The vacuum process developed by Merk Process is a combination of the popular contact drying process using microwave radiation.
This provides an ideal combination of the advantages of these two processes:

• High volume energy input with microwave for rapid drying even on products with poor thermal conductivity
• Possibility of drying individual pieces
• Significant reduction of heating plate temperature making drying procedure gentler on product
• Measurable increase in aroma of dried products
• Custom balance between contact drying energy and microwave energy for specific product
• Drastic improvement of uniform heat-up with contact heater allows compensation of inhomogeneities in microwave drying (moist spots).
  
  

Realization of this process in production lines ranges from laboratory size vacuum belt driers to industrial dimensions for large scale mass production.