Drying Technology

An International Journal

ISSN: 0737-3937 (Print) 1532-2300 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ldrt20

Investigation of Intermittent Microwave

Convective Drying (IMCD) of Food Materials by
a Coupled 3D Electromagnetics and Multiphase
Model

C. Kumar, M. U. H. Joardder, T. W. Farrell & M. A. Karim

To cite this article: C. Kumar, M. U. H. Joardder, T. W. Farrell & M. A. Karim (2017):

Investigation of Intermittent Microwave Convective Drying (IMCD) of Food Materials
by a Coupled 3D Electromagnetics and Multiphase Model, Drying Technology, DOI:
10.1080/07373937.2017.1354874

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2017.1354874

Accepted author version posted online: 24

Jul 2017.

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Download by: [Queensland University of Technology] Date: 24 July 2017, At: 22:27
 Investigation of intermittent microwave convective drying

(IMCD) of food materials by a coupled 3D electromagnetics

and multiphase model

C. Kumar

Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology,

Brisbane, Australia

M. U. H. Joardder

Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology,

Brisbane, Australia

Department of Mechanical Engineering, RUET, Rajshahi, Bangladesh

T.W. Farrell

Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

M. A. Karim

Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology,

Brisbane, Australia

Address correspondence to M. A. Karim. Tele.: +617 3138 6879. Fax: +617 3138 1516. E-mail:

azharul.karim@qut.edu.au

1
 ABSTRACT

Intermittent Microwave Convective Drying (IMCD) improves energy efficiency and the

product quality during drying of agricultural products. However, the physical mechanism of heat

and mass transfer involved in IMCD is poorly understood due to lack of a comprehensive and

realistic mathematical model of this process. A multiphase porous media model considering

coupled electromagnetics and multiphase transport phenomena in porous media can potentially

provide fundamental details of underlying mechanisms of IMCD. The aim of this study is to

develop a mathematical model for IMCD considering electromagnetics using Maxwell’s equations

coupled with multiphase porous media in 3D and validate the model against experimental results.

The results show that the temperature distribution is uneven in the material, which re-distributes

during the tempering period. The water and vapour fluxes showed asymmetric profile along the

diameter of the sample due to the non-uniformity of microwave heating. A clear understanding of

these transport mechanisms in IMCD will lead to the development of appropriate drying process

for improved food quality, energy efficiency, and optimization of the IMCD process.

KEYWORDS: food drying, intermittent microwave, mathematical model, Maxwell equation

1. Introduction

IMCD significantly reduces drying time and improves product quality compared to

convection drying, and overcomes the problem of overheating that persist in continuous

microwave convective drying (CMCD). Moreover, the non-uniformity of temperature distribution

is one of the major drawbacks of microwave drying which can be minimized by supplying

microwave power intermittently.[1,2] The intermittency or non-stationary drying also showed

significant reduction in the destruction or degradation of dried product during convection

2
drying[3,4] and other combined drying.[5] The advantages of intermittency in IMCD in terms of

energy efficiency and product quality have been reported in the literature. For instance, Soysal et

al.[6] reported that IMCD of red pepper produced better sensory attributes, appearance, colour and

texture than CMCD and convection drying. Soysal et al.[7] also compared IMCD and convective

drying for oregano and found that the IMCD was 4.7–11.2 times more energy efficient compared

to convective drying and able to provide better quality dried foods. Recently, Szadzińska et al.[8]

found that drying time can be reduced up to about 88% using convective-microwave drying.

Advantages of IMCD in terms of improved energy efficiency and product quality, and reduced

drying times have been found in many other products such as Oregano[7], Pineapple[9], Red

pepper[6], Sage (Salvia officinalis) Leaves[10,11], Bananas[12], Carrots and Mushrooms[13,14] and

strawberries.[15] Combining microwave with other drying methods significantly improves the

drying kinetics compared to convective drying.[16–18] However, all the above studies regarding

IMCD were conducted experimentally, without considering the physics behind the heat and mass

transfer involved in the process. Therefore, the heat and mass transport mechanism in IMCD is not

well understood.

