Impact of pre-treatment methods on the drying kinetics, product quality, and energy consumption of electrohydrodynamic drying of biological materials

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying is an energy-efficient method. This novel technology operates at room temperature, which makes it particularly suitable for biomaterials that contain heat-sensitive compounds. It has a higher rate than other low-temperature methods, such as solar and freeze-drying. However, its not high enough to compete with conventional thermal hot-air drying. For industrial applications requiring product throughput, the of EHD should be improved. One way do this combine pre-treatment methods. Therefore, study evaluated impact different methods on kinetics, energy consumption, quality attributes apple slices dried using Pulsed electric fields (PEF), ultrasound, blanching are studied Results show only PEF could significantly decrease time by 39%. resulted in 26% browning index untreated EHD-dried apples, appealing consumers. The applied did affect attributes, antioxidant activity, total phenolics, rehydration ratio. In conclusion, pre-treatments increases complexity process, whereas arguable whether added values outweigh energetic downsides or not.