Recipient Organization
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
CORVALLIS,OR 97331
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Drying is a critical process in the preservation of agricultural products such as fruits and nuts, playing a key role in extending shelf life and reducing postharvest losses. However, drying is also one of the most energy-intensive operations in food manufacturing, accounting for a significant share of processing-related energy use. This high energy demand leads to higher production costs, increased carbon emissions, and long drying times, especially for foods with natural moisture barriers like skins or shells that hinder water transfer.As the food industry faces increasing pressure to reduce its environmental footprint and adopt more energy-efficient technologies, there is a growing need for innovative and sustainable drying methods. This project explores the use of cold plasma, a type of low-temperature ionized air, as a novel way to "pre-treat" fruits and nuts before they are dried. This pre-treatment helps modify surface structures of food, facilitating faster moisture removal during subsequent drying.The research will evaluate and optimize the effectiveness of cold plasma pre-treatment in combination with conventional hot air drying and radiofrequency-assisted drying, using grapes and hazelnuts as model systems. Key metrics will include drying rate, energy consumption, product quality, microbial safety, and sensory attributes. In parallel, environmental and economic assessments will be conducted using sustainability evaluation tools. The project also involves close collaboration with industry stakeholders to ensure practical relevance and facilitate potential adoption.The ultimate goal is to develop a more sustainable drying approach that lowers energy use, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, decreases production costs, and delivers high-quality dried products. In addition, the project will contribute to workforce development by training future food scientists and engineers and fostering industry-academic partnerships to support sustainable innovation in food processing.
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
30%
Developmental
40%
Goals / Objectives
Objective 1: Innovate CP system design and optimize CP pretreatment with hot air drying. We will improve the design of our current CP system for efficiency and uniformity, and then optimize the treatment process with hot air drying to achieve the target criteria in drying rate, energy consumption, and quality and safety attributes of dried products. Both grapes and inshell hazelnuts will be evaluated in this objective. Objective 2: Evaluate and optimize CP pretreatment with RF drying. The optimized CP in Objective 1 will be evaluated as a pretreatment integrated with RF for inshell hazelnut drying. We will adjust the process parameters to achieve our determined criteria. Results will be compared with hot air drying as a baseline technique and RF drying as a standalone control.Objective 3: Determine sustainability and economic feasibility. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) will be conducted to determine carbon footprint and costs feasibility of the developed drying process. We anticipate the new drying processes to achieve reduced carbon emissions and reduced operational costs due to improved drying efficiency, throughput, and reduced energy consumption.
Project Methods
This project employs a multidisciplinary approach to develop and evaluate cold plasma (CP)-based hybrid drying methods aimed at improving drying energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancing product quality in fruit and nut drying. Scientific methods include equipment engineering, food processing trials, microbial safety assessments, plasma diagnostics, and sustainability analytics. Three major technical objectives guide the research: optimizing CP + hot air drying, evaluating CP + radiofrequency (RF) drying, and conducting life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA).Efforts to cause change in knowledge, action, or condition include: 1) Laboratory instruction and mentorship: Students will gain hands-on experience in plasma testing, food drying, microbial testing, and sustainability analysis. 2) Workshops and seminars: Project findings will be shared with stakeholders through presentations and webinars hosted in collaboration with Food Northwest and OSU's Food Innovation Center. 3) Extension and outreach: Research results will be translated into technical briefs and outreach publications to support technology transfer to processors. 4) Industry collaboration: Through regular meetings and feedback loops with stakeholders and equipment partners.The success of the project will be evaluated through: 1) Drying performance benchmarks (Improvement in drying rate (≥10%), energy consumption (≥10%), and product quality retention, validated by experimental data), 2) Sustainability metrics (Reduction in carbon emissions (≥10%) and cost savings (≥10%) assessed through LCA/TEA outputs), 3) Increase in stakeholder engagement measured by workshop participation, feedback surveys, and 4) Number of peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.