FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

AKURE.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL AND

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

AGRICULTURAL MATERIAL AND HANDLING

TECHNOLOGY (AGE 405) PROJECT ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC:
THERMAL PROPERTIES OF BIO-MATERIALS

GROUP 3
 GROUP MEMBERS
NAMES MATRIC NO
OKUNJOYO ADEMOLA SAMUEL AGE/16/7636
WASIU MUSTAPHA AGE/16/
AFOLABI EZEKIEL AGE/16/
ADEBAYO DAMILARE AGE/16/
SOLOMON OLUWATOBI AGE/16/
OLU-OLORUNSOMO PAMILERIN AGE/16/
MAJASAN OLUAFEMI EBENEZER AGE/16/
OYANA WILLIAMS AGE/16/
MICHEAL TEMITOPE ENNY AGE/16/
FASHE COMFORT RACHAEL AGE/16/
ADEYEMO ROBETS – IYANU AGE/14/7643
BALOGUN OLUWASEYI AGE/16/
AKAPO HASSAN AGE/16/
OGUNMOLA TEMITOPE AGE/16/
 THERMAL PROPERTIES OF BIOMATERIAL
Thermal properties are those properties of a material, which is related to its
conductivity of heat. In other words, a material exhibits these properties when heat passed
through it. A common example is the retorting of canned foods to effect sterilization.
Heat transfer is a dynamic process in which heat is transferred spontaneously from one body
to another cooler body. The rate of heat transfer depends upon the differences in temperature
between the bodies, the greater the difference in temperature, the greater the rate of heat
transfer.
Temperature difference between the source of heat and the receiver of heat is therefore the
driving force in heat transfer. An increase in the temperature difference increases the driving
force and therefore increases the rate of heat transfer. The heat passing from one body to
another travels through some medium which in general offers resistance to the heat flow.
Both these factors, the temperature difference and the resistance to heat flow, affect the rate
of heat transfer. As with other rate processes, these factors are connected by the general
equation:
rate of transfer = driving force / resistance
For heat transfer: rate of heat transfer = temperature difference/ heat flow resistance of
medium
During processing, temperatures may change and therefore the rate of heat transfer will
change. This is called unsteady-state heat transfer, in contrast to steady-state heat transfer
when the temperatures do not change. An example of unsteady-state heat transfer is the
heating and cooling of cans in a retort to sterilize the contents. Unsteady-state heat transfer is
more complex since an additional variable, time, enters into the rate equations. Heat can be
transferred in three ways: by conduction, by radiation and by convection.

HEAT CONDUCTION
In the case of heat conduction, the equation, rate = driving force/resistance, can be applied
directly. The driving force is the temperature difference per unit length of heat-transfer path,
also known as the temperature gradient. Instead of resistance to heat flow, its reciprocal
called the conductance is used. This changes the form of the general equation to: rate of heat
transfer driving force x conductance, that is: dQ/dt kA dTldx.
where dQ/dt is the rate of heat transfer, the quantity of heat energy transferred per unit of
time, A is the area of cross-section of the heat flow path, dTldx is the temperature gradient,
that is the rate of change of temperature per unit length of path, and k is the thermal
conductivity of the medium. Notice the distinction between thermal conductance, which
relates to the actual thickness of a given material (k/x) and thermal conductivity, which
relates only to unit thickness.
The units of k, the thermal conductivity, can be found from eqn by transposing the terms k
dQ/dt x l /A x l /(dT/dx) Js-1 x m2 x vec m-1) Jm-1 s-1 °c1 Equation (5.1) is known as the
Fourier equation for heat conduction. Note: Heat flows from a hotter to a colder body that is
in the direction of the negative temperature gradient. Thus a minus sign should appear in the
Fourier equation. However, in simple problems the direction of heat flow is obvious and the
minus sign is considered to be confusing rather than helpful, so it has not been used.
Thermal Conductivity on the basis of thermal conductivities of materials can be measured.
Thermal conductivity does change slightly with temperature, but in many applications it can
be regarded as a constant for a given material. Thermal conductivities are given in
Appendices 3,4,5,6, which give physical properties of many materials used in the food
industry. In general, metals have a high thermal conductivity, in the region 50-400 Jm-IsI 0C-
I.
Most foodstuffs contain a high proportion of water and as the thermal conductivity of water
is about 0.7 JmI sI 0CI above O°C, thermal conductivities of foods are in the range 0.6 - 0.7
JmI sI 0C-I . Ice has a substantially higher thermal conductivity than water, about 2.3 Jm-IsI
0C-I . The thermal conductivity of frozen foods is, therefore, higher than foods at normal
temperatures. Most dense non-metallic materials have thermal conductivities of 0.5-2 JmI s-I
0CI . Insulating materials, such as those used in walls of cold stores, approximate closely to
the conductivity of gases as they are made from non-metallic materials enclosing small
bubbles of gas or air. The conductivity of air is 0.024 JmI sI °CI at O°C, and insulating
materials such as foamed plastics, cork and expanded rubber are in the range 0.03 - 0.06 Jm-
Is-I 0CI . Some of the new in foamed plastic materials have thermal conductivities as low as
0.026 JmI s-I 0CI . When using published tables of data, the units should be carefully
checked. Mixed units, convenient for particular applications, are sometimes used and they
may need to be converted.

