Abstract
Infrared (IR) radiations are an important source of energy used in the food industry for a wide range of applications such as drying, roasting, pasteurization, blanching, peeling, and removal of antinutrients from legumes. IR drying can be combined with other drying methods such as hot air, vacuum, microwave, and freeze drying to augment the speed of the process and also to get better results. The review puts forward a critical discussion on the principle, applications, and comparative performance of IR energy for drying a range of food materials including grains, fruits, vegetables, and sea food in the recent past. The effects of process variables on energy consumption, drying time, rate of drying, and quality of the dried product are explained in detail. Model calculations for penetration depth of IR in food materials and for heat and mass transfer are also explained. Thin layer drying models to govern kinetics of drying under different configuration of infrared drying systems are also reviewed. The insights presented by this review would help in better understanding and proper selection of process variables for design of advanced IR drying systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of Data and Material
Not applicable (review article).
References
Abano EE, Ma HL, Qu WJ, Wang PL, Wu BG, Pan ZL (2014) Catalytic infrared drying effect on tomato slices properties. J Food Process Technol 5:1–10
Aboltins A, Palabinskis J, Vartukapteinis K (2017) Studies of berry drying process in infrared film dryer. In: Proceedings of the international scientific conference Latvia University of Agriculture 1515–1520
Aboud SA, Altemimi AB, RS Al-HiIphy A, Yi-Chen L, Cacciola F (2019) A comprehensive review on infrared heating applications in food processing. Molecules 24:4125
Adak N, Heybeli N, Ertekin C (2017) Infrared drying of strawberry. Food Chem 219:109–116
Aidani E, Hadadkhodaparast M, Kashaninejad M (2017) Experimental and modeling investigation of mass transfer during combined infrared-vacuum drying of Hayward kiwifruits. Food science & nutrition 5:596–601
Akpinar EK, Bicer Y, Cetinkaya F (2006) Modelling of thin layer drying of parsley leaves in a convective dryer and under open sun. J Food Eng 75:308–315
Alaei B, Chayjan RA (2015a) Modelling of nectarine drying under near infrared vacuum conditions. Acta Sci Pol Technol Aliment 14:15–27
Alaei B, Chayjan RA (2015b) Drying characteristics of pomegranate arils under near infrared-vacuum conditions. J Food Process Preserv 39:469–479
Antal T (2015) Comparative study of three drying methods: freeze, hot air-assisted freeze and infrared-assisted freeze modes. Agron Res 13:863–878
Antal T, Tarek-Tilistyák J, Cziáky Z, Sinka L (2017) Comparison of drying and quality characteristics of pear (Pyrus communis L.) using mid-infrared-freeze drying and single stage of freeze drying. Int J Food Eng 13
Aydogdu A, Sumnu G, Sahin S (2013) Infrared assisted microwave drying of eggplants. In: 4th International Conference on Food Engineering and Biotechnology IPCBEE
Bal S, Wratten FT, Chesness JL, Faulkner MD (1970) An analytical and experimental study of radiant heating of rice grain. Trans ASABE 13:644–0647
Baptestini FM, Correa PC, Oliveira GHHD, Botelho FM, Oliveira APLRD (2017) Heat and mass transfer coefficients and modeling of infrared drying of banana slices. Revista Ceres 64:457–464
Bejar AK, Ghanem N, Mihoubi D, Kechaou N, Mihoubi NB (2011) Effect of infrared drying on drying kinetics, color, total phenols and water and oil holding capacities of orange (Citrus sinensis) peel and leaves. Int J Food Eng 7:1–25
Belviso S, Dal Bello B, Giacosa S, Bertolino M, Ghirardello D, Giordano M, Zeppa G (2017) Chemical, mechanical and sensory monitoring of hot air- and infrared-roasted hazelnuts (Corylus avellana L.) during nine months of storage. Food Chem 217:398–408
