ABSTRACT
Drying is one of the methods employed to preserve and/or improve the quality of many products, such as woods and agro foods. after harvesting. It is also an energy-intensive industrial operation. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on heat pump-assisted batch drying of the most common wood species, a technology aiming at reducing the global energy consumption in wood industry and improving the final quality of dried products. Some of the general principles, such as dryer heat pump coupling, operation, and control, may be applied to dry many other materials, such as agro food products. It provides the basic information about the wood physical drying processes to heat pump technicians and some general information about the air-to-air mechanical vapor compression heat pump technology to industrial and academia drying R&D communities.
