Research and development in drying: Recent trends and future prospects

Drying R&D has seen nearly exponential growth over the past three decades. Initially driven by the need to conserve energy in this highly energy-intensive operation found in almost all industrial sectors, now the focus is on product quality, environmental impact, safety issues, new products, and processes etc. Drying provides challenging areas for multi- and cross-disciplinary research of fundamental as well as applied nature coupling transport phenomena with material science. An attempt will be made to summarize the new developments in drying technologies, identify recent trends and make predictions about the future trends that may be expected. Also, personal perspectives on models of research appropriate for drying technology will be presented. The need for industry-academia interaction and for a stake of industry in academic research is noted as a key step towards successful transfer of innovative drying technologies to industry. Finally, the weaknesses of the currently popular "closed loop" approach of research in academia, by academia and for academia, resulting on over-emphasis on "high impact-factor" rather than "high impact research" will be discussed. It is hoped that future IDS meetings will increase industry participation by enhancing their impact on industrial adoption of newer more efficient drying technologies. It is essential to make it a worthwhile-even essential-exercise for industry to participate in these meetings.