IR drying provides significant advantages over conventional hot air (HA) drying or natural drying methods including high heating intensity and drying rates. Our research team has developed several novel drying technologies including IR drying, sequential IR and hot air (SIRHAD) drying and sequential IR and freeze drying (SIRFD), etc. The feasibility of IR drying for improving the drying efficiency, energy efficiency and product quality on different food materials, such as rice, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, bananas, apples, carrots and jujubes, etc. have been investigated systematically.
The SIRFD is another technology developed by our group to produce crispy products. The SIRFD method uses IR drying to remove a significant amount of moisture from fruits before applying freeze‐drying. It produces superior products with significantly reduced energy use compared to traditional freeze-drying (FD) and sequential hot-air freeze drying (SHAFD).
(click the thumbnails for original picture)
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| IR Rotary drum dryer | SIRHA dryer | Dried strawberries by (a) FD (b) SIRFD and (c) SHAFD |
Selected Publications:
Zhang, W., C. Chen, Z. Pan, H. Xiao, L. Xie, Z. Gao, and Z. Zheng. 2019. Design and performance evaluation of a pilot-scale pulsed vacuum infrared drying system for drying of berries. Drying Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2019.1639725.
Ding, C., R. Khir, Z. Pan, D.F. Wood, C. Venkitasamy, K. Ru, H. El-Mashad, and J. Berrios. 2018. Influence of infrared drying on storage characteristics of brown rice. Food Chemistry. 264:149-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.05.042.
Chen, J., C. Venkitasamy, Q. Shen, T.H. McHugh, R. Zhang, and Z. Pan. 2018. Development of healthy crispy carrot snacks using sequential infrared blanching and hot air drying method. LWT – Food Science and Technology. 97:469-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.07.026.
Venkitasamy, C., M. Brandl, B. Wang, T.H. McHugh, R. Zhang, and Z. Pan. 2017. Drying and decontamination of pistachios with sequential infrared drying, tempering and hot air drying. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 246:85-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2017.02.005.
Pan, Z., H.M Mashad, X. Li, R. Khir, G. Atungulu, L. Zhao, P. Kuson, T.H. McHugh, and R. Zhang. 2016. Demonstration tests of infrared peeling system with electrical emitters for tomatoes. Transactions of the ASABE. 59(4):985-994. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.59.11728.