SOLAR DESICCANT DRYING TECHNOLOGY AND ITS FOOD DRYING APPLICATION: A REVIEW

In recent years, the exhaustion of natural resources such as fertile land for agriculture has become a concern for food production. Further, the demand for food is growing due to the fast-increasing population. The fertile land has its own limitation to produce crops, which leads to a shortening of food production. It is necessary to utilize most agricultural produce without wasting it. In developing nations, the post-harvest losses of food grains are nearly 25% due to spoilage and pest infestation. To prevent these losses, drying of grain is a solution. In this article, various types of drying methods are introduced first, which include sun drying, vacuum drying, microwave drying, cold drying, infrared drying, desiccant drying, and hybrid drying. The review is further extended to provide a widespread summary of solar desiccant drying. The introduction about selection criteria of desiccant material & regeneration methods of desiccant material of solar desiccant dryer is demonstrated. Finally, food drying application of solar desiccant dryers is outlined, aiming to provide direction and acceleration to the development of commercial products in the field of solar desiccant drying.