INTRODUCTION Microwave drying is volumetric drying, it requires

shortest drying time, it is however highly energy-

intensive.
 Drying is one of the oldest and most common
techniques to preserve foods. It is also an
essential unit operation in pharmaceutical,
OVER THE YEARS
manufacturing, paper, polymer, and chemical
industries. And involves removal of water from a Fruits and vegetables are very perishable that have
solid with the application of thermal, mechanical enormous industrial and commercial importance to
or electrical energy. Most commonly used preserve its quality attributes, increase shelf life, and
traditional methods for drying fruits and reduce transport weight.
vegetables are;
 Vacuum drying Drying techniques have been widely applied, both
 Solar drying industrially and commercially for the processing and
 Sun drying preservation of its.
 Freeze drying
 Fluidized bed drying And most of the traditional techniques needs time and
 Tray drying energy consuming, and affects important quality of final
 Hot-air drying, which these drying products.
technologies are typically lead to losses of
heat-sensitive active compounds in Different novel techniques that involve the application of
biological materials like fruits, vegetables, some of these heating modes or combination thereof
and medicinal plants . have recently been developed, especially for drying of
fruits and vegetables.
INTRODUCTION 2

 Conventional drying processes are based on RECENTLY

conductive, convective and radiative heat
transfer, using air, superheated steam, Increased interest in the used of non-thermal drying
microwave, electrohydrodynamic (EHD) methods in combination with the other convectional
phenomena and freeze drying. In addition, this drying techniques for preserving fruits and vegetables
traditional drying methods for plant-based foods These methods have been reported to enhance the
are usually energy-intensive, time-consuming, and quality of dried products, reduce drying time, and energy
lead to an extensive quality loss compared to the demand, and increase the overall drying efficiency
fresh product. These drying techniques have become potential substitute
Thermal drying, if carried out at high temperatures, for traditional industry and commercial dryers, owing to
produces undesirable changes in the physical, their advantage of producing quality dried fruits and
chemical and biological properties of food. vegetable products with reduced drying time and energy
consumption.
Freeze drying gives the highest quality food product,
obtainable by any drying method; however, it is WHAT IS EHD?
expensive because of slow drying rate and the use of Preserving fruits and vegetables by drying is a
vacuum. traditional yet effective way of reducing food
Mechanical drying is cheaper than thermal or freeze waste. Existing drying methods are either
drying; the product however loses its texture. energy-intensive or lead to a significant
reduction in product quality.
EHD drying is surface drying; it is convective without Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying is an energy-
the involvement of heat and hence is energy-efficient. efficient low-temperature drying method that
 presents an opportunity to comply with the  its simple design, with no moving parts and no wear
current challenges of existing drying methods. and tear.
EHD drying in its growth boom will enter the  In addition, by taking place at room temperature, the
quest for commercial implementation, because EHD drying is considered a non-thermal food
of its great potential as an efficient and cost- processing technique, which ensures the quality of
effective alternative to current drying methods. food dehydration without any risk of flavour
Classical drying technologies will continue to degradation, surface tarnishing or formation of an
play an important role in the manufacture of internal moisture gradient.
agro-industrial products as long as these  low energy consumption
technologies remain viable.  the drying process, which is mainly based on corona
wind energy and carried out in an isolated air
container, promises clean conditions for food quality
and environment-friendly.
 it is a promising emerging drying technology involving  simpler design show great potential for bulk and
the interaction of high voltage electric field-generated industrial drying applications.
corona wind with dielectric food material.  The energy efficiency and other advantages, such as
 An energy-efficient and non-thermal technique for low implementation and maintenance costs make
dehydrating heat-sensitive biological materials, like EHD an interesting alternative to conventional drying
fruits, vegetables, or medicinal plants. processes.
 It consumes less energy and produces dried foods
with acceptable sensory quality unlike conventional
PROBLEM: Disadvantages
drying technologies that are energy-intensive. –
 Compared to hot air (convective) drying systems, EHD  it's underlying drying mechanism is not well
drying systems offer lower food production costs established.
along with superior quality in terms of physiochemical  limited commercial application
properties such as color, shrinkage, flavor, and nutrient Although electrohydrodynamics can offer several
content. benefits in the context of food and bioprocessing,
 improving the drying of heat-sensitive materials, its application in the drying of food materials is
mainly food products. It has been used to dry food relatively limited, only because the approach
products, such as, apple, mushroom, and many more. remains underexplored.

