Year: 2026 | Month: April | Volume: 13 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 511-525
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260452
Environmental Pollution Impacts and Sustainable Greenhouse Drying Systems in Agricultural Processing: An Updated Comprehensive Review
Yunita Djamalu1, Weny J.A Musa2, Marike Mahmud3
1Doctoral Program in Environmental Science, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia
2,3Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia
Corresponding Author: Yunita Djamalu
ABSTRACT
Greenhouse drying systems are increasingly recognized as a strategic response to postharvest loss, high thermal energy demand, and the growing environmental burdens associated with conventional drying operations. Building upon the earlier uploaded review and integrating the recent literature contained in the attached RIS file, this article reassesses greenhouse drying through the wider lens of environmental pollution, cleaner production, product safety, occupational exposure, and circular resource use. The reviewed evidence indicates that drying remains one of the most energy-intensive operations in agricultural and biomass processing, yet it also offers significant opportunities for decarbonization through solar utilization, hybrid heating, heat recovery, improved ventilation control, and low-emission system design. Recent literature further shows that the sustainability of drying systems cannot be judged solely by drying kinetics or thermal efficiency. Environmental performance must also account for gaseous emissions, airborne particles, microplastic release, noise, residue valorization, and life-cycle burdens. Across the uploaded source set, solar and greenhouse-assisted systems consistently demonstrate strong potential to reduce dependence on fossil-derived heat, support decentralized processing, and improve the environmental profile of biomass, sludge, food waste, digestate, and agricultural residues. At the same time, the literature highlights unresolved concerns related to ammonia release, indoor air pollution, pollutant transport, material contamination, and worker exposure. This review synthesizes those findings into a six-pillar framework for next-generation greenhouse dryers: energy integration, drying performance, product quality and safety, environmental pollution control, circularity, and smart monitoring. It concludes that future greenhouse dryers should evolve from simple passive enclosures into intelligent, hybrid, low-emission, and pollution-aware processing platforms capable of supporting climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural systems.
Keywords: greenhouse drying; environmental pollution; solar-assisted drying; sustainable postharvest processing; cleaner production; agricultural residue valorization; drying emissions
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