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Experimental and theoretical analysis of mass transfer in a refrigerated food storage

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Abstract

Refrigerated storage is widely used to extend the post-harvest life of perishable fruits and vegetables. Inside the refrigerated space, food product encounters difference in encompassing conditions from the field environment to the storage environment, and in this way refrigerated storage keep up with the optimal environment to regulate the physiological changes in food commodities. The present study examines the storage operating condition including temperature, relative humidity (RH), and velocity of the air and their effect on the moisture loss of orange in a loaded cold storage facility. In view of investigation of moisture loss, temperature and RH significantly control the moisture loss in orange, which ranges from 0.9 mg/(cm2.h) (at 27.71 ºC and 70 ± 2% RH) to 0.035 mg/(cm2.h) (at 6 ºC and 92 ± 2% RH). Further, the cold storage facility observed inconsistency in operating conditions between the different locations, and accordingly, a comparative study of operating conditions and moisture loss is performed. The mass transfer coefficient inside the package (crates) is evaluated and found to be useful in calculating the moisture loss for oranges with an error of up to 7.7%.

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Abbreviations

As :

Surface area of orange considered (m2)

d:

Orange diameter (m)

D:

Diffusion coefficient of water vapor in the air (m2/s)

ka :

Air film mass transfer coefficient (g/(m2.s.pa)

ks :

Product surface mass transpiration coefficient (g/(m2.s.pa)

kta :

Transpiration coefficient (g/(m2.s.pa)

Mi :

Initial weight of orange products (kg)

Mt :

Weight of orange at the interval time t (kg)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{{\mathrm{h}}_{2}\mathrm{o}}\) :

Molecular mass of water vapor (g/mol)

P:

Total pressure (kPa)

Ps :

Water vapor pressure at the product surface (Pa)

Pair :

Water vapor pressure of surrounding air (Pa)

R:

Universal gas constant (J/(K.mol)

Ta :

Air temperature (ºC, K)

Ts :

Temperature of commodity surface (K)

TRs :

Transpiration rate based on the surface area (As) of food product (g/(m2.s)

TRm :

Transpiration rate based on initial weight (Mi) of food product (g/(kg.s)

v:

Air velocity (m/s)

\({\rho }_{a}\) :

Density (kg/m3)

µ:

Air viscosity (Pa.s)

ω:

Moisture content (kg(water)/kg(dry air))

υ :

Specific volume of moist air (m3/kg(dry air)

Re:

Reynolds number

RH:

Relative humidity

Sc:

Schmidt number

VPL:

Vapor pressure lowering effect

SD:

Standard deviation

MRE:

Mean relative error

RMSE:

Root Mean Square Error

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Funding

The research leading to these investigation received funding from “Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India” under Grant Agreement No. EMR/2016/007289.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, 462003, MP, India

    Rajkumar Bishnoi & K. R. Aharwal

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  1. Rajkumar Bishnoi
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  2. K. R. Aharwal
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Correspondence to Rajkumar Bishnoi.

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Highlights

• Evaluation of operating conditions included air temperature, velocity, and RH performed inside a loaded refrigerated food storage facility.

• The moisture loss from food products is influenced by the change in operating conditions (temperature and RH and flow field).

• The mass transfer coefficient for orange product is explored based on loaded storage operating conditions.

• The mass transfer coefficient inside the package (crates) was calculated and found to be beneficial in forecasting orange moisture loss with an error of up to 7.7%.

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Bishnoi, R., Aharwal, K. Experimental and theoretical analysis of mass transfer in a refrigerated food storage. Heat Mass Transfer 58, 1845–1855 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-022-03217-y

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