A computation-driven, energy-efficient and hybrid of microwave and conventional drying process for fast gooseberry candy production

Abstract

The health benefits of Indian gooseberry have resulted in a tremendous growth in its consumption in the form of tasty candy and marmalade prepared by drying process. The candy production process is limited by high drying time and plant size requirements as most of the processing production plants are equipped with conventional drying methods. Hence, the paper presents computational model defining relation between electric field pattern with heating and moisture diffusion in the product simultaneously. The boundary value applies on Maxwell’s equation solution as defined by gooseberry electrical properties. The solution to heat and mass transfer equation offers thermodynamic properties and profiles of gooseberry by microwave heating. The optimised process of moisture diffusion to the surface of gooseberry, followed by conventional heating, dries the sample uniformly and speeds up the process. The established relation offers a valid model for defining time for microwave and conventional heating of fresh gooseberry that takes it as an input and dries gooseberry candy as an output, thereby reducing the time of drying from 17 hours to 0.5 hour. The electromagnetic and thermodynamic results are obtained using simulation and are followed by experimental verification.

Keywords:

• Microwave drying
• fruit drying
• gooseberry candy
• computational model

Acknowledgements

Chitkara College of Hotel Management at Chitkara University, Punjab (India) is acknowledged for offering laboratory support. The authors would also like to acknowledge Chitkara University Research and Innovation Network for offering a computation facility in their laboratory.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chanpreet Singh

Chanpreet Singh is working as Project Manager in Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Punjab, India. His expertise ranges from thermodynamics analysis of microwave heating to fabrication of optimized equipment for microwave drying. He has experience of 5 years in fabrication of microwave equipment.

Nitin Saluja

Dr Nitin K Saluja is Associate Director (Research) in Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Punjab, India. He is leading Center for High Frequency and High Power. He has published number of papers in SCI listed journals. He has filed 14 patents. He is expert of strategizing different critical yet innovative applications of microwave engineering. He is now working to develop agriculture machinery with help of microwave engineering.

Rajeev Kamal Sharma

Dr Rajeev Kamal Sharma is presently working as Associate Professor and Deputy Dean, Chitkara College of Applied Engineering, Chitkara University, Punjab, India. His area of interest is thermal engineering. He has published many research papers in Journals and International/National conferences.