Prediction of the Thermophysical Properties of Bighead Carp (Aristichthys nobilis) Fillets After Curing and Deep-Fat Frying

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the thermophysical properties of bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis) fillets after curing and deep-fat frying. The kinetics of simultaneous curing and deep-fat frying and mass transfer models were utilized to study the predicted models programmed by Matlab and thermophysical models. The results show that the effective salt and water diffusion coefficient models for curing are and , respectively, which correspond to the multivariate nonlinear regression models. The specific rate and effective moisture diffusion coefficient models for frying based on the Arrhenius equation are and , respectively, which are fitted to accurately calculate the mass transfer processes. Moreover, the changes of thermophysical properties—including thermal conductivity, specific heat, and thermal diffusivity of the processed bighead carp muscle—were successfully predicted by incorporating the mass transfer models, the thermophysical properties models, and the components conversion equations into a Matlab program.

Keywords:

• bighead carp
• thermophysical property
• curing
• frying
• effective diffusion coefficient model

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-46), PCSIRT0627, 111 Project-B07029, and NSFC31171709.