firmer and had less color advancement and CI than non-
wrapped peppers, but had more decay at inspection 2.
All of the IW treatments were effective in reducing CI
at inspection 2 compared to peppers that were not sub
jected to IW (Table 2). The most effective IW treatment
was at 21°C for either 8 or 24 hr every third day at inspec
tion 1. The peppers stored for 2 weeks at 7°C plus the two
IW treatments for 24 hr at 21°C or 15.5°C had significantly
less decay than all other treatments. Peppers which were
subjected to the IW treatments were less firm and more
advanced in color than peppers stored continuously at 1°C.
Film-wrapped peppers were firmer and had less color and
CI than nonwrapped peppers, but had more decay at in
spection 2.
In comparing the data from these tests, conditioning
for 5 days at 10°C is as effective as using the IW treatment
every third day for 8 or 24 hr at 21°C in reducing CI. It
must be stated that CI incidence and severity was signific
antly reduced but not eliminated with Early Calwonder
peppers grown in Florida. Film wrapping in combination
with conditioning was more effective than film wrapping
in combination with IW in reducing CI. Decay of peppers
was significantly higher in all combinations of film wrap
ping and conditioning or IW, except for the combination
of film wrapping and IW at 21°C and 15.5°C for 24 hr,
compared to the control peppers stored 2 weeks at 7°C
plus 5 additional days at 15.5°C. Decay of peppers gener
ally increased when peppers were subjected to tempera
tures of 1°C and correlated with incidence of CI.
Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100:32-34. 1987.
CITRUS WAX DRYING EVALUATION VIA INFRARED THERMOMETRY
William M. Miller and William L. Verba
University of Florida, IFAS
Citrus Research and Education Center
700 Experiment Station Road
Lake Alfred, FL 33850
Abstract. All of Florida's fresh citrus is washed after which a
wax is applied to retard moisture loss and improve fruit ap
pearance. This waxing process requires surface drying which
is an energy-intensive unit operation. To date, dryers have
had only temperature control with more recent models incor
porating humidity sensors and controls. In either case, the
techniques have not indicated the drying state of the waxed
fruit. An infrared temperature sensor was evaluated in a lab
oratory setup to assess its potential in establishing the drying
rate of citrus waxes. A time relationship was developed be
tween moisture loss curves and infrared temp, measurements.
Polyethylene and shellac-based water waxes had signific
antly different drying times. This non-contact technique may
have application in packinghouse dryers to control the final
stages of drying.
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. 8554.
Reference to a company or product is for specific information only
and does not imply approval or recommendation by the University of
Florida to the exclusion of others.
32
Earlier reports (1, 4, 7) indicated that conditioning or
IW was effective to the point of eliminating CI with most
other varieties of peppers. It is the authors' conclusion that
the Early Calwonder cultivar of bell peppers is highly sus
ceptible to CI when grown in Florida. Even though combi
nations of film wrapping and conditioning or IW will sig
nificantly reduce the incidence and severity of CI, but not
eliminate CI, it cannot be recommended that Early Cal
wonder peppers be stored or shipped at temperatures
below 7°C for periods of more than a few days.
Literature Cited
1. Geier, R. and J. Weichmann. 1985. Intermittent warming and chilling
injury of stored sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L,). Gartenbauwis-
senschaft 50(4): 145-148.
2. Gorini, F. L., P. E. Zerbini, and L. Uncini. 1976. Storage suitability of
some pepper varieties as affected by temperature and lining. Proc. Ill
Congress ISHS Vegetable Storage, New York.
3. Hardenburg, R. E., A. E. Watada, and C. Y. Wang. 1986. The com
mercial storage of fruits, vegetables, and florist and nursery stocks.
U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Hdbk. 66.
4. McColloch, L. P. 1962. Chilling injury and alternaria rot of bell pep
pers. U.S. Dept. Agr., Mktg. Res. Rpt. 536.
5. Miller, W. R., L. A. Risse, and R. E. McDonald. 1986. Deterioration
of individually wrapped and nonwrapped bell peppers during long-
term storage. Trop. Sci. 26:1-8.
6. Risse, L. A., D. Chun, and W. R. Miller. 1987. Chilling injury and
decay of film-wrapped and conditioned bell peppers during cold stor
age. Trop. Sci. 27:85-90.
7. Wang, C. Y., and J. E. Baker. 1979. Effects of two free radical scaven
gers and intermittent warming on chilling injury and polar lipid com
position of cucumber and sweet pepper fruits. Plant & Cell Physiol.
20(l):243-251.
Waxing is a basic unit operation found in packing fresh
citrus. With the price increases in petroleum products ex
perienced over the last 15 years, the Florida citrus industry
has made a transition to water waxes from solvent-based
waxes. In general, the water-based wax applications re
quire more energy and longer drying times when com
pared to solvent wax process (2). They may also remain
in a tacky state which results in difficult handling for sub
sequent packingline operations. However, no quantitative
techniques have been available to ascertain drying rates or
the completion of drying (i.e., dry state) for these water
waxes.
This paper reports on the potential use of infrared (IR)
thermometry (1) for measuring surface temperatures in
laboratory wax evaluation studies. The infrared technique
is based on sensing electromagnetic radiation beyond the
visible spectrum (> 700 |xm). It is known that every body
above an absolute zero temperature emits radiation depen
dent on its temperature. The concept investigated in this
study was based on the premise that the water wax surface
temperature would remain constant while evaporation oc
curred and then rise when evaporation ceased. The objec
tives were: 1) to evaluate infrared thermometry to detect
the drying status of water waxes and 2) to determine if
drying rates were comparable for two commercial water
wax samples; one a shellac-based and the second
polyethylene-based.
Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100: 1987.
 Materials and Methods TEMP. dog-C

