PRAKTIKUM VII

DETERMINATION OF FOOD THERMAL PROPERTIES

DURING FREEZING

A. INTRODUCTION

Freezing is one of the food preservation methods by lowering its temperature under its
freezing point. By freezing a part of food water content, the activity of enzymes and micro-
organisms can be slowered or stopped to maintain the food quality. The quality of frozen
food is regarded as close to the fresh food eventhough it is incomparable to the refrigerated
food.
The frozen food requires a frozen storage. In general, food is frozen under the
temperature of -20oC and stored at a temperature between -18oC to 20oC. If the storage
temperature fluctuates and reaches over than -15oC, the quality can be deteriorated. And if
the fluctuating temperature occurs more than 24 hours, all frozen foods have to be removed,
cooked, and consumed. The frozen food can be maintained for a long time, such as one
year, provided the storage temperature remains stable at -18oC or lower.
The rate of freezing determines the freezing time, and influences the product structure.
The slow freezing process will destroy the food product by creating large ice crystals that
rupture the cell walls. The damage will only be detected after thawing. The rupture of the
cell walls will cause the outflow of cell plasm containing the food nutrients, and the
deformation of the food texture. This can be avoided when the freezing process is done
rapidly creating fine ice crystals inside and among the cells.
The freezing rate is influenced by various factors such as the medium temperature, the
size and geometry of product, and the product thermal properties: heat capacity (cp), density
() and thermal conductivity (k). Freezing will change the composition of water and ice inside
the product, and in turn, change also its thermal properties.
To determine the freezing rate and the temperature distribution inside the food product,
it is important to understand the changes of the product thermal properties. Comini et al.
(1974) described the changes linearly as illustrated in Fig 6.1., while Tarnawski (1976)
established mathematical functions non-linearly (Fig 6.2).

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 k
latent heat effect
k, Cp

Cp
Cp
k

Tf Tp Ti T

Fig 6.1. The function of food product thermal properties over temperature during
freezing (Comini et al., 1974).

a
k, Cp, a

Cp
k

Tfr T

Fig 6.2. The non-linear function of food product thermal properties over
temperature during freezing (Tarnawski, 1976).

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 
k

k, , Cp

Cp
 Cp
k

Tfr T

Fig 6.3. Development of food product thermal properties during freezing

(Heldman and Gorby, 1974).
Heldman and Gorby (1974) developed a computer model to predict the changes based
on the water fraction remained unfrozen inside the food product (Fig 6.3). The equations
used by Heldman and Gorby (1974) are as follows.

 L.MW  1 1 
Xw  exp     ...............................................................(1)
 R  Tbo Tb 

EMS . Xw . MW
MS  .............................................................................(2)
EMW (1 Xw )

EMS  1  IWC
EMW  WC  UFWC
...............................................................................(3)
where :
Xw : water fraction
L : latent heat for freezing, kJ/kg
MW : molecular weight of water, mol
R : gas constant, 8.314 kJ/kg mol K
Tbo : water freezing point, K
Tb : product freezing point, K
EMS : effective mass of solid
EMW : effective mass of water
MS : molecular weight of solid, kmol
WC : water content
IWC : initial water content
UFWC: unfrozen water content

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 1 WC EMI EMS
   ............................................................................(4)
 W I S

EMI  1  WC  EMS ..............................................................................(5)

where:
EMI: effective mass of ice
 : density of product, kg/m3
I : density of ice, kg/m3
W : density of water, kg/m3
S : density of solid, kg/m3

The density of solid is previously determined by inserting the initial product density, and
initial water content into eq. (4) where EMI is zero prior to freezing.

1
S 
 1 IWC  ..............................................................................(6)
  
 0 W 

(Heldman and Gorby, 1974)

The enthalpy of product is calculated based on the density of product components (solid,
water, ice) and the unfrozen water content at the reference temperature of –40oC.

