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Multiphysics Modelling of Convective Drying of Food Materials

C. Kumar*
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

A. Karim
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

S. C.Saha
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

M.U.H. Joardder
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

R. Brown
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

D. Biswas
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Currently, 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost annually due to lack of proper processing and preservation method. Drying is one of the easiest and oldest methods of food processing which can contribute to reduce that huge losses, combat hunger and promote food security. Drying increase shelf life, reduce weight and volume of food thus minimize packing, storage, and transportation cost and enable storage of food under ambient environment. However, drying is a complex process which involves combination of heat and mass transfer and physical property change and shrinkage of the food material. Modelling of this process is essential to optimize the drying kinetics and improve energy efficiency of the process. Since material properties varies with moisture content, the models should not consider constant materials properties, constant diffusion .The objective of this paper is to develop a multiphysics based mathematical model to simulate coupled heat and mass transfer during convective drying of fruit considering variable material properties. This model can be used predict the temperature and moisture distribution inside the food during drying. Effect of different drying air temperature and drying air velocity on drying kinetics has been demonstrated. The governing equations of heat and mass transfer were solved with Comsol Multiphysics 4.3.

Keywords: Drying, Heat and mass transfer, Modeling, Multiphysics, ComsolMultyphysics

Location: Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Resource Development and Management

Commodity: Modeling

Objectives:

The objective of this article is to develop a fundamental multiphysics-based model which can capture the basic physics during convection drying process. This model was developed in engineering-based simulation software COMSOL Multiphysics. The model can predict the temperature and moisture content of the food product. It also provides visualization of temperature and moisture distribution and evolution inside the food product. The developed model is very flexible which can easily adapt to any product and extra physics for example can be added without much effort.

Methodology:

The experimental data of banana drying from Karim and Hawlader (2005a) was compared with model from to validate the model. Each sample was prepared by slicing banana into 4mm thickness and diameters vary from 30 to 36mm. More detailed about the experimental setup and procedure can be found in (Karim and Hawlader 2005a).

Source of Information: Proceedings of the Global Engineering, Science and Technology Conference 2012 28-29 December 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Drying models are necessary to optimize the drying process and develop better strategies for the control of the system. The model should be able to predict temperature and moisture distribution to ensure safe storage of dried product. In this article, a multyphysics based model was developed using COMSOL multiphysics. The simulated result were compared with experimental data from literature and found conformed. Temperature and moisture distribution of the model was presented. It was observed that the temperature gradient is negligible because of small thickness of the material and moisture content was higher at the center. The effect of different drying air temperature and drying air velocity has been investigated with the aid of the model. This model can easily be adapted to new material and extra physics can be added without significant effort and also can easily be simulated for different shape.

Knowledge Management: Journal