110

All drying tests were performed in a laboratory oven

(Fig. 1) at regulated temperatures of ±2°C. The oven was
modified to accommodate an inspection port for the in
100
frared thermometer and a lever arm weighing system to
continuously monitor weight loss through evaporation
from the sample. A top loading balance, 0.01 g resolution, INCREASE TO OVEN
90
was preloaded and then used to measure the weight of the TEMPERATURE <1O6°CX,

remaining wax sample. The container for the wax sample

and the balance's load point were configured to have a
lever arm ratio of 1:1. Sensor coverage area was ca. 3.5 cm
diameter.
To obtain a uniform layer of water wax sample, a piece "^VAPORIZATION TEMP.
of filter paper was saturated with a given wax material and 70
3 4
then placed on a flat glass surface. This procedure of sam TIKE. MIN
ple preparation provided a uniform thickness of wax,
eliminated hot spots and approximated thin layer drying Fig. 2. Experimental plot of surface temperature vs. drying time.
times encountered in commercial practice. The initial
amount of wax material was 1.0 to 1.5 g. T (°C) = 21.3 + 0.187 (mV); r2 = 0.95
While drying the wax samples, both sample weight and
over a 30 to 105°C temperature range.
infrared temperature measurements were taken at 30 sec
Plots were generated for the IR temperature vs. time
intervals throughout a test. Temperature readings were
and percent moisture content (%MC) remaining vs. time.
logged on a data acquisition system while weight measure
Examples of these experimental curves are presented in
ments were taken manually. The infrared unit was a Mik-
Figs. 2 and 3. The %MC remaining vs. time plot exhibited
ron 66 preset with a 0 to 150°C temperature range. Initial
constant-rate and falling-rate drying characteristics. A
calibration was obtained with copper-constantan ther
completely dry state was considered the first of three con
mocouples soldered to aluminum plates, painted black.
secutive readings when sample weight did not change.
The plates were heated during an oven warmup period
To determine if an increase of surface temperature
from ca. 30 to 105°C. A thermal emissivity value of 0.9 (1)
could be used as an indicator of a dry state for the water
was used for calibration of the infrared thermometer.
wax samples, two intersection points were derived from
Two commercial waxes were tested. One was a
the percent moisture remaining vs. time curve (Fig. 4).
polyethylene resin and the second a shellac-based wax with
The intersection of the linear constant-rate period and the
alcohol. Solids content of these waxes were estimated by
dry-state moisture condition line represented one intersec
oven drying and were ca. 17.8% and 16.9% moisture con
tion (t{). The second was derived through using mid-point
tent (wet basis), respectively.
tangential of the falling rate portion and its intersection
with the dry-state moisture content condition (t^). The
Results and Discussion moisture intersections were then compared to the temper
ature intersection point (tj).
The temperature vs. weight loss analysis required a
A linear regression analysis was then conducted to com
conversion of the IR analog output of 0-1 V(dc) to temper
pare the times of the drying curve intersection points with
atures. Using the copper-constantan thermocouple data
those of the temperature intersection curve. Two sets of
for calibration, the conversion was:
data were analyzed comparing both polyethylene and shel
lac type of water waxes. Combined results from these tests

