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MOISTURE LOSS AS RELATED TO HEATING UNIFORMITY IN MICROWAVE PROCESSING OF SOLID FOODS
Author(s) -
NI H.,
DATTA A.K.,
PARMESWAR R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of food process engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.507
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1745-4530
pISSN - 0145-8876
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4530.1999.tb00492.x
Subject(s) - moisture , microwave , water content , microwave heating , materials science , dielectric loss , thermal , volume (thermodynamics) , evaporation , penetration (warfare) , penetration depth , composite material , dielectric , thermodynamics , optics , geotechnical engineering , optoelectronics , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , operations research
Moisture loss due to internal evaporation and its relationship to nonuniformity of heating in microwave reheating of high moisture solid foods was studied. A simple heat and mass transfer model was developed that excluded diffusional limitations of moisture movement. Microwave absorption and some dielectric and thermal properties were measured as input parameters to the model. Effect of varying microwave penetration with moisture level and temperature was included. For smaller total moisture loss, typical for a reheating application, predictions of total moisture loss and temperatures matched well with experimental data. Most of the moisture loss occurred from the edges due to higher temperature at these locations. Uniformity of heating to achieve a given average temperature is the key variable controlling total moisture loss. When starting from a frozen material, heating is much more nonuniform, leading to a greater moisture loss. As surface area increases for a given volume, uniformity of heating increases and the total moisture loss reduces. This simple model can be an effective tool in computer‐aided optimization of food products and processes.