Improving the drying efficiency, quality attributes, and lycopene bioaccessibility (in vitro) of tomato puree using refractance-window hybrid drying

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a globally important vegetable with high nutritional value but a short shelf life. This study evaluated three RW hybrid drying technologies—infrared-assisted (RW + IR), vacuum-assisted (RW + V), and forced air-assisted (RW + FA)—for drying whole tomato puree. The effect of the distance of infrared lamps, vacuum pressures and air temperature on drying rate, energy consumption, physicochemical properties, lycopene content and bioaccessibility were assessed. RW demonstrated advantages only in color preservation, showing the least ΔE. RW + V best preserved lycopene content and had the lowest hygroscopicity of all the evaluated technologies. RW + HA did not show significant improvements over RW. Meanwhile, RW + IR reduced drying time by 12.5–68.8 %, increased drying rates by up to 220.3 %, and improved energy efficiency by 41.9 % compared to RW. Additionally, compared with all the hybrid technologies, RW + IR exhibited the lowest water activity (0.17) and maintained the greatest total polyphenol content, antioxidant activity/capacity, and lycopene bioaccessibility (34.1 %). The desirability model confirmed that RW + IR offers the best drying advantage over RW, with 80 °C and 15 cm being the ideal drying conditions. These results suggest that RW hybrid drying technologies, particularly RW + IR, can enhance tomato powder production while improving both quality and shelf life.