Convection heat and mass transfer in electric drying processes

The use of electrical heating technologies such as infrared, microwave and radio frequency provides opportunities to increase drying rates and product quality. They provide a high degree of control and are available over a large spectrum of power densities. In most applications, the limiting factor is the product´s ability to sustain higher heat fluxes or faster processing rates. Very often this limit is related to the product properties, which are dependent upon temperature and water content, and to mass transfer conditions which can play a significant role in the product evolution. The influence of convection in electrical drying processes is discussed in this paper