Food Drying for Low-Carbon and Future Food: A Review on the Sustainability of Drying Technology

Food drying, as a food processing industry with a high carbon footprint, needs to adapt in the face of carbon reduction and future food trends. Through the application of classical theories on food moisture migration and drying kinetics, coupled with life cycle analysis of food drying processes, the low-carbon feasibility of drying engineering can be demonstrated; a survey of drying technologies over the last 20 years has shown a new wave of advances in food drying equipment for clean energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass, with tools such as energy efficiency and monitoring enriching the drying process. The food of the future is a development of traditional and modern food products, for which new R&D trends, resource utilization, environmental load reduction, and customized production of drying technologies can provide insights. In addition, around the issue of economic efficiency of food processing, relevant recommendations for integrating cost reduction algorithms for drying processing and equipment construction are presented. This review provides useful information on carbon reduction in drying as well as trends in drying and assists in the selection of drying equipment.