Fundamental understanding of heat and mass transfer, and interaction of microwaves with

food products is crucial for optimization of the drying process.[19,20] A coupled heat and mass

transfer model has to be developed to predict the temperature and moisture distribution inside the

material that will improve the understanding of underlying physics of IMCD.[21,22]

There are some modelling studies related to continuous microwave convective drying

(CMCD) found in the literature. Pitchai et al.[23] developed coupled heat transfer and

electromagnetics model to simulate microwave heating in a domestic microwave oven. Malafronte

et al.[24] used Multiphysics approach to model microwave assisted convective drying. They

3
considered heat and mass transfer and variable dielectric properties in their model. A

comprehensive model for heating in microwave oven of mashed potato was developed by Chen et

al.[25] However, these model did not consider intermittency of microwave power, thus the

temperature redistribution by means of intermittency of microwave heat source were not

investigated. On the other hand, there are some single phase models which consider the

intermittency of microwave heat source,[26,27] but these are only for microwave heating without

considering mass transfer. For example, Gunasekaran et al.[26] used a simulation model to optimize

pulsed microwave heating of mashed potato sample and found that thermal energy was equalised

during tempering period by means of conduction heat transfer. Similar temperature redistribution

have been reported by Kumar et al.[28] during intermittent microwave heating of apple slices.

However, their models either neglected mass transfer or considered only single phase of mass, and

therefore, the drying kinetics were not properly investigated in these studies. Wang et al. [29]

investigated microwave assisted fluidized bed drying by means of a one-dimensional simulation

and examined the effect intermittent variation of microwave energy. They concluded that

microwave energy should be supplied at the beginning of the study and cannot be arbitrary.

Wang and Gunasekaran[27] used Lamberts Law for simulating heating of cylindrical agar

gel and found that pulse microwave can reduce the intensity of hot spot. Better temperature

uniformity was obtained using pulsed microwave in the agar gel. Temperature distribution in agar

gel using Maxwell’s equation and Lamberts law were compared and found that pulsed microwave

help obtain better temperature uniformity.[30] However, this Lambert’s Law considers exponential

attenuation of microwave absorption within the product which does not accurately represent food-

heating situations in a multimode cavity such as a microwave oven where the electric field varies

in three directions[31,32]. Recently, Kumar et al.[33,34] developed IMCD model using Lambert’s Law

4
and observed that the predicted temperature are higher than the experimental value at the end of

drying. Moreover, they pointed out that according to Lambert’s Law the sample surface always

absorbed maximum power irrespective of moisture content, which is obviously not correct.[35]

Chandrasekaran et al.[32] reported that 3D Maxwell’s equation provided a more accurate solution

for microwave propagation in samples. Maxwell’s equation have been used to simulate heating of

wood and porous rock bed using a rectangular waveguide.[36–38] Very recently, Zhu et al.[39]

considered Maxwell’s equations in microwave drying. However, their models did not consider

intermittency of microwave energy Moreover, the temperature redistribution during tempering

period, which is the main advantages of IMCD, has not been investigated properly in these studies.

Taken the above literature review into consideration, it is clear that a comprehensive mathematical

model considering multiphase transport phenomena and Maxwell’s equation for IMCD is not

available, which is essential for a comprehensive understanding of underlying physics involved in

IMCD.

Therefore, in this study, first a 3D coupled electromagnetics with multiphase porous media

transport model for IMCD was developed. After that the model was validated with experimental

data. Subsequently, the model is used to investigate the different transport mechanism of vapour

and water.

2. Model Development

In this study, the electromagnetic field is solved in all domains including the microwave

oven cavity, waveguide, glass tray and the sample (as shown in Figure 1). The heat generation

due to microwaves is calculated from the actual electric field distribution obtained by Maxwell’s

equation.

5
 The model developed in this research considers separate transport of liquid water, water

vapour and air inside food materials. The mass and energy conservation equations include

convection, diffusion and evaporation of water and vapour. Momentum conservation is developed

from Darcy’s equation. Evaporation is considered as distributed throughout the domain and a non-

equilibrium evaporation formulation is used for evaporation-condensation phenomena. The

following assumptions and justifications have been made for the model development:

a) Since the main focus of this study is to investigate the heat and mass transfer during

IMCD with a 3D model, and to avoid excessive complexity in a completely new

model, the shrinkage of the sample is neglected. To minimise the error in heat and

mass transfer model, we stopped the drying before significant shrinkage started. All

the phases are considered in thermal equilibrium

b) The gas phases, namely, water vapour and air, are considered as perfect gas

c) Solid, liquid water and gas phases are considered as continuum

d) The effects of gravity on flow of fluid is considered negligible

e) Non-equilibrium condition between water in solid and water vapour in gas phase is

considered, thus the vapour concentrations cannot be directly calculated from

moisture isotherm

f) Gas pressure is considered same for all fluid phases

Geometry and problem description

The schematic of the computational domain along with the different transport mechanisms

involved in food is shown in Figure 1.

6
 Figure 1a shows the geometric model which includes oven cavity, waveguide, food

sample, and glass tray. The microwaves are transmitted into the cavity through the rectangular

waveguide on the right side of the cavity. The food sample is placed at the centre of the glass plate.

