Journal of Food Engineeting 33 (1997) lOl- 109

0 1997 Elsevicr Science Limited

All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain
PII: SO260-8774(97)00036-S 0260-8774197 $17.00 + 0.00
ELSEVIER

Thermal Diffusivity of Granular and Porous Foods at Low

Moisture Content

A. E. Kostaropoulos” * & G. D. Saravacod’

“Department of Food Science and Technology, Agricultural University of Athens, Votanikos
11855, Athens, Greece
“Department of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University, 15780 Athens, Greece

(Received 19 November 1995; accepted 18 May 1997)

ABSTRACT

Thermal diffusivity is an important transport property of foods, which is useful

in computations, simulation and control of several unsteady-state food
processing operations. Limited data on thermal difsusivity are available,
especially at low moistures, which are of interest in drying and storage processes.
Experimental values of the thermal dijfusivity (M) in the low moisture range
were obtained directly for freeze-dried coffee, potato and meat, using the
transient method of Dickerson (196.5) and indirectly for granular starch, flour
rice, and raisins, using thermal conductivities, obtained by the heated probe
method. A nonlinear relationship was found between (a) and moisture content
in granular and porous foods in the low moisture region. An evaluation of
published data indicates a strong effect of physical structure (especially porosity)
on the thermal diffusivity A similar effect has been observed on the moisture
difisivity These anomalies may be related to the state of water (adsorbed or
capillary) in the porous structure of the low-moisture foods. 0 1997 Elsevier
Science Limited.

NOTATION

d.b. Dry basis

CP Specific heat (J/kg K)
DC Moisture diffusivity (m’/s)
x Moisture content dry basis (kg/kg)

*To whom all correspondence should be addressed.

101
102 A. E. Kostaropoulos, G. D. Saravacos

X.4 Mass fraction of moisture (kg/kg)

Greek
Lx Thermal diffusivity (m’s)
E Bulk porosity (-)
1, Thermal conductivity (W mK)
P Density (kg m”)

Submpts
b bulk
effective
f liquids
S solids
W water

INTRODUCTION

Thermal diffusivity is an important transport property which is needed in modeling

and computations of transient heat transfer in basic food processing operations,
such as drying, thermal processing, and cooling/freezing. The thermal diffusivity (a)
of a material is defined as the ratio of the heat transported by conduction to the
heat capacity of a unit mass, and it can be estimated from the equation,
o!= ~/PC, (m2/s) (1)
where 1 is the thermal conductivity (W/mK), p is the density (kg/m3), and C, is the
specific heat (J/kg K).The thermal diffusivity can be determined experimentally
either directly, or indirectly from eqn (1). Limited data of thermal diffusivity and
conductivity are available in the form of tables (Kostaropoulos, 1971a; Kostar-
opoulos et al., 1975; Singh, 1982), empirical equations and computer programs
(Miles et al., 1983) and a database (Singh, 1993).
More thermal diffusivity data are available at high moisture contents than in the
low moisture region. A linear relationship between (a) and the moisture fraction
(X,) was observed by Riedel (1969) at moistures higher than 30%. Published values
of thermal diffusivity of a variety of moist foods are in good agreement with the
~~;;xprec$cted by the Riedel linear model (eqn (2)) and the Riedel diagram
WY *
a=0.088 x 10-6+(a,-0.088 x 10p6)X, (m*/s) (2)
Limited data have been published on the thermal diffusivity of dried and semi-dried
foods, i.e. at moistures lower than 30% (Kostaropoulos, 1971a). Reliable informa-
tion is needed in this region for modeling and control of drying and thermal
treatment of various foods. Moote (1953) reported a linear decrease of the thermal
diffusivity in the moisture range of 2 to 15%. The thermal diffusivity of single grains
and layers of wheat, measured by Ginsbourgh (Tscubik & Maslow, 1973), was found
to go through a maximum between 15-20% moisture content. The thermal diffusiv-
ity of porous and granular foods can not be predicted adequately with simple
additive models, based only on the chemical composition of the food, e.g. bread
 Thermal difjksivityof granular and porous foods 103

