A Catalytic Infrared System as a Hot Water Replacement Strategy: A Future Approach for Blanching Fruits and Vegetables to Save Energy and Water

ABSTRACT

The preservation and subsequent processing of fruits and vegetables are based on high-quality raw materials, and blanching in hot water is one of the most important and common pre-treatment methods. Blanching improves raw material quality and nutrient stability while eliminating microorganisms and inactivating oxidase enzymes. The downsides of the conventional method are high water usage, high energy consumption, and poor product quality. Modern food processing aims to reduce environmental impact and increase energy efficiency while maintaining food’s nutritional value. The new technology of catalytic infrared blanching provides homogeneous heating, rapid heat transmission, and high-quality products with guaranteed safety. Additionally, infrared technology offers minimal energy consumption and environmental preservation. Recently, catalytic infrared processing has been used for drying, storage, and peeling. Recent academic research on infrared and catalytic infrared has been put together to make infrared and, especially, catalytic infrared blanching technology more flexible and long-lasting.

KEYWORDS:

• Catalytic infrared
• infrared
• blanching
• fruits and vegetables

Acknowledgments

This work is grateful to the Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund (CX(21)2026), Social Development General Project of Jiangsu (BE2020776), Fund Project of Jiangsu Province, and Education Ministry Co-sponsored Synergistic Innovation Center of Modern Agricultural Equipment (XTCX2019)， Changzhou Science and Technology Projects-Agricultural Science and Technology (CE20222011).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund [CX(21)2026]; Changzhou Science and Technology Projects-Agricultural Science and Technology [CE20222011]; Social Development General Project of Jiangsu [BE2020776]; Fund Project of Jiangsu Province and Education Ministry Co-sponsored Synergistic Innovation Center of Modern Agricultural Equipment [XTCX2019]