Stationary glass plate was considered for experimental investigations and simulation and;

therefore, the turntable motor was turned off during the experiment. The apple slice is considered

as a porous media and the pores are filled with three transportable phases, namely liquid water,

air, and water vapour as shown in Figure 1b. All phases are continuous and local thermal

equilibrium exists, which means that the temperatures in all three phases are equal. Liquid water

transport takes place due to convective flow caused by gas pressure gradient, capillary flow and

evaporation. Vapour and air transport occur due to convective flow arises from gas pressure

gradient and binary diffusion.

Maxwell’s equation for electromagnetics and heat generation

Maxwell’s equation provide the electromagnetic field at any point in the computational

domain. In frequency domain, the Maxwell’s equation can be written as[25,40]

1  (2 f )2
   E   (   i ) E  0 (1)
  c

where E is the electric field strength (V/m), f is the microwave frequency (Hz), c is the

speed of light (m/s),   ,   , µ are the dielectric constant, dielectric loss factor, and electromagnetic

permeability of the material, respectively.

The heat generation due to microwave, Qm (W/m3), is given by[25,41]

Qm  Qrh  Qml (2)

7
 Here, Qrh is the resistive loss (W/m3) and Qml is the magnetic loss (W/m3). For food

products the magnetic losses are negligible, i.e. Qml = 0[25].

The resistive loss can be calculated as[25,42]


Qrh  0.5  J  E (3)

  
where E * is the conjugate of E and the electric current density J (A/m2) is given by,

J    E = 2 f  0   E, (4)

where,   is the electrical conductivity (S/m),   is the dielectric loss factor and 0 is

permittivity in free space.

Substituting the above into Eq. (2), the microwave heat generation can be written as,

Qm   f  0  | E |2 (5)

which conforms the heat generations equation derived by Metaxas[43].

Multiphase porous media transport model

The multiphase heat and mass transport model in this study considers mass conservation

equation of three transportable phases including liquid water, water vapour and air inside the food

materials. The energy balance equation considers internal heat generation due to microwave,

convective heat transport and source/sink term due to evaporation/condensation. The conservation

equations are presented below:

Mass conservation equations

8
 The representative elementary volume, V (m3), is the sum of the volume occupied by gas

Vg (m3), water Vw (m3), and solid Vs (m3), given by,

V  Vg  Vw  Vs

(6)

The apparent porosity,  , is defined as,

Vg  Vw

V (7)

Saturation of water, S w , and gas, S g is defined as the fraction of pore volume occupied by

that particular phase, namely,

Vw V
Sw   w
Vw  Vg V
(8)

Vg Vg
and S g    1  Sw (9)
Vw  Vg V

respectively.

The mass concentrations of water, cw (kg/m3), vapour, cv (kg/m3), and air, ca (kg/m3), are

given by Eqs. (10), (11), and (12), respectively:

cw  wSw (10)

pv M v
cv   Sg (11)
RT

pa M a
ca   Sg (12)
RT

9
 where,  is the density of water (kg/m3), R is the universal gas constant (J/mol/K), and T
w

is the temperature of product (0K), pv is the partial pressure of vapour (Pa), pa is the partial

pressure of air (Pa), Ma and M v are the molecular weight of air and vapour (kg/mol).

The conservation equation for the liquid water, vapour and air in the porous medium is

given by,

  k k 
( Sw w )    w w r ,w  P  Dccw   R evap , (13)
t  w 

  k k 
( Sg gv )    gv g r , g  P   Sg g Deff , g    R evap , (14)
t  v 

anda  1 v (15)

respectively.

 
Here, nw is water flux (kg/m2s), nv is the vapour mass flux (kg/m2s), Revap is the

evaporation rate of liquid water to water vapour (kg/m3s), v is the mass fraction of vapour, and

a the mass fraction of air. k w is the intrinsic permeability of water (m2), k r ,w is the relative

permeability of water, and w is the viscosity of water (Pa.s), Dc is the capillary diffusivity (m2/s),

P total gas pressure (Pa), k g is the intrinsic permeability of gas (m2), k r , g is the relative

permeability of gas (m2), and  g is the viscosity of gas (Pa.s) and Deff , g is the binary diffusivity of

vapour and air (m2/s).

Continuity equation to solve for gas pressure

10
 The gas phase consists of an ideal mixture of water vapour and air. The gas pressure, P,

may be determined via a total mass balance for the gas phase, namely[44],


t
 
( g Sg )   n g  R evap , (16)

Where, the gas flux, ng , is given by,

k g kr , g
ng  g P (17)
i

and the density of gas phase,  g is calculated from ideal gas law.

