Sustainable Drying of Agricultural Products: Influence of Pretreatments on Energy Consumption and Drying Performance
Mohammed Kaveh, Małgorzata Nowacka, Yousef Abbaspour Gilandeh, Faroogh Sharifian, Davood Kalantari, Hany S. El‐MeseryABSTRACT
Approximately one‐third of food products are lost due to delays in processing. Drying is one of the most commonly used methods to address this issue. This process has brought significant value to the food industry by not only enhancing product quality but also reducing transportation and logistics costs, as the reduction in moisture content substantially decreases the weight and volume of agricultural products, thereby lowering packaging requirements and freight energy expenditure. However, traditional drying methods still need optimization, especially in terms of energy efficiency. Drying is an energy‐intensive operation, accounting for 10%–25% of the total production costs. The food science and industry sectors have continually sought innovative, cost‐effective solutions to optimize processes while fostering green and sustainable technologies. As part of this, considerable efforts have been made to develop drying systems based on pretreatment techniques aimed at minimizing energy consumption (SEC). Pretreatments are widely applied to agricultural products prior to drying, serving to deactivate enzymes, improve the quality of the dried products, enhance energy efficiency, shorten drying times, and reduce SEC. These methods can be categorized into chemical (both solution and gas‐based) and physical (thermal and non‐thermal blanching) approaches. This review explores previous research on how pretreatment techniques can help reduce SEC. Furthermore, it provides guidance on selecting appropriate pretreatment methods for drying agricultural products to achieve lower SEC. Recent studies have highlighted several promising pretreatment technologies, including ultrasonication (US), pulsed electric fields (PEF), cold plasma (CP), radiofrequency (RF), blanching (B), and osmotic treatments (OD), which show great potential for reducing SEC in the drying of food products across various industrial applications.