Premium
Finite Element Modeling of Heat and Mass Transfer During Steaming of Cowpea Seeds
Author(s) -
Fang C.,
Chinnan M.S.,
Thai C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2003.tb12317.x
Subject(s) - steaming , weevil , moisture , relative humidity , mass transfer , infestation , chemistry , agronomy , horticulture , biology , thermodynamics , food science , physics , chromatography , organic chemistry
One of the major constraints in utilization of cowpeas is from storage losses due to cowpea weevil infestation. Appropriate steaming of cowpeas has been known to prevent weevil infestation during storage. A finite element model was developed to describe simultaneous heat and mass transfer, which could be further used in examining physicochemical changes in seeds. Predicted temperature and moisture profiles in the seeds agreed well with experimental results. The average deviations of center and surface temperatures between predicted and observed values after 15 min of steaming were 0.91 °C (relative error, 1.0%) and 0.85 °C (relative error, 0.85%), respectively. The maximum error between observed and predicted moisture uptake was 8.60%.