New research on agriculture and the environment from Pamukkale University summarized.

"The effect of heat pump, solar-assisted system and natural drying (solar drying) systems on the drying time, geometry, energy consumption and physical conditions of tomatoes was experimentally determined. Tomatoes were cut into either halves or quarters before drying," scientists writing in the Journal of Food Agriculture & Environment report.

"Besides heat pump dehumidifier (HP) and solar-assisted systems (SAS) at the drying air speed of 2 m/s on average, natural drying (ND) was also used for drying experiments. Drying performance of HP was the best. In terms of drying time, HP was 50% better than ND and 30% better than SAS. The highest moisture extraction rate (MER) was …