By: Dylan Sikes - AllPennyStocks.com News

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

The drying and dehydration industry is big business that most investors don’t spend much time considering. Dehydration processes are employed in countless applications from food to industrial to pharmaceutical and back again, but, realistically, the technology is antiquated with the 50-year-old freeze drying process being the current standard after it replaced traditional dehydrating procedures such as air drying and spray drying, which suck the nutrients – and the flavor – right out of the product. If Vancouver-based EnWave Corporation (TSX-Venture:ENW) has its way, the next industry shift in dehydration is underway to commercialize faster, most cost-effective means of dehydrating products.

For the last couple years, EnWave has been working with major corporations, like Nestle SA (OTCQX:NSRGY), Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE:HRL), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and many more, to conduct research on its Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV™) dehydrations technology that utilizes a vacuum microwave to create a low temperature environment to accelerate the speed of dehydration while retaining maximum nutritional value and flavor.

According to a video on the EnWave website, freeze drying takes between 24 and 36 hours to complete as compared to only 12 minutes to 2 hours for the REV process. Energy costs are essentially cut by two-thirds by switching from freeze drying to REV and capital costs are shrunk from $1.19/kilogram for freeze drying to only $0.13/kilogram by using the REV process.

In 2011, the company signed its first major U.S. customer by licensing the REV technology to Milne Fruit Products Inc.

On Wednesday, EnWave said that it signed a collaboration agreement with an option to license its REV technology to Portugal-based Nuvi Fruits SA. Nuvi Fruits is a unit of Nuvi Group, a consumer food group that has a strong position in fruit production in Portugal, Brazil and Costa Rica and a focus on emerging markets, including Africa and Latin America.

Per the agreement, Nuvi Fruits will be using the REV technology to develop several nutrDRIED™ puree, powder and snack products made out of bananas, mangos, pineapples, apples, strawberries, peaches, pomegranate and pears. Going forward, if the development is successful, Nuvi can then exclusively license the products for production and distribution through the large Nuvi Group network.

"We have been actively looking for the best way to achieve flexible and efficient dehydration - REV™ technology is by far the most compelling option," said Mr. João Vicente, Nuvi Fruits' Project Manager.

Dr. Tim Durance, chairman and co-CEO of EnWave, commented, "Our knowledge in their focused area should speed up the collaborative process and hopefully yield a commercial decision far sooner than if we had to begin initial product development."

Shares of EnWave have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride in 2013. After ending 2012 at $1.40, shares climbed to highs of $1.99 in early April only to oscillate back down to near where the year began. In Wednesday action, the stock is down less than one percent, trading at $1.46 halfway through afternoon trading.

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