H  EMS . CpS . (T  40 )  ( WC  UFWC ) L 

WC . CpW (T  40)  EMI . CpI (T  40 ) ................................(7)
(Lescano and Heldman, 1973)

CpI  1.9058  (0.0021) (T ) ..............................................................(8)

(Dickerson, 1979)

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 [ ICp  ( IWC x W )]
Cp S  ..............................................................(9)
EMS

H
Cp product  ..............................................................................(10)
T

where:
H = enthalpy, kJ/kg
Cp = heat capacity, kJ/kg K
0 = initial density of product, kg/m3
ICp= initial heat capacity of product, kJ/kg K

To predict the thermal conductivity (k) the following equations are used (Kopelman,
1966).

 1 Q 
k  kc  
1 / 3  ................................................................(11)
 1  Q (1  M ) 

 kd 
Q  M 2 / 3 1   ..............................................................................(12)
 kc 

where:
M : volume fraction of discontinuous phase
k : thermal conductivity of product, W/m K
Kc : thermal conductivity of continuous phase, W/m K
Kd : thermal conductivity of discontinuous phase, W/m K

1 Asparagus
30 in two
.......The calculation is done steps. Firstly, the water-ice system where water is
2 Carrots
considered as a continuous phase, and ice is a discontinuous phase. Secondly, the water-
3 Cherries
Heat capacity (kJ/kg K)

ice and solid system where 25 water-ice is considered as a continuous phase, and solid is a
4 Peas
5 Plums
discontinuous phase. Hsieh et al. (1977) predicted the thermal properties of various
6 Strawberries
horticultural products as described in Fig 6.4 - 6.6.
20

15

10 5
34
2 1
5 6 2, 6
1 3
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0
-40 -30 -20 -10 0 10
T (oC)
 Fig 6.4. Predicted heat capacity of various fruits and vegetables during freezing
(Hsieh et al., 1977).

4.0 1
6
2
3
Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

5
3.0 4

2.0
1 Asparagus
1.082 Carrots
3 Cherries
1 Asparagus 3
1.0 6
1.0645 Peas 2 Carrots
Plums3 Cherries 2 1
3
6 Strawberries 5
4 Peas 2
1.04 5 Plums 5 4
0 6 Strawberries 6
1.02 -150 -130
-170 -110 -90 -70 -50 -30 -10 1 10
Density (unit)

T (oC)
1.00 4
Fig 6.5. Predicted thermal conductivity
3 of various fruits and vegetables during
freezing (Hsieh et al., 1977).
0.98 5
2
0.96 6
1
0.94 4
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0.92
-170 -150 -130 -110 -90 -70 -50 -30 -10 10 30
T (oC)
 Fig 6.6. Predicted density of various fruits and vegetables during freezing (Hsieh
et al., 1977).

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 C a lc u la te W C a n d M I
R E A D 1 . S o lv e X W fr o m e q u a tio n ( 1 )
In p u t in itia l v a lu e s R , L W , 2 . S o lv e E M W fr o m e q u a tio n ( 3 )
D W , D I, T 0 , K I, C P W , IW C , 3 . S o lv e W C fr o m e q u a tio n ( 3 )
T F , U F W C , IC P , IK , M W 4 . S o lv e M I fr o m e q u a tio n ( 4 )

C A L L S U B R O U T IN E S o lv e P D u tiliz in g e q u a tio n ( 6 )
P A R A M 1 P D = 1 / (W C /D W + M I/D I + E M S /D S )
C a lc u la te th e in itia l p a r a m e te r s
n e c e s s a ry D S , K S , M S , C P S
C a lc u la te M fo r ic e - w a te r s y s te m
M = V F I / (V F I + V F W )
D S is s o lv e d fr o m w h e re V F I = M I.P D /D I
e q u a tio n ( 6 ) M = E M S .P D /D S
V F W = 1 - (V F I + V F S )

K S is s o lv e d fr o m e q u a t io n s ( 1 1 ) a n d ( 1 2 )
u s in g w a te r - s o lid s y s te m C a lc u la te K D fo r ic e - w a te r s y s te m a p p ly in g
KS  [ KW (M 2 / 3
 Q )] / M 2 / 3 e q u a tio n s ( 1 1 ) a n d ( 1 2 )
Q  ( KW  IK ) / ( M 1 / 3 . IK  KW  IK ) K D = K W [(1 -Q ) / (1 -Q ( 1 - M 1 /3 ) ) ]
M  EMS . PD / DS w h e r e Q = M 2 /3 ( 1 - K I / K W )