Energy equation

Thermal equilibrium is assumed across all phases, therefore, the energy balance equation

can be written as,

T
eff cpeff  (ng hg  nwhw )  (keff T )  hfg Revep  Qm (18)
t

where, T is the temperature (°C), hg is the enthalpy of gas (J), hw is the enthalpy of water

(J), h fg is the latent heat of evaporation (J/kg), eff is the effective density (kg/m3), c p eff is the

effective specific heat (J/kg/K), and keff is the effective thermal conductivity (W/m/K). Eq. (18)

considers energy transport due to conduction and convection and energy sources/sinks due to

evaporation/condensation.

The effective density and thermal conductivity of the mixture are obtained by the volume

weighted average of the different phases; whereas, the effective specific heat is obtained by their

mass average of different phases using the following equations[45,46],

11
 eff   Sg  g  Sw  w   1    s (19)

c p eff  mg g c pg  a c pa   mwc pw  ms c ps

(20)

and

keff    S g kth, g  Swkth,w   1    kth,s

(21)

where s is the solid density (kg/m3); c pg , c pw , c pa and c ps are the specific heat

capacities of gas, water, air and solid (J/kg/K), respectively; mg , mw and ms are the mass fraction

of gas, water and solid, respectively; kth, g , kth,w , and kth,s are the thermal conductivities of gas,

water, and solid, (W/m/K) respectively.

Evaporation or condensation

The porous media model incorporates the change of phase between liquid water and vapour

(evaporation or condensation) through the following expression[47]

Revap  Kevap Sw
Mv
RT
 pv,eq  pv  (22)

where, M v is the molecular weight of vapour, pv ,eq is the equilibrium vapour pressure (Pa),

pv is the vapour pressure (Pa), and Kevap is a constant, which is material and process-dependent[48]

and is the reciprocal of equilibration time, Δt (1/s). Kevap depends on the ratio of gas phase volume

in the pores and surface area available.[49] This ratio was determined corresponding to the radius

of the pore. Halder et al.[49] mentioned that equilibration time for 1m away from the liquid surface

was less than 106 s , and that of 25m away was around 105 s . Experiments showed that the pore

size (mean pore diameter) of the apple sample studied was approximately 50m .[50] Therefore, the

12
equilibration time, teq, was considered as 103 s and thus the value of the evaporation constant was

103 s 1 .

The equilibrium vapour pressure, pv ,eq , for apple is given by,[51]

pv,eq  Pv,sat (T ) exp  0.182M db 0.696  0.232e43.949 M M db 0.0411 ln[ Psat (T )] (23)

where, Pv , sat is the saturation vapour pressure (Pa) and M db is the moisture content (dry

basis). The saturated vapour pressure, Pv , sat , is calculated by,[52]

Pv,sat  exp(5800.2206 / T  1.3915  0.0486T  0.4176x104 T 2

(24)
0.01445x107 T 3  6.656ln(T ))

The vapour pressure pv is obtained from Ideal Gas Law.

It can be summarised that Equations (1), (13), (14), (16), and (18) are the main governing

equations of the proposed IMCD model. Eq. (1) calculates the electric field distributions; Eqs. (13)

and (14) calculate the water and vapour concentrations; Eq. (16) calculates the gas pressure and

Eq. (18) calculates the temperature distributions of the sample. The relevant initial and boundary

conditions for the above equations are discussed below.

Initial conditions

The initial conditions for Eqs. (1), (13), (14), (16), and (18) are given by,


E(t 0)  0 , (25)

cw(t 0)   wS w0 , (26)

wv(t 0)  0.0262 , (27)

13
 P(t 0)  Pamb , (28)

and

T(t 0)  300 C (29)

respectively.

The initial mass fraction of the vapour was calculated from volume fraction of vapour

which was obtained from partial vapour pressure at room temperature (30°C).

Boundary conditions

The oven and waveguide walls were considered as perfect electric conductors (PEC).

Therefore, tangential component of electric field at those boundaries are given by,


n E  0 (30)

The boundary conditions (BC) for heat and mass transfer at the transport boundaries of

food sample are given below:

BC for Eq. (13): nw  hmv Sw

 pv - pvair  (31)
RT

  p -p 
BC for Eq. (14): nv  hmvS g v v air (32)
RT

BC for Eq. (16): P  Pamb (33)

BC for Eq. (18): qsurf  hT (T  Tair )  hmv Sw

 pv - pvair  h (34)
fg
RT

14
 Here where, pv,air vapour pressure of ambient air (Pa), hmv is the mass transfer coefficient

(m/s), Pamb is the ambient pressure (Pa), hT is the heat transfer coefficient (W/m2/K), and Tair is

the drying air temperature (K).