  EHD drying as a step toward adopting this clean
technology by farmers, industries, and other
stakeholders.

BENEFITS:

 can substantially enhance water evaporation.

 enhance mass transfer used by the corona wind to
generated at the room temperature and atmospheric
pressure. Therefore, compared to conventional
processes wherein high airflows at the elevated
temperatures are used, the EHD is to process condition
that makes it considerably attractive for low
temperature applications.
 force and electrostatic effects measured in
continuous mode when the dryer was on.
EFFECTS ON FOOD QUALITY: EHD AND
CONVENTIONAL DRYING TECHNIQUES
 Concerning dried product quality, EHD can offer
superior quality attributes due to its non-thermal
nature. Thus, EHD drying is more suitable for
heat-sensitive biomaterials such as perishable
foods, herbs, and medicinal plants, nutraceutical
and functional foods such as probiotics, enzymes,
and starter cultures (Martynenko and Kudra,
2019).
 Than conventional drying can result in significant
deterioration of organoleptic and nutritional
quality of foods, particularly owing to the use of
high drying temperatures.

A corona will occur when the potential gradient

of the electric field is high enough to form a
conductive region; the corona discharge is the
electrical discharge brought on by the ionisation
of the fluid surrounding the emitter. The corona
wind used to enhance mass transfer is generated
at the room temperature and atmospheric
pressure. Therefore, against to conventional
processes wherein high airflows at the elevated
temperatures are used, this processing condition
makes it considerably attractive for low
temperature applications. EHD drying
performance depends on the strength of the
corona wind, which impinges on the biological
material being dried, then generates turbulent,
vortex-like motions and enhances the mass
transfer rates of the liquid and volatile
components.

HOW EHD WORK?

TEMPERATURE & RELATIVE HUMIDITY

 22 ± 1 ℃ air temperature and 54 ± 8 % relative
humidity in a controlled room.
THICKNESS
 30 mm × 30 mm square slices of fruit/ vegetables
INTERMEDIATE MODE
 the system was turned off every 10 min during
the first two hours of drying and every 30 min
after the first two hours to cancel out the air drag
CONVECTIONAL DRYING VS EHD

The berries were tested for pretreatment,

changes during electrohydrodynamic drying,
changes in the fruit, and other variables. Very
generally, berries subjected to conventional
drying (such as forced air), have changes in
color, damage to the skin of the fruit, loss of
components, etc. However, it is said that EHD
drying brings improvements in these issues. The
drying rate and quality of the fruit improved, the
skin of the fruit was less affected, no color
changes were noted and it was able to
deactivate enzymes without losing other
important components. 

Example of Dried Carrots using EHD

Studies were also conducted on the effects of this
drying method on carrots, which are usually dried
to extract carotenes, and this was precisely one
of the characteristics analyzed in these studies.
The drying speed improves with this method and
as a result of this increase, a higher carotene
content, better product quality, and higher
rehydration; the time also improves these
characteristics and a very important one which is
the extraction yield and antioxidant activity (Ding
et al., 2015; Salehi and Taghian, 2020).

WHY EHD IS NOT WELL ESTABLISHED?

However, despite its promising characteristics, EHD

drying is yet to be accepted by industry and farmers. The
adoption of EHD drying is hindered due to different
reasons, such as uncertainties surrounding its scalability,
quality of dried product, cost of operation, and
sustainability compared to conventional drying methods