M S is o b ta in e d b y s o lv in g
X W in e q u a t io n ( 1 ) a n d
u tiliz in g e q u a tio n s ( 2 ) a n d ( 3 )
C P S is c a lc u la te d u s in g
e q u a tio n s ( 9 )
C P S = (IC P -IW C .C P W ) / E M S
C a lc u la te K fo r fo o d p r o d u c t u s in g e q u a tio n s
(1 1 ) a n d (1 2 )
K = K D [( 1 - Q ) / ( 1 - Q ( 1 - V F S 1 /3 ) ) ]
w h e r e Q = M S 2 /3 ( 1 - K S / K D )
S o lv e C P I a n d H u s in g e q u a tio n s ( 8 ) a n d ( 7 )
S o lv e C P A u s in g e q u a tio n ( 1 0 )

R E T U R N T O
M A IN P R O G R A M R E T U R N T O S U B R O U T IN E
S E T M A T

Subroutine READ 1 Subroutine PROP 1

Fig 6.7. Flow diagram to calculate density, heat capacity and thermal conductivity
of food product (Purwadaria and Heldman, 1982)

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 Masukkan nilai awal :
R,L,Mw,TBP,TBO, KATB ,KAo,
P,kp,Cp,es,kes,
a,ka,Cpa

EMS= 1-KAo

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 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the exercise are

1. To predict the changes of thermal properties of ground beef during freezing using a
computer simulation.
2. To observe the characteristic of thermal property changes during the
transformation of liquid phase into the solid phase.

A. METHODS

1. Develop a computer program to predict the changes of thermal properties (, Cp

and k) of ground beef during freezing.
2. Use Fig 6.7 as a reference, and parameters in Table 6.1 as inputs.

B. DISCUSSION

1. Plot the changes of the beef thermal properties over the temperature.
2. Discuss the change mechanism of the thermal properties from the liquid phase into
the solid phase.

Tabel 6.1. Parameter input dalam program komputer untuk pembekuan (Purwadaria
dan Heldman, 1982)

Parameter Symbol Value

Water heat capacity (kJ/kgK) CPW 4.18
Initial heat capacity of product (kJ/kgK) ICP 3.43
Ice density (kg/m3) DI 920
Water density (kg/m3) DW 1000
Initial beef density (kg/m3) IPD 1060
Initial thermal conductivity of beef (W/mK) IK 0.4
Ice thermal conductivity (W/mK) (dicari dengan persamaan 8) KI -
Water thermal conductivity (W/m K) 0.58
Initial water content (kg H2O/kg padatan) IWC 0.7030
Unfrozen water content (kg H2O/kg padatan) UFWC 0.01
Latent heat of freezing (kJ/kg) LW 335
Water molecular weight (kg/kg mole) MW 18.0
Initial freezing point (oC) TF -1.5
Gas constant (kJ/kg mol K) R 8.314

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REFERENCES

Comini, G., C. Bonacina and S. Barina. 1974. Thermal properties of foodstuffs. Int.
Institute of Refr. Meeting of commissions B1, C1 and C2, Bressanone, Italy.
Bulletin Annex : 163.
Dickerson, J.R., R.W. 1969. Thermal properties of food. In: D.K. Tressler. 1969. The
Freezing Preservation of Foods. 4th ed. Vol. II. The AVI Pub. Co., Inc., Westport,
Ct., USA.
Heldman, D.R. and D.P. Gorby. 1974. Predictions of thermal conductivity in frozen food.
ASAE Paper No. 74-6016.
Hsieh, R.C., L.E. Lerew and D.R. Heldman. 1977. Prediction of freezing times for foods as
influenced by product properties. J. Food Proc. Engr., 1:183.
Lescano, C.E. and D.R. Heldman. 1973. Freezing rates in cod fish muscle. ASAE Paper No.
73-367.
Purwadaria, H.K. and D.R. Heldman. 1982. A finite element model for predicton of freezing
rates in food product with anomalous shapes. Trans. ASAE Vol. 25:827.
Tarnawski, W. 1976. Mathematical model of frozen consumption products. Int. J. Heat and
Mass Transfer, 19:15.

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