Input parameters

The input parameters used in this study are listed in Table 1. Other important parameters

not listed in table are derived by the authors and discussed in different sections below.

Dielectric properties

The dielectric properties of a material defines how much microwave energy will be

converted to heat and thus is very important in microwave heating and drying.[62] Dielectric

properties for Granny Smith apple with moisture change are reported by Martín et al., [63] we

expressed the reported data as following quadratic function to use in our model.

 '  36.638M wb 2  30.289M wb  0.1 (35)

and    13.543M wb2  26.8150.M wb  0.1 (36)

Where, M wb is the moisture content (wet basis).

Permeability

The intrinsic permeabilities of water is considered as a function of porosity given by

Kozeny-Carman model.[56]

3
kw  5.578 1012  0.39    0.77 (37)
1   2

The gas intrinsic permeability for apple is considered as 4.0 1012 m 2 .[56]

15
 The relative permeabilities were considered as a function of water saturation given by.[56]

k r ,w  S w
3
, (38)

and kr , g  1.01e10.86Sw , (39)

respectively.

Viscosity of water and gas

Viscosities of water[64] and gas[48] as a function of temperature are given by,

 1540 
 19.143 
 w   w e T 
(40)

and

0.65
 T 
 g  0.017 10 3
 (41)
 273 

Effective gas diffusivity

The effective gas diffusivity can be calculated as a function of gas saturation and porosity

according to Bruggeman correction[54] given by,

Deff , g  Dva  Sg 

4/3
(42)

where, Dva is binary diffusivity between air and water vapour (m2/s).

Capillary diffusivity of liquid water

Capillary diffusivity of liquid water assumed to be dependent on the saturation only, as

given by:

16
 Dc  1108 exp  6.88  8M wb  (43)

Here M wb is the wet basis moisture content. Details of the formulation of water capillary

diffusivity for apple are available in author’s previous paper[35].

Numerical solution

Engineering simulation software COMSOL multiphysics 4.4 was used to solve these

equations. Since the model involves many physics, a structured simulation procedure using

COMSOL Multiphysics for this model was developed as shown in Figure 2.

To ensure that the results are grid-independent, several grid sensitivity tests were

conducted. It was found that the current simulation results are independent of the grid chosen in

this study. The time stepping was chosen as 1 s to solve the equations. For the food sample, finer

mesh with a maximum element size 3 mm was chosen. For the rest of the domains, physics

controlled mesh was chosen to solve the electromagnetics. The simulation was performed using a

Windows 7 with Intel Core i7 CPU, 3.4GHz processor and 24GB of RAM.

3. Materials and methods

In this section, the experimental procedure, sample preparation, and intermittency of input

microwave power have been discussed.

IMCD drying

The IMCD drying was achieved by heating the sample in the microwave oven for 20 s then

drying for 80 s in the convection dryer. The experiments were conducted with a Panasonic

Microwave Oven (Model NNST663W) having inverter technology with cavity dimension 352 mm

17
(W) ×230 mm (H) ×347 mm (D). The inverter technology enables accurate and continuous power

supply at lower power settings.[65,66] The microwave oven was able to supply power at 10 accurate

power levels with a maximum of 1100 W at 2.45 GHz frequency. To ensure even absorption of

microwave energy, the apple slices were placed at the centre of the microwave cavity. The

moisture loss was recorded after each tempering period by placing the apple slices on a digital

balance (specification: 0.001 g accuracy).

Microwave intermittency

The mathematical expression for the intermittency function is given below:

1 if n  t  n  20
f (t )  
0 if n  20  t  n  100 (44)

where n = 0, 100, 200, 300………………1000.

The microwave power was then multiplied with the intermittency function to generate

intermittent heat source.

Sample preparation

Fresh Granny smith apples were obtained from the local supermarkets and were used for

the IMCD experiments. The samples were stored at 5±1°C to keep them as fresh as possible before

they were used in experiments. The apples taken from the storage unit were washed and put aside

for one hour to allow its temperature to elevate to room temperature prior to each drying

experiment. The sample were then sliced into 10 mm thick and 40 mm diameter slices. The initial

moisture content of the apple slices was approximately 0.868 (wb).

Thermal imaging

18
 A Flir i7 thermal imaging camera was used to capture the temperature distribution on the

sample surface. Accuracy of measurement of temperature by thermal imaging camera depends on

the emissivity values of the sample. The emissivity value for apple was found in the range between

0.94 and 0.97[67] and, therefore, an average value of 0.95 was set in the camera before taking

images.

4. Results and discussions

In this section, experimental results are presented and validation of the model is first

discussed. Analysis about temperature redistribution, moisture and pressure distribution in the

sample is then presented. For better understanding of the process, the water and vapour fluxes due

to different mechanisms are also investigated using the model.

