Reducing energy consumption in food drying: opportunities in desiccant adsorption and other dehumidification strategies

This work assesses the energy efficiency of dehumidification drying vis-à-vis conventional convective drying techniques. Mathematical models are developed by means of which the energy efficiencies of different dehumidification dryer types are expressed in terms of that of a conventional convective dryer operating at the same temperature. This permits the isolation of important design and operational parameters specific to each dryer type which when optimized, improve energy efficiency for the same product quality requirement and ensure better product quality for the same efficiency as a conventional dryer. Desiccant dehumidification systems have the advantage of providing further opportunities for beneficial heat integration