MOISTURE RATIO (W.B.)

.9

CONSTANT-RATE
ASPIRATING
PSYCHROMETER

DATA-LOGGER

DRY STATE

Fig. 1 Experimental setup for measuring was drying rates and surface Fig. 3. Experimental plot of moisture content—wet basis vs. drying
temperature by infrared thermometry. time.

Proc. Fla. State HorL Soc. 100: 1987. 33

 10-r
O • - POLYETHYLENE-BASED
Ui □ ■ - SHELLAC-BASED

D
8 —

< (l^)-1.534-»-0.848(t1)

cc
Hi
o.

UJ

4-
2 4 6 8 10

TIME(by TEMPERATURE), min

Fig. 5. Plot of temperature intersection vs. moisture intersection point

data.
x
Table 1. Analysis of variance data for types of wax and drying time pre
i- dictors.
co
5 Source/Df SS MS

Total 35 117.1
Wax type 1 85.7 85.7 216.0**
Drying Time Predictor 2 18.7 9.4 23.6**
Error 32 12.7 0.4

installed in the final drying section and placed ca. 30 cm

distance above the center of roller conveyor. At that dis
tance, the coverage area was 7.5 cm diameter, the approx
TIME imate size of an average fruit. The principal difficulty en

(b) countered was in open spaces on the conveyor where the

Fig. 4. General intersection plot for determination of drying state of
was samples by (a) temperature and (b) moisture content.
are plotted in Fig. 5. Some difference in the temperature
time was observed beeause of a difference in the amount
of the wax sample used in the two sets of tests. Overall, the
sensor picked up higher temperatures of the metal rollers.
With the trend toward multiple layers of fruit in dryers,
this false signal from the metal rollers may not be trouble
some. Alternative techniques would include: a) a switch to
trigger the IR unit to sample only when fruit were present
or b) plastic or wood roller use to reduce roller surface
temperatures.

tj value was highly correlated (r2 = 0.844) with the temper
ature increase and the slope was slightly less than one (dy/
dx = 0.848). For the t£ data, the correlation coefficient (r2
= 0.771) was also highly significant but the slope deviated
from one (dy/dx = 0.686) to a greater extent than the tj
data.
The two water wax samples varied significantly in their
required drying time (Table 1). Drying times for the
polyethylene wax samples averaged 3.1, 2.6 and 4.1 min
based on either tlf t{, and t£. Corresponding times for the
shellac-based wax were 6.6, 5.2 and 7.2 min. Normalizing
these time for amount of wax material, drying times were:
2.2, 1.8 and 2.8 min/g (polyethylene samples) and 3.3, 2.6,
3.7 min/g (shellac samples).
Limited testing of the IR sensing technique has been
attempted at a commercial packinghouse. The unit was
Principal conclusions from this study were:
1. The drying state of wax samples monitored by in
frared thermometry was highly correlated with the mois
ture transition between the falling-rate and completely dry
conditions. This relationship was T (tg-moist.) = 1.534 +
0.848 Time (trtemp) with r2 = 0.844.
2. The two wax samples had significantly different dry
ing times with the shellac-based samples exhibiting slower
drying rates.
Literature Cited
1. Birth, G. S. 1983. Optical radiation, p. 13-82. In: B. W. Mitchell (ed.).
Instrumentation and measurement of environmental sciences. ASAE
Special Publ., St. Joseph, MI.
2. Hall, D. J. 1981. Innovations in citrus waxing-an overview. Proc. Fla.
State Hort. Soc. 94:258-263.

34 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 100: 1987.