About this Research Topic
This research topic aims to gather scientific research on sustainable drying technologies for food preservation, energy consumption, environmental impact, and food quality aspects. It will focus on analysing, comparing, and improving the energy efficiency, and economic performance of various food drying methods including convective air drying, solar drying, heat pump drying, microwave drying, vacuum drying, spray drying, supercritical fluid drying, etc. The research topic will feature articles revolving around the applications of digital tools like sensors, computational modelling and simulation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence algorithms for food drying process optimization and monitoring, which is crucial to achieving a sustainable food industry.
The research topic welcomes original research and review articles submissions in the following research areas (but not limited to):
• Sustainability aspect of existing and emerging food drying methods
• Integration of renewable energy sources for drying
• Hybrid drying approaches
• Optimization of the drying process to enhance quality and energy efficiency
• Energy and exergy analysis of various drying methods
• Effective energy utilisation systems like closed-loop energy systems, energy reuse and recycle, etc.
• Implementation of advanced digital tools and intelligent control systems in drying
• Computational modelling and simulation approach for energy analysis, prediction and optimization
• ∙ Nanotechnology in food drying for improvement of energy efficiency
• Impact of sustainable drying technologies on food quality, emphasizing nutritional content, sensory properties, and shelf life extension.
• LCA (Life cycle assessment) methodology for assessing the environmental impact of drying technologies
Keywords: Drying, Energy, Optimization, Food Quality, Food preservation, Food Processing
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.