Drying of food industry and agricultural waste: Current scenario and future perspectives

Abstract

Food and agricultural industries contribute a massive amount of organic waste, rich in bioactive molecules, including various proteins, fatty acids, carbohydrates, enzymes and many other biomolecules. With increasing emphasis on waste reduction, bio-based product development, and the provision of nutrition for all, these resources are being exploited for nutraceutical extraction, nutrient recovery for food fortification, and bioplastic production, among many other valorized applications. Transportation and storage are essential parts of all these enterprises, for which drying can be beneficial through reduction of cost of transportation and increased shelf-life. However, the processing and drying of these materials can be challenging, due to the inherent physicochemical properties of these biomaterials and the nonexistence of an industrial setup for handling waste. Complicacy of the concepts and technologies for applying these materials can also vary in regions around the world, depending on local agricultural and food industry practices. This manuscript will focus on these issues and discuss some of the techniques to deal with them in the current scenario, along with possible future perspectives relevant to the food industries.

Keywords:

• Agricultural waste
• food waste
• fatty acids
• protein
• thermal degradation

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank the Directors of CSIR-CLRI, Chennai and CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar, for the continual support throughout the entire project. We would also like to thank CSIR-HRDG, Delhi, India for supporting the CSIR-SRA position and the work conducted during the tenure. Authors would also like to thank Dr. Parag Prakash Sutar for organising ADC 2019 on behalf of Food Process Engineering Department, NIT Rourkela and providing us the opportunity of presenting this paper.

Conflict of interest

Authors declare no conflict of interest.