ESTIMATION OF THE THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY - DEPENDENT ICE FRACTION OF FROZEN BASIC FOOD SOLUTIONS Lena Monzn Dvila1, Gustavo

Ribeiro, Vivaldo Silveira Junior.

ABSTRACT Thermophysical properties were measured for frozen basic food solutions. The effects of the water content on the thermal conductivity has been investigated and were found thermal conductivity values linearly dependent on water content and inversely dependent on concentration and temperature. A slow value in the ice fraction with concentration has been noticed for solutions containing sucrose and glucose at about 30%.

INTRODUCTION The estimation of thermal conductivity such as the accurate information of ice fraction are very important in the simulating, calculus of velocity gradient and the freezing time of foods. In freezing state, the system is composed by three phases: ice, unfrozen water and the solids (1). In freezing foods this disposition is disperse. One of the main contributors to the change in properties during freezing is the difference between the thermal conductivities of liquid water and ice because thermal conductivity of ice is about four times that of water (2). Mathematical models to predict the thermal conductivity and ice fraction are based on temperature and composition of foods. The aim of this work was to determine the conductivity-dependency of the ice fraction by mathematical models for binary water system with sucrose and glucose.
Departament of Food Engineering, State University of Campinas - Brazil. Av. Monteiro Lobato n 80 - CEP: 13083-862 - Caixa postal - 6121 Campinas - So Paulo Brasil. lena@fea.unicamp.br
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METHODS Values for the intrinsical thermal conductivity had been related for each component in the food and volumetric fractions of each component in the system. Chens mathematical model was applied for calculations of ice fraction (3):

x ice =

x s . R .To2 (t f t ) M s . L o t f .t

where xice = mass fraction of ice, xs = mass fraction of solids, R = 8.314 kJ/kmol-K, To = freezing point of water, tf = initial freezing temperature of food (oC), t = food temperature (oC), Ms = molecular weight of soluble solids, Lo = latent heat of fusion of water at 0 oC (333.6 kJ/kg). Using the values of the intrinsical thermal conductivity (3) the effective thermal conductivity was analyzed by applying the Maxwell-Eucken model for frozen samples with the concentrations varied at various temperatures:
v k d + 2k c 2 x d (k c k d ) ke = kc v k d + 2k d + x c (k c k d )

where: k = thermal conductivity (W/mK), xv = volumetric ice fraction of each phase and: e effective, c - continuous and d - disperse (3).

RESULTS Initial Freezing Temperature was experimentally determined and Effective Thermal Conductivity of binary water system is showed containing different concentrations of sucrose (Fig. 1) and glucose (Fig.2). The effective thermal conductivity increased with low concentration and temperature just below the freezing point. The effective thermal conductivity of frozen food solutions was linearly dependent of the ice fraction. The ice fractions of solutions containing
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sucrose and glucose at about 30% are shown in Fig. 3. The ice fraction shows a lower value for the carbohydrate with the lower molecular weight.
1.2
Thermal Conductivity (W/mK)

31.3 %

1.0

42 % 52.1 %

0.8

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0

0.4

-20

Temp er

-10 -5

(C)

FIGURA 1. Measured Effective Thermal Conductivity by the Maxwell-Eucken Model as a Function of Ice Fraction for the Sucrose Solutions.

Thermal Conductivity (W/mK)

20 %
1.4

30 %
1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4

40 %

-20

-10 Tem per atu re

-15

(C )

FIGURA 2. Measured Effective Thermal Conductivity by the Maxwell-Eucken Model as a Function of Ice Fraction for the Glucose Solutions.

Ic e

-5

0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 -0.1

Ic e

atur e

Fr ac ti on

Fr a

-15

ct io n

0,6 0,5
Ice Fraction

0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 -20 -15 -10 -5 0

Sucrose 31,3% Glucose 30%

Temperature ( C)

FIGURA 3. Ice Fraction of the solutions approximately at the Same Concentration. CONCLUSIONS The freezing process of food solutions varies in many ways depending on the water content, basic food ingredients and others parameter. The ice fraction is dependent on the soluble solids and freezing temperature of foods. This is a preliminary work to analyze this results using the probe method and the velocity gradients for different freezing methods such as microscopic examination.

REFERENCES
1. Murakami, E., and Okos, M. (1989). Measurement and Prediction of Thermal Properties of Foods. In: Food Properties and Computer-Aided Engineering of Food Processing Systems. Singh, R. and Medina, A. Kluwer Academyc Publishers. London. 3 48. 2. Willix, J., Lovatt, S., and Amos, N. (1998). Additional Thermal Conductivity Values of Foods Measured by a Guarded Hot Plate. J. Food Eng. 37 (2): 159-174. 3. Becker, B., and Fricke, B. (1999). Food Thermophysical Property Models. Int. Comm. Heat Mass transf0er. 26 (5): 627 636