Experimental validation of temperature and moisture content

Experimental validation is critical for the developed IMCD model considering the

complexity involved in the model. Validation was conducted by comparing the average moisture

content of the sample and temperature distribution and re-distribution obtained from the thermal

imaging camera. The temperature distributions for both before and after tempering periods were

compared to demonstrate the effect of intermittency in microwave drying.

Average moisture content

Figure 3 compares the average moisture content obtained from experiments and

simulation. Both experimental and model data show that the moisture content of the sample after

1000 s drops from 6.6 kg/kg dry basis to about 4.5 kg/kg dry basis. The model shows good

agreement with the experimental data. A Pearson correlation coefficients, R2, was used to

19
determine the goodness of fit of the model. It is observed that a high correlation is obtained

between the model and experimental values with R2 = 0.9906. This excellent agreement confirms

the suitability of the model to predict drying kinetics of IMCD process.

Temperature redistribution

Proper understanding of the temperature redistribution is very crucial in the IMCD process

as this helps in determining the optimum microwave power level and intermittency. According to

the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first time that temperature re-distribution due to

intermittent application of microwave in drying has been investigated.

Spatial temperature distributions on the top surface of the sample obtained from experiment

and simulation are shown in Figure 4. The image presents the temperature distribution after each

heating cycle (20 s, 120 s etc.) followed by temperature distribution after each tempering period

(100 s, 200 s etc.). It can be seen that the temperature rises after each microwave heating period

and then decreases to close to the drying air temperature (50°C) at the end of the tempering period.

The decrease in temperature during tempering period is due to redistribution of heat. This pattern

can be observed in modelling and experimental data. This redistribution during each tempering

period helps to limit the temperature rise in next heating cycle. Consequently, it improves the

drying rate and prevents the material from overheating. Moreover, a desired temperature or

uniformity can be achieved by controlling the intermittency of the microwave for IMCD.

The dispersion pattern of heat energy during intermittency is also captured by the model.

However, there are some discrepancies between the experimental and simulation results regarding

the location of the hot spots. While the hot spots during experiments were found in the centre of

the sample, the same during simulation were shifted to the right. The discrepancy could be due to

20
the difficulties in modelling actual geometry of the microwave oven. The actual microwave oven

had some internal dents and curved surfaces near the edges (corner) which were not considered in

the geometry of the model. Moreover, positioning of the sample in the experiments was done

manually which also could introduce some error in the location of the sample. It is expected that

if the geometry is accurately modelled, the error would be reduced. Our future studies will further

investigate these discrepancies. Nonetheless, the magnitude of the temperature rise and fall and

dispersion of the hot spot during tempering is well captured by the models which provide valuable

information for understanding IMCD and product quality.

Internal temperature distribution

As can be seen in the previous figure (Figure 4), the temperature distribution is uneven

across the diameter of the sample in IMCD. Therefore, in order to further investigate the

temperature distribution inside the sample, the temperature profile along the horizontal centreline

of the sample at different times is captured and shown in Figure 5.

In Figure 5, the temperature is plotted for a number of heating periods (20 s, 120 s etc.)

and tempering periods (100 s, 200 s etc.). This allows investigation of the temperature distribution

and redistribution inside the sample. The temperature curve for 100 s, 200 s and 300 s showed the

temperature distribution at the end of tempering period. It can be seen that the temperature profile

is asymmetric with hotter on the right hand side of the sample demonstrating uneven heating due

to the microwaves, whereas, the temperature profiles were symmetric for convection drying[35] and

the IMCD model with Lambert’s Law.[34] In contrast to those studies, the IMCD model that

considers Maxwell’s equation can capture the asymmetric temperature profile which is more

21
realistic. Similar asymmetric profile of temperature with faster heating at the right side was found

by Rakesh et al.[68] in microwave combination heating of food.

It is critical to note that the temperature increase from approximately 45°C at left edge of

the sample to a peak around 75°C at 30 mm from left edge during the heating periods (for 120 s

and 220 s). However, after the tempering periods (at 200 s, 300 s etc.), the temperature becomes

more uniform throughout the sample with temperature range between 40–50°C (Figures 4 and 5).

This highlights the importance of the intermittency in IMCD. The results offer profound evidence

of temperature redistribution during tempering period. Finally, it can be said that potentially the

model can be applied in the food industry to identify hot and cold spots location and appropriate

intermittency to level the temperature.

Moisture distribution

Microbial or chemical safety and quality attributes of dried food material are related not

only to the total moisture content but also moisture distribution after drying. This is, because the

spoilage can start from a high moisture content area. Therefore, determining the moisture

distribution in the sample is critical for food drying.

