Dehydration mechanisms in electrohydrodynamic drying of plant-based foods

Electrohydrodynamic drying (EHDD) is an energy-efficient and non-thermal technique for dehydrating heat-sensitive biological materials, like fruits, vegetables, or medicinal plants. Although this method has been studied more than three decades, still little known about the relative contribution of different dehydration mechanisms in EHDD. An accurate understanding impact EHD-driven mass transfer processes inside food its surrounding air essential a targeted future optimization successful upscaling EHDD technology. Examples these are convective moisture removal, electroporation cell membrane, electro-osmotic flow fruit. In modeling study, we first identify possible during process plant-based materials. Using available theoretical models, then estimate each mechanism to overall constant rate period rank them based on their contribution. We show that by ionic wind dominant mechanism, with 93% water flux capillary-porous material. Cell-membrane second important driving force increases transmembrane 6.5% total fruit tissue. The all other transport only 0.5%. These insights provide stepping stone towards developing full physics-based model EHD, including falling period.