Spray drying trials were carried out to produce amorphous sucrose powder. Firstly, pure sucrose solutions were prepared and spray dried at inlet and outlet temperatures of 160 degrees C and 70 degrees C, respectively. No amorphous powder was obtained and only 18% of the feed solids were recovered in a crystalline form, with the remaining solids lost as wall deposits. Secondly, sodium caseinate (Na-C) and hydrolyzed whey protein isolate (WPI) were added in sucrose:protein solid ratios of (99.5:0.5) and (99.0:1.0) and drying trials were conducted maintaining the initial drying conditions. In both these cases, greater than 80% of the feed solids were recovered in an amorphous form. The increase in protein concentration from 0.5% to 1% on dry solid basis did not further improve the recovery. The remarkable increase in recovery from a small addition of protein is attributed to preferential migration of protein molecules to the droplet-air interface, and the subsequent transformation of the thin, protein-rich film into a non-sticky glassy state upon drying. This film overcomes both the particle-to-particle and particle-to-wall stickiness. The measured bulk glass rubber transition temperature (T(g-r)) values of the bulk mixtures at various moisture contents were very close to the corresponding mean glass transition temperature (T(g)) of the pure sucrose indicating that surface layer T(g) rather than the bulk T(g) is responsible for this. Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) studies revealed that the particle surface was covered by 50-58% (by mass) proteins. The calculated glass transition temperature of the surface layer (T(g,surface layer)). based on the surface elemental compositions, showed that the T(g,surface layer) has increased to the extent that it remained within the safe drying envelope of spray drying. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.