Exploring the Development Path of Drying Technology

        Drying operations involve a wide range of fields in the national economy. It is not only an indispensable basic production link for a large number of industrial and agricultural products, but also a major energy consumer in China, with energy consumption accounting for about 12% of the total energy consumption of the national economy. In addition, the pollution caused by the drying process is often an important source of environmental pollution in China, and the progress of drying technology is closely related to the development of the entire national economy.

        Faced with severe energy and environmental challenges, China has recently formulated a medium to long-term energy technology development strategy and plan until 2020, guided by a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable scientific development concept. The formulation of this energy and environmental development strategy has also pointed out the direction for the development of China's drying technology, and it is imperative to explore new development paths for drying technology.

        Compared with other operational links in industrial and agricultural production, the energy-saving and pollution prevention tasks of the drying process are particularly urgent. Firstly, the drying operation involves a wide range of fields, and China's drying energy consumption accounts for almost half of the total industrial energy consumption, reaching 12% compared to the UK. Secondly, drying also causes significant environmental pollution. Among the most widely used types of conventional drying equipment, more than three-quarters are hot air drying. This type of drying equipment causes serious environmental pollution, and the transformation of the coal burning furnace in the drying system has become an important issue that needs to be urgently solved.

        Improving the energy efficiency of the drying process and preventing environmental pollution are complementary. Reducing energy consumption by 100 million tons of standard coal can reduce CO2 and SO2 emissions by over 64 million tons in China, with significant environmental benefits. Therefore, when exploring a new development path for drying technology, it is necessary to comprehensively consider energy efficiency, environmental protection, and product quality in order to achieve comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development.

        To implement the development strategy of efficient and green drying, the first step is to take a resource-saving development path, transforming a single extensive drying into a combination and intelligent drying. We not only need to fundamentally transform the drying process, but also carry out comprehensive and multi-level energy-saving technology transformation, vigorously developing and applying renewable energy and industrial waste heat drying technology. At the government level, it is necessary to establish and improve comprehensive evaluation criteria and industry standards for drying equipment, establish macro regulation and market regulation mechanisms, and accelerate the updating and upgrading of drying technologies.