(Magee & Bransburg, 1995) and dried onion slices (Rapusas & Driscoll, 1995). The
thermal diffusivity of bread was found to increase significantly as the porosity is
increased (Zanoni et al., 1995).
A nonlinear relationship was found between effective thermal conductivity and
moisture content in granular starches in the moisture range O-30% (Drouzas &
Saravacos, 1988). According to eqn (1) a similar relationship should be expected for
the thermal diffusivity of these materials. An analogy between the thermal and
moisture diffusivities was observed in the low moisture region of granular starches
(Saravacos et al., 1988). This may be a general characteristic of porous solids
(Luikov, 1955, 1966; Keey, 1972).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The food material used in this investigation were: (a) freeze-dried coffee, potato,
and meat (pork, longissimus dorsi); (b) two granular corn starches, Hylon, of high
(62.3%) amylose content, and Amioca, of high (98%) amylopectin content; and (c)
commercial samples of flour, rice, and seedless Sultana raisins.
Samples of moisture contents in the range 2-30% were prepared by equilibrating
the food material in closed containers, maintained at constant humidity by saturated
salt solutions. The bulk density (pb) of the samples was determined by volumetric
displacement, and the solids density (ps) was estimated by a gas-operated ster-
eopycnometer (Marousis & Saravacos, 1990). The thermal diffusivity of freeze-dried
food samples was determined by the direct transient heating method in a cylindrical
container (Dickerson, 1965; Kostaropoulos, 1971a; Poulsen, 1982). The thermal
diffusivity of the granular starch, flour, rice, and raisins was estimated indirectly
from eqn (1) using thermal conductivities, measured by the heated probe method
(Drouzas & Saravacos, 1988; Sweat, 1995). Three measurements of thermal con-
ductivity and diffusivity were made on each sample and the mean values ore
reported. Statistical analysis gave coefficients of variation in the range of 2-5%.
The specific heat was estimated as a function of moisture content from the
COSTHERM program (Miles et al., 1983).
The porosity c (volume fraction of gas) is defined by the equation:
e= 1 -phIps (3)
where Pi, and ps are the bulk and solids densities, respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A nonlinear relationship between the thermal diffusivity (N) and the moisture con-
tent (X,) was found in freeze-dried foods (Fig. 1). Coffee had the highest (a) values
followed by potato and meat. The maximum (a) values for coffee and potato were
near 4% moisture, while meat showed a maximum near 0% (Fig, 1). The data of
Moote (1953) for wheat fall between the values for potato and meat.
Figure 2 shows the thermal diffusivities of two granular starches in the low
moisture range. A nonlinear relationship is apparent at moistures lower than 0.3 kg/
104 A. E. Kostaropoulos, G. D. Saravacos

x( 1O*-7), mK?/s
2

1.5

a potato

meat
0.5

0 ‘I
0 4 8 12 20

Moisture Content % db
Fig. 1. Thermal diffusivity (LY)of freeze-dried foods (20°C).

x( 1Oh-7), mA2/s
2-

- Hylon

1.5 -- - Amioca

0.5 --

o- I I I I
0 10 20 30 40 50
% Moisture db
Fig. 2. Thermal diffusivity (cx) of granular starches (Hylon = linear amylose,
Amioca = branched amylopectin) (20°C)
 Thermal difsusivityof granular and porous foods 105

TABLE 1
Thermal Diffusivities (II) of Food Materials (20°C)
Material Moisture %X Porosity (E) (x) x 10’ m2/s
-
Flour 2 0.65 1.22
7 0.58 0.83
Rice 1 0.49 0.45
9 0.45 0.42
Sultana raisins 7.5 0.65 0.67
9.5 0.62 0.62

kg dm. Maximum values of (a) were observed at moistures 0.05-0.10 kg/kg dm, and
minima at 0.20-0.25 kg/kg dm.
The thermal diffusivities of the two starches tended to coincide at moistures
higher than 0.30 kg/kg dm, increasing linearly with the moisture content. The differ-
ences in thermal diffusivity between the two types of starch at low moistures may be
caused by the different physico-chemical structure of the two macromolecular
materials, i.e linear amylose (Hylon) versus branched amylopectin (Amioca).
The thermal diffusivities of flour, rice, and raisins, estimated from measured
values of thermal conductivity, varied in the range of 0.42 x lo-’ to 1.22 x lo-’ m*/s
(Table 1). Flour gave the highest values, evidently due to its lower bulk density
(higher porosity).
A maximum of the thermal diffusivity of low-density defatted soy flour was
observed at low moisture (Wallapapan et al., 1986; Sweat, 1995).

Effect of physical structure

Our experimental data show that the thermal diffusivity of foods is affected strongly
by the physical structure of the food material. Freeze-dried coffee and potato gave
higher (E) values than meat, evidently due to their higher porosity.
The anomalous behavior of (x) at low moistures is characteristic of the porous
and granular foods, i.e. materials of heterogeneous structure, containing large
volumes of dispersed air. The thermal diffusivity of the air is about 150 times higher
than that of liquid water, e.g. 2.25 x lo-” m* s (air) versus 1.45 x lo-‘m* s (water)
at 25°C and atmospheric pressure (Reid et al., 1987). Therefore, porous foods of
high porosity are expected to have higher (a) values than nonporous foods of the
same moisture content.
Published data on thermal conductivity (A), converted to thermal diffusivity (x),
demonstrate the importance of porosity. Figure 3 shows a comparison of some
published data to our values of thermal diffusivity of Figs 1 and 2. The (LX)of wheat
decreased from 1.12 x lo-’ to 0.83 x lo-’ m*/s as the moisture content was
increased from 2 to 15% (Moote, 1953). Flour at 2% moisture gave higher (a) than
wheat, evidently due to its higher porosity (Table 1). Freeze-dried beef, with a
porosity E = 0.64 gave (LX)data close to our values for freeze-dried meat. Freeze-
dried apple of high porosity E = 0.88 had a high value of x = 1,6 x lo-’ m2/s
(Harper, 1962). Nonporous starch gels gave (u) values close to the predictions of the
Riedel eqn (2) (Maroulis et al., 1991).
106 A. E. Kostaropoulos, G. D. Saravacos

