Patent ID: 8110332

Claim:
A method for producing electrophotographic toner comprising: spray-drying a toner ingredient-containing liquid, wherein the toner ingredient-containing liquid dissolves or disperses at least a resin, a low molecular mass organic material, and a colorant in an organic solvent, the resin is soluble in the organic solvent, the low molecular mass organic material is a crystalline compound or a composition of crystalline compounds that is soluble in the organic solvent, the toner ingredient-containing liquid contains substantially no particles having a particle diameter of 500 nm or more, the crystalline compound or the composition of crystalline compounds crystallizes upon the spray-drying to deform toner particles into a circularity of 0.93 or higher to 0.98 or less, and volume average particle diameter of the toner particles is 3.0 μm or higher to less than 7.0 μm, and the spray-drying comprises a step of periodically forming droplets, in which a toner ingredient-containing liquid is fed from a reservoir of the toner ingredient-containing liquid and periodically ejected from plural nozzles to form the droplets by way of vibrating a thin film, which being mounted at the reservoir and equipped with the plural nozzles, using a mechanical vibrating device, and a step of drying and solidifying droplets, in which the droplets of the toner ingredient-containing liquid are dried and solidified.