## 1 Introduction  
Drying is a unitary operation used to dispose of water contained in a product aiming at the conservation, handling, and/or adaptation of a product for sale or further operation. However, this operation itself leads to considerable energy expenditure, to a greater or lesser extent, depending on solid structure and behavior when it is subject or exposed to certain air conditions as a drying agent. Therefore, in the last decade, the academic and scientific community has reported the usage of combined drying techniques for improving the efficiency of the conventional convective drying process in terms of processing time and energy expenditure. Within these combined techniques, employed for this aim, the application of osmotic dehydration (OD) [1; 2; 3; 4; 5]. [PERSON] et al. [6] point out that drying is frequently used for food processing and has an impact on their functional properties, as well as on the commercial value and application scope, stating that there is no ideal or optimal technique for drying all products. Before selecting the process to employ, it is necessary to consider factors such as: type of product to dry, desired final functional properties, product susceptibility to heat, and process cost. OD can be defined as 'a process consisting of partial water removal by immersion of plant tissue in a hypertonic solution' [7]. This operation causes a reduction in the initial food moisture content, which regenerates the partial water loss due to the high osmotic pressure of the hypertonic solution that provides a driving force for the water diffusion from the food tissues to the solution. With it, it is possible to obtain benefits such as: the inhibition of enzymatic browning, a greater amount of volatile compounds after process extension, the retention of natural color without adding sulfites with no phase changes involved, and therefore, with less energy expenditure [5]. The efficiency of this process is affected by various factors, including: the molecular weight of the osmotic agent; type of osmotic substance used as well as its concentration and temperature; process; relationship, geometry, and size of the raw material; and pressure at which the process is carried out [8]. There are different types of osmotic agents used in the OD process, such as sucrose, lactose, maltodextrin, fructose, glycerol, sorbitol, sodium citrate, sodium chloride, high molecular weight carbohydrates (starch), and even combinations among all of them. Being sucrose and sodium chloride the most used given their advantages above others, such as low energy requirements, easy availability, and low cost [9]. On the other hand, Sodium Chloride is mainly used in OD for the treatment of meat, fish, and vegetables due to its high capacity to reduce water activity [10]. Applying OD as pretreatment before the drying process provides a reduction in drying time and processing costs, largely due to the fact that during the OD process, water is partially removed from the product, causing a significant reduction in its initial moisture content, requiring less subsequent drying time, which ends up into a lower process cost [11]. Currently there is an evident issue with the large amounts of cassava bagasse. It has been estimated that for every 250-300 tons of processed cassava root, around 280 tons of bagasse with 85% moisture are produced [12]. Its high water content makes it highly susceptible to the spread of microorganisms and uncontrolled fermentation, generating a source of constant contamination and bad odors, affecting both, processing plants and surrounding regions. Cassava bagasse has approximately 16% dry matter made up of up to 82.85% carbohydrates, with reports of starch content greater than 50%, fiber percentage between 15 and 50%, and low protein and ash content [13; 14; 15; 16]. Regarding the use of cassava bagasse, research has been carried out in the area of biotechnology, food, biomaterials, composting, and the disposal of pollutants in water sources [17; 18; 19; 20; 21].