Life cycle assessment of tomato drying in heat pump and microwave vacuum dryers

Drying is a promising alternative to cold storage for enhancing the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, but it has its own challenges. The current work focuses on the environmental impact of tomato drying in two different dryers, namely the heat pump dryer (HPD) and the microwave dryer (MVD). Tomato was chosen as the drying product because of its extensive production and usage in India, the second-largest in the world, and the growing consumption of tomatoes in the food industry. On the other hand, drying is reported to be one of the most energy-intensive processes in the industry, mainly due to its high energy demand in terms of thermal energy. Therefore, life cycle assessment which aids in quantifying the impacts was employed to evaluate the environmental impact of drying process. The hot-spots towards the most influential impact categories were identified, and suggestions have been provided to lower the impacts. Our analysis shows that while the MVD needed lesser time for drying, the HPD was a better choice from the sustainability point of view. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Chemical Engineering Conference 2021 (100 Glorious Years of Chemical Engineering & Technology).