Drying is the process of removing liquid from solids by evaporation. The drying process has been used for thousands of years to reduce transport weight and increase the storage life of numerous products and materials. For centuries, drying meant spreading a product out in the open air and letting the sun provide the energy for water evaporation. With the dawn of the industrial age, many different drying processes have been developed to increase drying speed and improve product quality and uniformity.