Blout ER (1957) Aqueous solution infrared spectroscopy of biochemical polymers. Ann N Y Acad Sci 69:84–93
Brooker DB, Bakker-Arkema FW, Hall CW (1992) Drying and storage of grains and oilseeds. Springer Science & Business Media
Bualuang O, Tirawanichakul Y, Tirawanichakul S (2013) Comparative study between hot air and infrared drying of parboiled rice: kinetics and qualities aspects. J Food Process Preserv 37:1119–1132
Cao X, Zhang M, Mujumdar AS, Zhong Q, Wang Z (2018) Effects of ultrasonic pretreatments on quality, energy consumption and sterilization of barley grass in freeze drying. Ultrason Sonochem 40:333–340
Chayjan RA, Dibagar N, Alaei B (2017) Drying characteristics of zucchini slices under periodic infrared–microwave vacuum conditions. Heat Mass Transf 53:3473–3485
Chen T, Kang B, Chen S, Chen H, Lin H (2010) Optimized parameters and quality analysis of salty and crisp peanut by far-infrared roasting. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering 26:320–325
Chen Q, Bi J, Wu X, Yi J, Zhou L, Zhou Y (2015) Drying kinetics and quality attributes of jujube (Zizyphus jujuba Miller) slices dried by hot-air and short-and medium-wave infrared radiation. LWT-Food Sci Technol 64:759–766
Correa PC, Baptestini FM, Zeymer JS, Araujo MEVD, Freitas RCPD, Leite RA (2019) Dehydration of infrared ginger slices: heat and mass transfer coefficient and modeling. Cienc Agrotec 43:1–11
Das I, Das SK (2010) In: Pan Z, Atungulu GG (eds) Infrared heating for food and agricultural processing. CRC Press
Dasore A, Konijeti R, Puppala N (2019) Method for Determining the Appropriate Thin Layer Drying Model for a Feedstock. Int J Recent Technol Eng 8:3627–3632
Datta AK, Ni H (2002) Infrared and hot-air-assisted microwave heating of foods for control of surface moisture. J Food Eng 51:355–364
De la Fuente-Blanco S, De Sarabia ERF, Acosta-Aparicio VM, Blanco-Blanco A, Gallego-Juarez JA (2006) Food drying process by power ultrasound. Ultrasonics 44:523–527
Dujmic F, Brncic M, Karlovic S, Bosiljkov T, Jezek D, Tripalo B, Mofardin I (2013) Ultrasound-assisted infrared drying of pear slices: textural issues. J Food Process Eng 36:397–406
El-Mesery HS, Mwithiga G (2015) Performance of a convective, infrared and combined infrared-convective heated conveyor-belt dryer. J Food Sci Technol 52:2721–2730
Erbay Z, Icier F (2010) A review of thin layer drying of foods: theory, modeling, and experimental results. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 50:441–464
Erdogdu SB, Eliasson L, Erdogdu F, Isaksson S, Ahrne L (2015) Experimental determination of penetration depths of various spice commodities (black pepper seeds, paprika powder and oregano leaves) under infrared radiation. J Food Eng 161:75–81
Fasina O, Tyler B, Pickard M, Zheng GH, Wang N (2001) Effect of infrared heating on the properties of legume seeds. Int J Food Sci Technol 36:79–90
Fernandes FA, Gallao MI, Rodrigues S (2008) Effect of osmotic dehydration and ultrasound pre-treatment on cell structure: Melon dehydration. LWT-Food Sci Technol 41:604–610
Fernando AJ, Amaratunga KSP, Priyadarshana LBMDL, Galahitiyawa DDK, Karunasinghe KGWU (2014) Roasting chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) using far-infrared radiation. Tropical Agric Res 25(2):180–187
Freeman NK (1957) Infrared spectroscopy of serum lipids. Ann N Y Acad Sci 69:131–144
Ghaboos SHH, Ardabili SMS, Kashaninejad M, Asadi G, Aalami M (2016) Combined infrared-vacuum drying of pumpkin slices. J Food Sci Technol 53:2380–2388
Giri SK, Prasad S (2007) Drying kinetics and rehydration characteristics of microwave-vacuum and convective hot-air dried mushrooms. J Food Eng 78:512–521