Highly porous foods and food gels may have very high thermal diffusivities. For
example, the following (a) values were obtained from published thermal conductivity
data of freeze-dried materials: Starch gel IX= 2.6 x lo-‘m*/s, E = 0.93, pectin gel
c( = 3.2 x lo-’ m*/s, E = 0.97 (Saravacos & Pilsworth, 1965); peach a = 2.3 x lo-’
m*/s, E = 0.91 (Harper, 1962).
The thermal diffusivity of bread deserves special consideration, due to its unique
structure. Bread crumb, containing about 43% moisture, gave (a) values in the
range of 1.6 x lop7 to 2.4 x lo-‘m*/s, which are much higher than those predicted
by the Riedel eqn (1) or the COSTHERM model (Miles et al., 1983). It is evident
that this difference is due to the relatively high porosity of the bread, about E = 0.65.
Lower (a) values were obtained for dry bread crust, a = 0.78 x lop7 m*/s (Zanoni et
al., 1995), evidently due to the lower thermal conductivity of the dried porous
material. An emuirical model of (a) \ I as a function of oorosity
1 (a) was proposed by
Zanoni et al. (1995).

Heat/mass transport analogy

There is experimental evidence and theoretical justification that thermal and mois-
ture diffusivities are related. In granular and extruded starches, the effective
moisture diffusivity, determined from drying experiments, is a nonlinear function of

gel (4)
-
potato +
//
Riedel (3)

0.5
rice
I J I I
10 20 30 40 51
% Moisture Content
Fig. 3. Comparison of published thermal diffusivities (a) to our data on coffee, potato, meat,
granular starch, flour, rice, and Sultana raisins: (1) Moote (1953); (2) Harper (1962); (3) eqn
(2); (4) Maroulis et al. (1991); (5) Zanoni et al. (1995) (20°C).
 Thermal dijjiuivityof granular and porous foods 107

xv Oh-1 0), m&Z / s

De __

10 --

1 I I 8
1 I I I

0 10 20 30 40 50
% Moisturedb
Fig. 4. Effective moisture diffusivity (De) of granular starches (Hylon = linear amylose, Amio-
ca = branched amylopectin) (20°C).

the moisture content in the range O-30% (Marousis et al., 1991; Saravacos, 1995).
The moisture diffusivity goes through a maximum near 0.1 kg/kg dm moisture, and
it decreases sharply at very low moistures (Fig. 4).
The nonlinearity is suppressed at lower porosities and it disappears in gelatinized
starch. In highly porous solids the transport of heat and moisture are controlled by
the gas (air) phase, where an analogy between the transport processes is known to
exist.
The nonlinear changes of thermal and moisture diffusivities in porous solids have
been explained by the different transport mechanisms, when the moisture content is
increased from dry to wet solids (Kuprianoff, 1958; Luikov, 1966; Keey, 1972).
Figure 5 shows a generalized diagram of changes of transport properties as a
function of the moisture content at a given temperature. Three mechanisms may be
detected:
Region I (O-5% moisture): The pores and capillaries of the solid are filled with
air, which is gradually displaced be adsorbed water. Heat is released by water
adsorption in the solids and the thermal diffusivity increases. At the same time, the
moisture diffusivity increases, since a monomolecular layer of water is formed
rapidly on the solid surface.
Region II (5-30% moisture): Moisture is adsorbed in multimolecular layers and
the capillaries are filled gradually with water, displacing the air. The thermal diffu-
sivity is reduced, since the thermal diffusivity of liquid water is lower than that of air
(uJN,ir = l/150). The moisture diffusivity decreases, since the diffusivity of water in
the liquid is much lower than in the gas (air) phase (Di/Dair = l/10000 (Reid et al.,
1987).
108 A. E. Kostaropoulos, G. D. Saravacos

or

D(e)

0 Moisture Content
Fig. 5. Generalized diagram of thermal and moisture diffusivities (CYand De) at low mois-
tures.

Region III (moisture > 30%): Moisture is present in the form of capillary water.
The thermal diffusivity increases linearly with the moisture content, due to the
linear increase of thermal conductivity (Riedel, 1969). The moisture diffusivity
increases and levels off, due to capillary liquid water.
Temperature has a positive effect on both thermal and moisture diffusivities, as
predicted by the kinetic theory of gases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge the contributions of our associates and graduate students at

CAFT-Rutgers University, the National Technical University (Athens), and the
Agricultural University (Athens).

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