The “Intrinsic” Thermal Conductivity of Some Wet Proteins in Relation to Their Hydrophobicity: Analysis on Gelatin Gel

Abstract

Since the intrinsic thermal conductivity of protein cannot be measured directly, the apparent “intrinsic” thermal conductivity of gelatin was estimated on the basis of the most suitable heat conduction model. Among four models of heat conduction through heterogeneous material, the series layers model best described the experimental results for frozen gelatin gels of different concentrations. Then, the “intrinsic” thermal conductivity of frozen wet gelatin was estimated to be 0.61 [W/m·°C]. The “intrinsic” thermal conductivity of unfrozen wet gelatin was estimated on the basis of Filippov’s equation to be 0.38 [W/m·°C], since the unfrozen gelating gel seemed to be as homogeneous as the solution.