Ha JW, Ryu SR, Kang DH (2012) Evaluation of near-infrared pasteurization in controlling Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat sliced ham. Appl Environ Microbiol 78:6458–6465
Hallstrom B, Skjoldebrand C, Tragardh C (1988) Heat transfer and food products. Elsevier Applied Science
Hashimoto A, Kameoka T (1997) Penetration of infrared radiation within a vegetable model. Food Sci Technol Int 3:373–378
Hashimoto A, Takahashi M, Honda T, Shimizu M, Watanabe A (1990) Penetration of infrared radiation energy into sweet potato. Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi 37:887–893
Ismail O, Kocabay OG (2018) Infrared and microwave drying of rainbow trout: drying kinetics and modelling. Turk J Fish Aquat Sci 18:259–266
Kantrong H, Tansakul A, Mittal GS (2014) Drying characteristics and quality of shiitake mushroom undergoing microwave-vacuum drying and microwave-vacuum combined with infrared drying. J Food Sci Technol 51:3594–3608
Khampakool A, Soisungwan S, Park SH (2019) Potential application of infrared assisted freeze drying (IRAFD) for banana snacks: Drying kinetics, energy consumption, and texture. LWT 99:355–363
Kocabiyik H, Tezer D (2009) Drying of carrot slices using infrared radiation. Int J Food Sci Technol 44:953–959
Koegel RJ, McCallum RA, Greenstein JP, Winitz M, Birnbaum SM (1957) The solid-state infrared absorption of the optically active and racemic straight-chain α-amino acids. Ann N Y Acad Sci 69:94–115
Krishnamurthy K, Khurana HK, Soojin J, Irudayaraj J, Demirci A (2008) Infrared heating in food processing: an overview. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 7:2–13
Li X, Pan Z, Bingol G, McHugh TH, Atungulu GG (2009) Feasibility study of using infrared radiation heating as a sustainable tomato peeling method. ASABE 1
Li X, Pan Z, Atungulu GG, Zheng X, Wood D, Delwiche M, McHugh TH (2014) Peeling of tomatoes using novel infrared radiation heating technology. Innov Food Sci Emerg 21:123–130
Li X, Xie X, Zhang CH, Zhen S, Jia W (2018) Role of mid- and far-infrared for improving dehydration efficiency in beef jerky drying. Dry Technol 36:283–293
Liu Y, Miao S, Wu J, Liu J, Yu H, Duan X (2015) Drying characteristics and modeling of vacuum far-infrared radiation drying of Flos Lonicerae. J Food Process Preserv 39:338–348
Liu Z, Zhang M, Fang Z, Bhandari B, Yang Z (2017) Dehydration of asparagus cookies by combined vacuum infrared radiation and pulse-spouted microwave vacuum drying. Dry Technol 35:1291–1301
Manning JJ (1956) Infrared spectra of some important narcotics. Appl Spectrosc 10:85–98
Mayor L, Sereno AM (2004) Modelling shrinkage during convective drying of food materials: a review. J Food Eng 61:373–386
Mosayebi M, Kashaninejad M, Najafian L (2018) Optimizing physiochemical and sensory properties of infrared-hot air roasted sunflower kernels using response surface methodology. J Food Qual 2018:1–14
Nakata T, Okamoto A, Sawai J, Kikuchi M (2015) Effects of Far-Infrared Irradiative Heating Pasteurization on Fungi. J Biosci Med 3:60–65
Nawirska A, Figiel A, Kucharska AZ, Sokol-Letowska A, Biesiada A (2009) Drying kinetics and quality parameters of pumpkin slices dehydrated using different methods. J Food Eng 94:14–20
Nowak D, Lewicki PP (2004) Infrared drying of apple slices. Innov Food Sci Emerg 5:353–360
Onwude DI, Hashim N, Abdan K, Janius R, Chen G (2019) The effectiveness of combined infrared and hot-air drying strategies for sweet potato. J Food Eng 241:75–87
Orikasa T, Koide S, Okamoto S, Togashi C, Komoda T, Hatanaka S, Muramatsu Y, Thammawaong M, Shiina T, Tagawa A (2015) Temperature dependency of quality change during far-infrared drying of Komatsuna leaves. Acta Hortic 1091:319–325
