In order to improve the drying efficiency of hard shell nut products, a new type of drum catalytic infrared drying equipment was developed in this paper. On the basis of the developed equipment, the effects of technological parameters on dehydration rate, color and shell opening rate were investigated. The drying time, drying curve, drying rate curve and energy consumption of the drum catalytic infrared-hot air drying were compared with that of the single hot air drying. The results showed that the catalytic infrared temperature, distance and drum rotational speed all had significant influence on drying performance and product quality. After drum catalytic infrared pre-drying 9.5 min at the optimal radiation distance of 30 cm, radiation temperature of 450 ℃, drum speed of 1.5 r/min and then continuing to hot air drying 16 h at temperature of 43 ℃ and air speed of 3 m/s, compared with the single hot air drying （20 h）, the drying rate was significantly improved, the drying time was shortened 19.2%, the energy consumption was saved 11.6%, and the dried walnut quality was good.