Electrohydrodynamic drying: The opportunity for sustainable development

Abstract

This review presents electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying as a new advanced technology to increase awareness of professionals on the great opportunity to contribute to the sustainable future of humanity. This emerging technology, which exploits the phenomenon of ionic wind for direct extraction of liquid water from wet materials, has been described considering product quality, energy consumption, efficiency, and environmental protection from the emission of greenhouse gases. The economic analysis of this new technology showed that EHD drying has great potential to reduce food losses in production and distribution chains, as well as minimize waste from restaurants and households. The sustainability of EHD drying, based on capital and operating costs, energy and exergy efficiency, and social implications, is illustrated, using the example of EHD-assisted convective drying.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

1. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying technology meets criteria for sustainability.

2. Economic, energy, environmental, and social aspects of EHD drying are summarized.

3. Capital and operational costs of EHD drying are quantified.

4. Scaling and application aspects of EHD drying are discussed.

Keywords:

• Renewable energy
• environment
• foods
• ionic wind
• climate change

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.