Padmashree A, Semwal AD, Khan MA, Govindaraj T, Sharma GK (2016) Effect of infrared processing on functional, nutritional, antinutritional and rheological properties of mung bean (Phaseolus aereus) seeds. Int J Adv Res 4:606–613
Pathiratne SM, Shand PJ, Pickard M, Wanasundara JP (2015) Generating functional property variation in lentil (Lens culinaris) flour by seed micronization: effects of seed moisture level and surface temperature. Food Res Int 76:122–131
Pawar SB, Pratape VM (2017) Fundamentals of infrared heating and its application in drying of food materials: a review. J Food Process Eng 40:12308
Pekke MA, Pan Z, Atungulu GG, Smith G, Thompson JF (2013) Drying characteristics and quality of bananas under infrared radiation heating. Int J Agr Biol Eng 6:58–70
Qu F, Zhu X, Ai Z, Ai Y, Qiu F, Ni D (2019) Effect of different drying methods on the sensory quality and chemical components of black tea. LWT-Food Sci Technol 99:112–118
Rahmawati L, Saputra D, Sahim K, Priyanto G, Pan Z (2017) Study of using infrared radiation for increasing the shelf life of duku. In IV Asia Symposium on Quality Management in Postharvest Systems 1210:109–116
Ramaswamy HS, Marcotte M (2005) Food processing: principles and applications. CRC Press
Rastogi NK (2012) Recent trends and developments in infrared heating in food processing. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 52:737–760
Ratti C (2001) Hot air and freeze-drying of high-value foods: a review. J Food Eng 49:311–319
Ratti C, Mujumdar AS (2006) Handbook of industrial drying. CRC Press
Riadh MH, Ahmad SAB, Marhaban MH, Soh AC (2015) Infrared heating in food drying: an overview. Dry Technol 33:322–335
Rojas ML, Augusto PE (2018) Ethanol and ultrasound pre-treatments to improve infrared drying of potato slices. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 49:65–75
Sae-Khow A, Tirawanichakul S, Tirawanichakul Y (2013) Effect of drying with heat convection and heat radiation on drying kinetics and quality aspect of black pepper. Burapha Science Journal 18:166–180
Saengrayap R, Tansakul A, Mittal GS (2015) Effect of far-infrared radiation assisted microwave-vacuum drying on drying characteristics and quality of red chilli. J Food Sci Technol 52:2610–2621
Sakai N, Hanzawa T (1994) Applications and advances in far-infrared heating in Japan. Trends Food Sci Technol 5:357–362
Sakai N, Mao W (2006) In: Sun DW (ed) Thermal food processing. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton
Salehi F, Kashaninejad M (2018) Modeling of moisture loss kinetics and color changes in the surface of lemon slice during the combined infrared-vacuum drying. Inf Process Agric 5:516–523
Salehi F, Kashaninejad M (2018) Mass transfer and color changes kinetics of infrared-vacuum drying of grapefruit slices. Int J Fruit Sci 18:394–409
Salehi F, Kashaninejad M, Jafarianlari A (2017) Drying kinetics and characteristics of combined infrared-vacuum drying of button mushroom slices. Heat Mass Transf 53:1751–1759
Samani BH, Gudarzi H, Rostami S, Lorigooini Z, Esmaeili Z, Jamshidi-Kia F (2018) Development and optimization of the new ultrasonic-infrared-vacuum dryer in drying Kelussia odoratissima and its comparison with conventional methods. Ind Crop Prod 123:46–54
Sandu C (1986) Infrared radiative drying in food engineering: a process analysis. Biotechnol Prog 2:109–119
Sansak S, Jongyingcharoen JS (2018) Effect of hot air assisted infrared drying on drying characteristics and quality of rice bran pellets. In MATEC Web of Conferences 192:03040
Sawai J, Isomura Y, Honma T, Kenmochi H (2006) Characteristics of the Inactivation of Escherichia coil by Infrared Irradiative Heating. Biocontrol Sci 11:85–90
