Solid foods freeze-drying simulation and experimental data

This article presents a mathematical model describing the unsteady heat and mass transfer during the freeze drying of biological materials. The model was built from the mass and energy balances in the dried and frozen regions of the material undergoing freeze drying. A set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations permitted the description of the temperature and pressure profiles, together with the position of the sublimation interface. These equations were transformed to a finite element scheme and numerically solved using the Newton-Raphson approach to represent the nonlinear problem and the interface position. Most parameters involved in the model (i.e., thermal conductivity, specific heat, density, heat and mass transfer coefficients etc.) were obtained from experimental data cited in the literature. The dehydration kinetics and the temperature profiles of potato and apple slabs were experimentally determined during freeze drying. The simulation results agreed closely with the water content experimental data. The prediction of temperature profiles within the solid was, however, less accurate.