The spatial moisture (db) profiles of the sample along the horizontal centreline at different

time are plotted in Figure 6. The figure shows asymmetric saturation profiles with lower water

saturation on the right had side. The water content is highest at about 5 mm depth from the left

edge. The asymmetric behaviour is due to the higher temperature on the right side of the sample

as shown in Figure 5. The higher temperature results higher vapour pressure and moisture

migration, consequently, higher drying rate is observed in high temperature areas. Therefore, the

moisture content is lower on the right side of the sample compared to the left.

22
 Vapour distribution

Vapour concentration profile along the centreline of the sample is shown in Figure 7. The

vapour concentration is lower on the sides and peaks at 30 mm from the left edge where the

temperature is higher (as shown in Figure 5). This nature of vapour concentration correlates with

the temperature distribution. For this reason, the higher concentration of vapour was found exactly

at the point where the maximum temperature was located at any particular time of drying. The

lower vapour concentration at the exposed surfaces is because of the transport of moisture to the

ambient air.

Vapour pressure distribution

The distribution of vapour pressure within selected time period is shown in Figure 8. The

vapour pressures are higher near the higher temperature regions (as can be seen from Figures 5

and 8). Figure 8 shows that the vapour pressure increases after each heating cycle (20 s, 120 s

etc.), and then decreases during the tempering periods (100 s, 200 s etc.). However, for all times,

it is lower on the left side of the sample because of the lower temperature in that region and remains

almost steady for about 0–10 mm from left edge. It is crucial to note that the fluctuations in vapour

pressure levels are dampened during the tempering periods therefore causing less moisture loss

during those periods. Moreover, the location of moisture loss also can be identified form this graph.

Since the higher vapour pressure causes more moisture loss, the drying rate is faster on the right

side of the sample.

Water and vapour fluxes

Moisture fluxes due to capillary diffusion and gas pressure gradient along the horizontal

centreline of the sample are plotted in Figures 9 and 10, respectively. It shows that the flux due to

23
capillary diffusion is negative up to about 10 mm distance from left surface and mostly positive

after 10 mm. This indicates that the water flux is moving towards right edge from 10 mm and

onwards, whereas, direction of water flux is towards the left edge for up to 10 mm from the left. It

is interesting to note that, the moisture flux increase near the surface; which could be due to the

higher moisture gradient near the surface. The right hand side of the sample contains lower

moisture content, and therefore, the concentration gradient is higher and thus causing higher

capillary flux. The abrupt increase in water diffusive flux near surface was also found by Dhall et

al.[69]

Figure 10 shows that the after the tempering periods (200 s, 300 s etc.), the flux due to

pressure gradient is negligible compared to that of after heating periods (120 s, 220 s etc.). The

moisture flux due to gas pressure is six times higher compared to convection drying, [28] which

makes the IMCD faster. Moreover, the magnitudes of flux increases with time in IMCD whereas

in convection drying it decreases with time. This could be due the higher pressure generation due

to volumetric microwave heating during the IMCD compared to convective drying.

Figures 11 and 12 show the spatial distribution of vapour fluxes due to binary diffusion

and gas pressure gradient respectively. The figures shows that vapour fluxes from both sources are

positive on the right edge of the sample (starting from about 30 mm) and negative for 15 mm to

28 mm (from left). This can be explained from the vapour concentration (Figure 7) profiles. The

vapour curve (Figure 7) shows that the vapour concentration is the highest near 30 mm from the

left edge and gradually decreases with distance in both directions. Therefore, the vapour

concentration gradient is positive from 30 mm onwards indicating positive flux and flow towards

the right edge of the sample and vice versa. However, at the far left edge (0–10 mm), where vapour

gradient is almost zero, the vapour flux is also minimum.

24
 Similarly, the vapour flux due to gas pressure is positive for the right side (30 mm onwards)

of the sample due to positive pressure gradient and negative on the left of 30 mm, due to negative

pressure gradient. In general, the fluxes of vapour from both sources are higher during the heating

periods and lower in the tempering periods which indicating higher moisture migrations during

the heating periods.

It is noted that, all the fluxes are negligible near the left edge of the sample except for water

flux due to capillary diffusion. Therefore, the transport of moisture to the left edge is only due to

capillary diffusion, whereas all other fluxes including capillary diffusion are higher near the right

edge causing more moisture loss. This also justifies the lower water saturation on the right side of

the sample.

