A Framework For Multiphase Heat And Mass Transport In Porous Media With Applications To Food Processes

A framework of porous media multiphase models has been developed which can be applied to a wide range of thermal food processes. The developed models are easily implementable in commercial software and therefore has wider usage. The development of fundamental physics-based models of food processes and their implementation in commercial software is not trivial and it requires physical as well as mathematical insight into the material and the process. Experiments are conducted to study the flow of water through cellular structures. Two pathways of moisture migration have been found to exist. At temperatures below 55 degrees Centigrade, intracellular pathway is dominating and at higher temperatures, extracellular pathway is dominating. Heat and mass transfer coefficients required in the mathematical model have been studied in details by solving a conjugate model (porous media and outside atmosphere together). The developed model was applied to a food application, deep-fat frying, and validated with experimental results from literature. Finally, a tool that predicts the safety and risk parameters for many different food processes is developed by integrating the versatile fundamental-based simulation of food processes with the best known prediction models available for microbiological growth and inactivation