Computational modelling for decarbonised drying of agricultural products: Sustainable processes, energy efficiency, and quality improvement

Drying agricultural products consumes massive amounts of energy. The rapid depletion of non-renewable energy sources, along with rising environmental concerns, are opening up new opportunities for developing sustainable drying systems and reducing its carbon footprint. Drying modelling is a powerful tool for understanding the mechanism and predicting fluid flow hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer during the drying process. The current review outlines the state-of-the-art of various modelling techniques for drying technologies, explores the unresolved bottlenecks in technology development, and provides new avenues for more innovative and sus-tainable drying technologies. First, the drying mechanism and novel drying technologies are explained. Then, various modelling methods are summarised. Finally, new insights into quality and energy modelling using CFD are discussed. Based on the research achievements, future challenges of CFD modelling and their contribution to improving the drying process in terms of high quality and low energy consumption and decarbonisation are addressed.

Automated summary

This article introduces the issue of energy consumption in drying agricultural products and highlights the use of drying modeling to understand the mechanism and predict fluid flow and heat and mass transfer. The article summarizes various modeling methods for drying technologies and explores new avenues for using computational fluid dynamics in quality and energy modeling.