Multiscale modeling for food drying: A Downscaling approach

Abstract

Modeling the cellular level transport of plant-based food materials during drying is very complex. The transportation of intracellular water (ICW) significantly influences the drying kinetics; however, it is rarely considered in computational models. One approach which can investigate the impact of ICW on drying is multiscale modeling. However, most multiscale models fail to consider ICW or predetermine its trend and transport. This work aims to develop a multiscale downscaling model which can actively downscale a materials condition (dependent variables) to investigate the transport of ICW. Two different drying temperatures (47°C and 64°C) and the ICW transport at three different points of interest within the domain are investigated. The results were compared with experimental data and a control model. The downscaling model predicts drying at 47°C very well achieving mean relative errors (MREs) of 2.4% and 0.53% for the average moisture content and average temperature respectively. At 64°C, the model also predicts drying well achieving MREs of 5.32% and 0.78% for the average moisture content and average temperature respectively. The ICW at each point of interest was calculated and its trend through the cell wall revealed interesting findings.