. VetterTec’s gentle indirect drying technologies preserve protein functionality and nutritional value.

Brewery Equipment

VetterTec is the leading supplier of spent grains drying and handling systems to the global brewing industry, with decades of proven experience and numerous installations worldwide. Their complete brewery by-product processing portfolio includes:

• Wet Spent Grains Conveyors — Specially designed screw conveyors for reliable handling of wet spent grains from the lauter tun to the pre-dewatering and drying system. Built to handle the sticky, fibrous, and heavy nature of wet spent grains without blockage or excessive wear.
• Wet Spent Grains Pre-Dewatering — Mechanical screw press systems for pre-dewatering wet spent grains before thermal drying — reducing the moisture content and the thermal energy load on the downstream dryer, significantly lowering operating costs.
• Tube Bundle Dryers for Spent Grains — VetterTec’s proven tube bundle dryer technology adapted specifically for drying spent grains and yeast to produce dried brewers grains (DBG) — a high-value animal feed ingredient. Available with ATEX explosion protection and gas-tight design as required.
• Silo and Dosing Screws — Storage silos and precision dosing screw systems for handling dried spent grains and other brewery by-products.
• Buffer Tanks — Wet spent grains buffer tanks for managing the intermittent discharge of spent grains from the brewing process and providing a consistent, steady feed to the dewatering and drying system.

Industries Served

VetterTec drying and dewatering systems are installed and operating at leading processors worldwide across a range of demanding industrial sectors:

• Starch & Grain Processing — Corn wet milling (corn germ, corn fiber, gluten, DDGS, corn feed, corn husks), wheat starch processing (wheat germ, gluten, wheat feed), potato starch, tapioca starch, and other grain and starch processing facilities
• Bioethanol & Fuel Alcohol — DDGS drying systems for fuel ethanol plants processing corn, wheat, triticale, and other agricultural feedstocks. VetterTec’s systems are among the largest and most energy-efficient DDGS dryers available worldwide
• Potable Alcohol & Distilling — Distillery by-product drying and evaporation systems for Scotch whisky, bourbon, vodka, and other potable spirit distilleries
• Brewery & Fermentation — Spent grains pre-dewatering and drying, yeast drying, mixture of spent grains and yeast, and other brewery by-product processing for dried brewers grains production
• Vegetable Oil Processing — Oilseed conditioning (soya, sunflower, rapeseed/canola), desolventizing and drying of oilseed meal after extraction, olive pomace drying, and integrated vegetable oil processing plant systems
• Plant-Based Proteins — Drying of pea protein, soy protein isolates and concentrates, wheat gluten, and other plant-based protein products for the food and nutraceutical industries
• Food & Beverage — Drying of food ingredients, specialty food powders, coffee grounds dewatering, hot beverages processing, and other food industry drying applications requiring gentle treatment and food-grade construction
• Chemical Industries — Cellulose acetate drying, specialty chemical drying, vacuum drying for heat-sensitive chemical intermediates, and other industrial chemical drying applications
• Energy & Environmental — Lignin drying for biomass energy production, pig manure and biosolids drying, biomass and wood pellet feedstock drying, citrus peel drying, and other organic waste and biomass drying applications
• Fertilizer & Biomass — Granulate drying, organic fertilizer drying, and biomass drying for energy and agricultural applications

Services

• Engineering / Design — Process engineering, dryer sizing, energy integration analysis, and complete plant design from wet feed through finished dry product. VetterTec engineers optimize the full system — not just the dryer — for minimum energy consumption and maximum product quality
• Test Centre — VetterTec maintains testing units for all of its drying technologies at their dedicated Test Centre, available for continuous technology and application development as well as customer product development and process validation trials before capital commitment
• Plant Performance Optimization — Analysis of existing drying systems to identify and implement improvements in throughput, energy efficiency, product quality, and operational reliability
• Plant Retrofitting — Upgrading and modernizing existing drying installations with new components, controls, and process enhancements to extend service life and improve performance
• Preventive Maintenance — Scheduled maintenance programs to maximize dryer uptime and service life, prevent unplanned downtime, and reduce lifecycle operating costs
• Repairs — Expert repair and rebuild services for VetterTec dryers and dewatering equipment
• Troubleshooting — Remote and on-site diagnostic and troubleshooting support for drying system performance and mechanical issues
• Training & Seminars — Operator and maintenance training programs and technical seminars on drying technology and best practices

PARTS

• Spare Parts
• Sub-Assembly Replacements
• Tube Bundle & Shovel System Components
• Drive Components & Gear Systems
• Vapor Filter Elements & Housings
• Seals, Bearings & Wear Parts
• ATEX Explosion Protection Components