Abstract

Drying of food products is a relatively complex, nonlinear, and dynamic process due to simultaneous heat and mass transfer, rapid moisture evaporation, and biological and chemical reactions. Therefore, the monitoring of food quality during the drying process using bio-inspired technologies can play a vital role. The demand for high-quality dried food products and the rapid growth of energy in food processing are attracting new and renewable sources of energy. Energy efficiency, improved food product quality, and less environmental impact are always the main priorities of any drying system development. In-depth knowledge of biomimetic systems and drying kinetics would be helpful to design new dryers and technologies. Due to the excellent features (controllable drying temperature, drying time, drying air velocity, and relative humidity), heat pump drying systems have been used widely to ensure food and agricultural product quality. This chapter helps to understand the relationship between bio-inspired technologies and the role of heat pump technology in the food drying industry in terms of cost-effectiveness, energy saving, and better food product quality.

Highlights

  • Drying remains an essential part of food processing to enhance the shelf life of agricultural produce

  • The coefficient of performance (COP) of the ground source heat pump (GSHP) and the whole system is in the range of 1.63–2.88 and 1.45–2.65, and specific moisture evaporation rate (SMER) and SMExR of the system are in the range of 0.122 and 5: 11 kg/kWh respectively [55]

  • Considering the drying kinetics of food products, HP technology is the best option for new demands of energy efficiency, product quality at a lower cost, and lower environmental impact

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Summary

Introduction

Drying remains an essential part of food processing to enhance the shelf life of agricultural produce. It concluded that a step-down approach was found more energy efficient for 12 or 18 mm thickness, whereas a continuous decrease of relative humidity strategy was found energy efficient for longan, respectively Besides these drying systems, smart drying mechanisms (biomimetic systems) can be cost-effective in controlling various foodstuffs quality parameters with variable drying process time. These biomimetic systems provide reasonable information on odor and taste to analyze the quality of food products. We present the recent developments in HP drying technologies of food products, studies these advancements to maintain the food quality, and further discusses the research potential in this field

HP drying
The coefficient of performance
Specific moisture evaporation rate
Moisture extraction rate
Air source heat pump drying of food
Ground source or geothermal heat pump drying of food
Hybrid solar-assisted heat pump drying of food
Conclusion
Findings
Conflict of interest
Full Text
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