Recent developments in physical field-based drying techniques for fruits and vegetables

Abstract

Modern physical field technologies mainly include microwave, radio frequency, infrared radiation, ultrasound, pulsed electric field, and so on. Nowadays, the application of physical field technology on conventional drying is one of the recent strategies to solve some problems in traditional drying. In this article, physical field-based drying techniques refer to hybrid drying methods consisting of the conventional heating combined with different physical field technologies, in which physical field technologies provide various heat sources differ from conventional ones. A review is presented of recent five-year literature in the development of selected physical field-based drying technologies (microwave, radio frequency, infrared radiation, and ultrasound) for fruits and vegetables. As shown by examples from the literature, these physical field-based drying techniques provide faster drying kinetics and better thermal efficiency and obtain dried products of improved quality (e.g. color, aroma, texture, and nutrition retention) relative to conventional hot air drying. The combination of these techniques and conventional hot air drying showed enhanced cost-effectiveness as well. Furthermore, recommendations are made for further research and development needs and opportunities in this area.