Simulation of temperature during vacuum microwave drying of mixed potato and apple slices

Abstract

The increased use of vacuum microwave drying in food industry is attributed to shorter drying time and lower temperature. The temperature change of materials is difficult to model due to the vacuum condition. A simplified mathematical model is presented subject to some assumptions to predict the temperature distribution in slices made using a mixture of potato and apple purées. Dielectric loss factors of mixed slices were found to increase with temperature and water content. The model accounts for temperature and moisture-dependent dielectric loss factor which yields a useful predictive tool.

Keywords:

• Re-structured mixed slices
• dielectric loss factor
• heat transfer
• mathematical model
• vacuum microwave drying

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge financial supports from the National Key R&D Program of China (Contract No. 2017YFD0400901), Special funds for Taishan Industry Leading Talents Project, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory Project of Advanced Food Manufacturing Equipment and Technology (No. FMZ202003). National First-Class Discipline Program of Food Science and Technology (No. JUFSTR20180205), all of which enabled us to carry out this study.