5. Conclusions

In this study, a novel IMCD model is developed which considers complex coupling

between electromagnetics using Maxwell’s equations and multiphase porous media for transport

phenomena. The model provided uneven temperature distribution, showing hot spots and cold

spots due to microwave heating which cannot be obtained by using simpler model like Lambert’s

Law. Moreover, the model provided asymmetric distribution of pressure, vapour and moisture

concentrations and vapour fluxes. Although, the coupling of different underlying physics present

unmatched difficulties, the application of such models is required to achieve better insight and

prediction of critical parameters such as microwave energy absorption, temperature and moisture

distribution, evaporation and fluxes due to different mechanisms. Understanding of these factors

can, in turn, lead to a significant improvement in food quality, energy efficiency, increased ability

to automation and optimization.

25
 The major conclusions from the work can be summarized as follows:

1) Multiphase porous media transport models for IMCD considering Maxwell’s equation

for electromagnetics were developed and the model’s predicted values agree with

experimental data reasonably well.

2) IMCD produces uneven temperature distribution during the heating periods and the

temperature redistributes during the tempering period creating more uniform

distribution. The model captures these phenomena which are very useful for

understanding the process, which cannot be done by existing models.

3) Intermittency of microwave in IMCD can help to control the material temperature, thus

the model can be used to find the optimum value for both the microwave power

level and the intermittency for better product quality.

4) The moisture fluxes due to capillary diffusion and gas pressure gradient, and the vapour

flux due to binary diffusion and gas pressure gradient were higher than those

obtained through convection drying. The fluxes due to the gas pressure gradient are

also higher in magnitude during the heating period than the tempering period which

indicates higher convective flow during heating.

Acknowledgments

The first author acknowledges the financial support from International Postgraduate

Research Award (IPRS), Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) and Advance Queensland

Research Fellowship project to carry out this research.

References

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31
Table 1. Input parameters for the model

Parameter Value Reference

Sample diameter, Dias 40 mm This work

Sample thickness, Ths 10 mm This work

Equivalent porosity, initial, 0

[53,54]
0.922

[53,54]
0.8
Water saturation, initial, Sw0

[53,54]
0.15
Initial saturation of vapour, Sv0

[53,54]
Gas saturation, initial, 0.2

Initial temperature, T0 303K

Constants

Drying air temperature, Tair 323K This work

Universal gas constant, Rg 8.314 J mol1K1 [55]

18.016 g mol1 [55]

Molecular weight of water, M w

18.016 g mol1 [55]

Molecular weight of vapour, M v

28.966 g mol1 [55]

Molecular weight of gas (air), M a

h fg 2.26e6 J kg1 [55]

Latent heat of evaporation,

32
 [55]
101325 Pa
Ambient pressure, Pamb

kg 4.0 × 1012 m2 [56]

Gas intricsic permeability,

2.6 × 106 m2/s [57]

Binary diffusivity, Dva

pv,air 2992 Pa Calculated

Ambient vapour pressure,

16.746 W/(m2K) [34,58]

Heat transfer coefficient, hT

[34,58]
0.017904 m/s
Mass transfer coefficient, hm

Thermo-physical properties

Specific heat

C ps 3734 J kg1K1 Measured

Apple solid,

Cpw 4183 J kg1K1 [59]

Water,

C pv 1900 J kg1K1 [59]

Vapour,

Cpa 1005.68 J kg1K1 [59]

Air,

Thermal conductivity

kth,s 0.46 W m1K1 [60]

Apple solid,

kth, g 0.026 W m1K1 [61]

Gas,

33
 kth,w 0.644 W m1K1 [61]
Water,

Density

Apple solid,  s 1419 kg m3 This study

Vapour, v
Ideal gas law, kg

m 3

Air,  a
Ideal gas law, kg

m 3

Water, w 1000, kg m3

34
Figure 1. a) The computational domain for the IMCD drying simulation, b) Food sample and
representative elementary volume (REV) showing transport mechanism involved in the
simulation.

35
Figure 2. Flow chart showing the modelling strategy in COMSOL Multiphysics.

36
Figure 3. Average moisture content obtained from experiments and simulation.

37
Figure 4. Temperature distribution obtained from experiment and simulations.

38
Figure 5. Computed temperature profile along horizontal centreline of the sample at different
times.

39
Figure 6. Computed moisture distribution of the sample at different times.

40
Figure 7. Computed vapour concentration profile of the sample at different times.

41
Figure 8. Vapour pressure along the horizontal centreline of the sample.

42
Figure 9. Water capillary flux along horizontal centreline of the sample at different times.

43
Figure 10. Water flux due to gas pressure along horizontal centreline of the sample for different
times.

44
Figure 11. Vapour flux due to gas pressure along horizontal centreline of the sample for
different times.

45
Figure 12. Vapour flux due to gas pressure along horizontal centreline of the sample for
different times.

46