About this Research Topic
The majority of the population has access to sunlight making solar energy one of the most accessible renewable energy sources globally, which can be used concurrently for other purposes, such as solar drying. Solar drying is considered to be a simultaneous application of heat and the removal of moisture from foods which is an important process for the future of food security and sustainability. Solar drying is a method used in the food industry as a sustainable food processing technology that minimizes waste while complying with extremely rigorous food safety challenges.
Solar dryers are used to improve the quality of the product and to reduce the drying time compared to sun drying. There are many types and applications of solar dryers to dry different types of agricultural products such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and aromatic plants. These applications have been, and continue to be, improved by many researchers to increase the drying efficiency and improve the final quality of the dried products.
Solar drying, as food processing method has many advantages, including the free, renewable and non-polluting source of energy. Nevertheless, it is affected by the weather conditions that can change the sunlight input in unpredictable ways, varying the quality of the products and the process duration. Therefore, storage energy using battery or using auxiliary source of energy may help to overcome this problem.
Solutions to solve the challenges of solar drying are continuously being researched, however, further research is needed to develop more suitable and efficient drying technologies to produce high-quality agricultural products to cope with socio-economic conditions especially in developing countries and areas where other energy sources are limited.
Therefore, this research topic is aimed at receiving the state of the art original research or review papers focusing on increasing the performance and efficiency of solar dryers to improve the quality of dried products. We welcome articles on the following themes, but not limited to:
• Design of solar dryers direct/indirect/mixed-mode or continuously/ non-continuously operating (day and night) for different types: cabinet, tunnel and greenhouse.
• Hybrid/auxiliary solar dryers.
• Energy and exergy equations for solar dryers.
• Performance and efficiency of solar dryers.
• Modelling and simulation analysis.
• Thermal process and the quality of dried products.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and applications.
• Sustainability and environmental system.
• Drying time, drying rate, drying kinetics, drying uniformity and quality attributes.
• Photovoltaic modules (PV).
• Heat/Energy storage
• Heat and mass transfer.
Solar dryers are used to improve the quality of the product and to reduce the drying time compared to sun drying. There are many types and applications of solar dryers to dry different types of agricultural products such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and aromatic plants. These applications have been, and continue to be, improved by many researchers to increase the drying efficiency and improve the final quality of the dried products.
Solar drying, as food processing method has many advantages, including the free, renewable and non-polluting source of energy. Nevertheless, it is affected by the weather conditions that can change the sunlight input in unpredictable ways, varying the quality of the products and the process duration. Therefore, storage energy using battery or using auxiliary source of energy may help to overcome this problem.
Solutions to solve the challenges of solar drying are continuously being researched, however, further research is needed to develop more suitable and efficient drying technologies to produce high-quality agricultural products to cope with socio-economic conditions especially in developing countries and areas where other energy sources are limited.
Therefore, this research topic is aimed at receiving the state of the art original research or review papers focusing on increasing the performance and efficiency of solar dryers to improve the quality of dried products. We welcome articles on the following themes, but not limited to:
• Design of solar dryers direct/indirect/mixed-mode or continuously/ non-continuously operating (day and night) for different types: cabinet, tunnel and greenhouse.
• Hybrid/auxiliary solar dryers.
• Energy and exergy equations for solar dryers.
• Performance and efficiency of solar dryers.
• Modelling and simulation analysis.
• Thermal process and the quality of dried products.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and applications.
• Sustainability and environmental system.
• Drying time, drying rate, drying kinetics, drying uniformity and quality attributes.
• Photovoltaic modules (PV).
• Heat/Energy storage
• Heat and mass transfer.
Keywords: Solar drying, Design and performance, Modelling and simulation analysis, Energy and exergy, food security and sustainability
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
