Energy-Smart Agricultural and Food Industry: Heat Management for Sustainable Production
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: energy management; heat pumps; materials; thermal properties of materials
Interests: drying of agricultural products; processing of agricultural and food waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Agricultural activity has accompanied humankind since time immemorial. Today, this sector is becoming increasingly dependent on external sources of energy, most of which are non-renewable. In the distant past, this was not the case. A portion of agricultural production was converted into energy through biological processes, resulting in a form of self-sufficiency. It must be acknowledged, however, that the productive capacity of agriculture has significantly increased since those times. The food industry, which is closely linked to agriculture and often characterized by high thermal fluxes, has almost always relied on external energy supplies. It should be noted that, even today, these are rarely derived from renewable sources.
The idea of at least partial energy self-sufficiency in agriculture and the maximization of primary energy utilization in the food industry should not be abandoned. Environmental sustainability can be enhanced by maximizing heat recovery within technologies and by utilizing secondary and renewable energy sources.
This Special Issue aims to present the results of scientific research on technologies that, through appropriate thermal management within agricultural and food-processing operations, reduce the consumption of primary heat sources and maximize the use of secondary and renewable heat sources—all while maintaining economic efficiency.
Dr. Pavel Neuberger
Prof. Dr. Jakub Sikora
Prof. Dr. Pavel Kic
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- energy optimization
- heat pumps
- heat recovery
- renewable energy sources
- secondary energy sources
- sensible and latent heat
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