Long and short-term storage of food and agriculture products: Prospects of latent heat thermal energy storage

Food security is essential and deserves considerable attention in worldwide policies. Waste of food and loss of agricultural products are due to a lack of appropriate storage. Short and long-term storage consisting of cooling and drying processes reduces significantly waste and loss in agriculture and food sector, which has economic and environmental impacts as well. Short and long-term storage of crops applies to both large and small-scale agriculture as well as the food industry, where a huge amount of energy is not efficiently utilized. It has, therefore, a significant potential to contribute to the 2050 goal of net zero emissions. These storage processes can be improved by incorporating latent heat storage (LHS). This topic has been extensively researched for the last two decades. This review paper aims to examine and discuss the achievements and highlight research directions toward sustainable agriculture and the food industry. The coverage shows the potential of LHS to improve the storage performance of dried/cooled crops, increase thermal efficiency, and reduce the carbon footprint. The conclusions drawn are summarized to illustrate the research trends and gaps for future investigations.