Schwan HP, Dreisbach L, Childs R, Mastrangelo SV (1957) Infrared studies of tissue lipids. Ann N Y Acad Sci 69:116–130
Sumnu G, Turabi E, Oztop M (2005) Drying of carrots in microwave and halogen lamp–microwave combination ovens. LWT-Food Science and Technology 38:549–553
Uengkimbuan N (2016) Kinetics and Modeling of Turmeric Using Hot Air and Infrared Drying. BuSciJ 21:239–248
Venkitasamy C, Zhu C, Brandl MT, Niederholzer FJ, Zhang R, McHugh TH, Pan Z (2018) Feasibility of using sequential infrared and hot air for almond drying and inactivation of Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354. LWT Food Sci Technol 95:123–128
Wang L, Zhang M, Fang Z, Xu B (2014) Application of intermediate-wave infrared drying in preparation of mushroom chewing tablets. Dry Technol 32:1820–1827
Wang HC, Zhang M, Adhikari B (2015) Drying of shiitake mushroom by combining freeze-drying and mid-infrared radiation. Food Bioprod Process 94:507–517
Wang B, Venkitasamy C, Zhang F, Zhao L, Khir R, Pan Z (2016) Feasibility of jujube peeling using novel infrared radiation heating technology. LWT-Food Sci Technol 69:458–467
Wanyo P, Siriamornpun S, Meeso N (2011) Improvement of quality and antioxidant properties of dried mulberry leaves with combined far-infrared radiation and air convection in Thai tea process. Food Bioprod Process 89:22–30
Wu XF, Zhang M, Bhandari B (2019) A novel infrared freeze drying (IRFD) technology to lower the energy consumption and keep the quality of Cordyceps militaris. Innovative Food Sci Emerg Technol 54:34–42
Xie L, Mujumdar AS, Fang XM, Wang J, Dai JW, Du ZL, Xiao HW, Liu Y, Gao ZJ (2017) Far-infrared radiation heating assisted pulsed vacuum drying (FIR-PVD) of wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.): effects on drying kinetics and quality attributes. Food Bioprod Process 102:320–331
Xu M, Tian G, Zhao C, Ahmad A, Zhang H, Bi J, Xiao H, Zheng J (2017) Infrared Drying as a Quick Preparation Method for Dried Tangerine Peel. Int J Anal Chem 2017:1–11
Yalcin S, Basman A (2015) Effects of infrared treatment on urease, trypsin inhibitor and lipoxygenase activities of soybean samples. Food Chem 169:203–210
Yan JK, Wu LX, Qiao ZR, Cai WD, Ma H (2019) Effect of different drying methods on the product quality and bioactive polysaccharides of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) slices. Food Chem 271:588–596
Zare D, Naderi H, Ranjbaran M (2015) Energy and quality attributes of combined hot-air/infrared drying of paddy. Dry Technol 33:570–582
Zhang LL, Lv S, Xu JG, Zhang LF (2018) Influence of drying methods on chemical compositions, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of essential oil from lemon peel. Nat Prod Res 32:1184–1188
Zhao YY, Yi JY, Bi JF, Chen QQ, Zhou M, Zhang B (2018) Improving of texture and rehydration properties by ultrasound pretreatment for infrared-dried shiitake mushroom slices. Dry Technol:1–11
Zheng L, Sun DW (2006) Innovative applications of power ultrasound during food freezing processes—a review. Trends Food Sci Technol 17:16–23
Zolotarev VM (1969) Dispersion and absorption of liquid water in infrared and radio regions of spectrum. Opt Spectrosc 26:430–432
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The authors earnestly express their immense gratitude to Dr. K.K. Sharma, Director, Indian Institute of Natural Resins & Gums, Namkum, Ranchi (Jharkhand), India for his continuous encouragement and support.
Funding
Not applicable (review article).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sakare, P., Prasad, N., Thombare, N. et al. Infrared Drying of Food Materials: Recent Advances. Food Eng Rev 12, 381–398 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-020-09237-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12393-020-09237-w