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Air flow effects on heat and mass transfer during cooling of chicory roots

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  026048,  2002 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.10955) @2002
Authors:   M.L. Hoang, P. Verboven, M. Baelmans, B.M. Nicolaï
Keywords:   Heat and mass transfer, Cooling, Chicory, Simulation models, storage losses, storage quality

This paper presents a transient CFD model of heat and mass transfer in porous bulks of chicory roots. The model consists of the full system of conservation equations of momentum, energy and mass for the two-phase air-product matrix through bulk of chicory roots. A finite volume code (CFX, Harwell, UK) is used to solve the model equations, which is then validated against experimental data. The results show a good agreement between the model and the experiments. Differences between predicted and measured weight loss only amount to maximum 0.3% after the initial cooling period. The non-ideal experimental conditions, the various sizes of the products and the small scale of the porous region compared to the size of the product contribute to the observed differences between experiment and simulation, but do represent reality. Humidity and air velocity have a strong effect on the cooling rate and the weight-loss of the product. The results led to an improved understanding of the cooling process with different airflow conditions. The model can be applied to study the cooling process in an industrial cold store to find the optimal process settings to improve the product quality and reduce product weight.

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