It is imperative for China to explore the development of drying technology

Drying operation involves a wide range of fields of 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 drying process is often an important source of environmental pollution in China. The progress of drying technology is closely related to the development of the whole national economy.

In the face of severe energy and environmental challenges, China has formulated a medium and long-term energy science and technology development strategy and development plan by 2020 based on the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable scientific development concept. The formulation of this energy and environment development strategy also points out the direction for the development of China's drying technology, and it is imperative to explore a new development path of drying technology.

Compared with other operation links in industrial and agricultural production, the task of energy saving and pollution prevention in drying process is particularly urgent. First of all, 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% higher than that of the United Kingdom. Secondly, the environmental pollution caused by drying is quite serious. In the widely used conventional drying equipment, more than three-quarters of them are hot-air drying. This kind of drying equipment pollutes the environment seriously. The transformation of coal-fired boiler in drying system has become an important issue to be solved.

The improvement of energy utilization efficiency and prevention of environmental pollution are complementary. By reducing the energy consumption of 100 million tons of standard coal, more than 64 million tons of CO2 and SO2 emissions can be reduced in China, with significant environmental benefits. Therefore, in order to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, energy efficiency, environmental protection and product quality must be considered when exploring the new development path of drying technology.

In order to implement the development strategy of high efficiency and green drying, the first step is to take a resource-saving development path and change the single extensive drying into a combined and intelligent drying. Not only the fundamental transformation of drying process, but also the comprehensive and multi-level energy-saving technology transformation should be carried out, and the drying technology applying renewable energy and industrial waste heat should be vigorously developed. From the government level, it is necessary to establish and improve the comprehensive evaluation criteria and industry standards of drying equipment, establish the mechanism of macro-control and market regulation, and accelerate the update of drying technology.