RADIATION HEAT TRANSFER

Radiation heat transfer is the transfer of heat energy by electromagnetic radiation. Radiation
operates independently of the medium through which it occurs and depends upon the relative
temperatures, geometric arrangements and surface structures of the materials that are emitting
or absorbing heat.
The calculation of radiant heat transfer rates, in detail, is beyond the scope of this book and
for most food processing operations a simplified treatment is sufficient to estimate radiant
heat effects. Radiation can be significant with small temperature differences as, for example,
in freeze drying and in cold stores, but it is generally more important where the temperature
differences are greater. Under these circumstances, it is often the most significant mode of
heat transfer, for example in bakers' ovens and in radiant dryers. The basic formula for
radiant-heat transfer is the Stefan-Boltzmann Law where T is the absolute temperature
(measured from the absolute zero of temperature at - 273°C, and indicted in Bold type) in
degrees Kelvin (K) in the SI system, and 0' (sigma) is the Stefan Boltzmann constant = 5.73
x 10-8 J m2 s-1K-4. The absolute temperatures are calculated by the formula K = (OC +
273). This law gives the radiation emitted by a perfect radiator (a black body, as this is called,
though it could be a red-hot wire in actuality). A black body gives the maximum amount of
emitted radiation possible at its particular temperature. Real surfaces at a temperature T do
not emit as much energy as predicted by eqn. (5.8), but it has been found that many emit a
constant fraction of it. For these real bodies, including foods and equipment surfaces, that
emit a constant fraction of the radiation from a black body, the equation can be rewritten
where E (epsilon) is called the emissivity of the particular body and is a number between 0
and 1. Bodies obeying this equation are called grey bodies. Emissivity’s vary with the
temperature T and with the wavelength of the radiation emitted.
For many purposes, it is sufficient to assume that for:
*dull black surfaces (lamp-black or burnt toast, for example), emissivity is approximately 1;
*surfaces such as paper/painted metal/wood and including most foods, emissivities are about
0.9;
*rough unpolished metal surfaces, emissivities vary from 0.7 to 0.25; *polished metal
surfaces, emissivities are about or below 0.05.
These values apply at the low and moderate temperatures, which are those
encountered in food processing. Just as a black body emits radiation, it also absorbs it and
according to the same law. Again grey bodies absorb a fraction of the quantity that a black
body would absorb, corresponding this time to their absorptivity a. (alpha). For grey bodies it
can be shown that a. = E. The fraction of the incident radiation that is not absorbed is
reflected, and thus, there is a further term used, the reflectivity, which is equal to (1 - a.).

CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER

Convection heat transfer is the transfer of energy by the mass movement of groups of
molecules. It is restricted to liquids and gases, as mass molecular movement does not occur at
an appreciable speed in solids. It cannot be mathematically predicted as easily as can transfer
by conduction or radiation and so its study is largely based on experimental results rather
than on theory. The most satisfactory convection heat transfer formulae are relationships
between dimensionless groups of physical quantities. Furthermore, since the laws of
molecular transport govern both heat flow and viscosity, convection heat transfer and fluid
friction are closely related to each other. Convection coefficients will be studied under two
sections, firstly, natural convection in which movements occur due to density differences on
heating or cooling; and secondly, forced convection, in which an external source of energy is
applied to create movement. In many practical cases, both mechanisms occur together.
Natural Convection Heat transfer by natural convection occurs when a fluid is in contact with
a surface hotter or colder than itself. As the fluid is heated or cooled it changes its density.
This difference in density causes movement in the fluid that has been heated or cooled and
causes the heat transfer to continue. There are many examples of natural convection in the
food industry. Convection is significant when hot surfaces, such as retorts which may be
vertical or horizontal cylinders, are exposed with or without insulation to colder ambient air.
It occurs when food is placed inside a chiller or freezer store in which circulation is not
assisted by fans. Convection is important when material is placed in ovens without fans and
afterwards when the cooked material is removed to cool in half. It has been found that natural
convection rates depend upon the physical constants of the fluid, density p, viscosity, thermal
conductivity k, specific heat at constant pressure cp and coefficient of thermal expansion
(beta) which for gases by Charles' Law. Other factors that also affect convection-heat transfer
are, some linear dimension of the system, diameter D or length L, a temperature difference
term, J).T, and the gravitational acceleration g since it is density differences acted upon by
gravity that create circulation. Heat transfer rates are expressed in terms of a convection heat
transfer coefficient (he), which is part of the general surface coefficient hs.
Experimentally, if has been shown that convection heat transfer can be described in terms of
these factors grouped in dimensionless numbers which are known by the names of eminent
workers in this field:
Nusselt number (Nu)
Prandtl number
(Pr) Grashof number (Gr) and in some cases a length ratio (L ID).
If we assume that these ratios can be related by a simple power function we can then write the
most general equation for natural convection:
Experimental work has evaluated K, k, m, n, under various conditions. For a discussion, see
McAdams (1954). Once K, k, m, n are known for a particular case, together with the
appropriate physical characteristics of the fluid, the Nusselt number can be calculated. From
the Nusselt number we can find heat and so determine the rate of convection heat transfer by
applying it in natural convection equations, the values of the physical constants of the fluid
are taken at the mean temperature between the surface and the bulk fluid. The Nusselt and
Biot numbers look similar. They differ in that for Nusselt, k and h both refer to the fluid, for
Biot k is in the solid and h is in the fluid.

HEAT TRANSFER TO BOILING LIQUIDS

When the presence of a heated surface causes a liquid near it to boil, the intense agitation
gives rise to high local coefficients of heat transfer. A considerable amount of experimental
work has been carried out on this, but generalized correlations are still not very adequate. It
has been found that the apparent coefficient varies considerably with the temperature
difference between the heating surface and the liquid. For temperature differences greater
than about 20°C, values of h decrease, apparently because of blanketing of the heating
surface by vapours. Over the range of temperature differences from 1°C to 20°C, values of h
for boiling water increase from 1200 to about 60,000 Jm2 sloC-I
• For boiling water under atmospheric pressure, the following equation is approximately true:
h = 50(L\1)2 .5 (5.36) where L\T is the difference between the surface temperature and the
temperature of the boiling liquid and it lies between 2°C and 20°C. In many applications the
high boiling film coefficients are not of much consequence, as resistance in the heat source
controls the overall coefficients.
 APPLICATIONS OF THERMAL PROPERTIES IN BIO MATERIALS
Thermal Death Time
It has been found that microorganisms, including C. botulinum, are destroyed by heat at rates
which depend on the temperature, higher temperatures killing spores more quickly. At any
given temperature, the spores are killed at different times, some spores being apparently more
resistant to heat than other spores. If a graph is drawn, the number of surviving spores against
time of holding at any chosen temperature, it is found experimentally that the number of
surviving spores fall asymptotically to zero. Methods of handling process kinetics are well
developed and if the standard methods are applied to such results, it is found that thermal
death of microorganisms follows, for practical purposes, what is called a first-order process at
a constant temperature (see for example Earle and Earle, 2003).
This implies that the fractional destruction in any fixed time interval, is constant. It is thus
not possible, in theory at least, to take the time when all of the organisms are actually
destroyed. Instead it is practicable, and very useful, to consider the time needed for a
particular fraction of the organisms to be killed.
The rates of destruction can in this way be related to:
(1) The numbers of viable organisms in the initial container or batch of containers.
(2) The number of viable organisms which can safely be allowed to survive. Of course the
surviving number must be small indeed, very much less than one, to ensure adequate safety.
However, this concept, which includes the admissibility of survival numbers of much less
than one per container, has been found to be very useful. From such considerations, the ratio
of the initial to the final number of surviving organisms becomes the criterion that determines
adequate treatment. A combination of historical reasons and extensive practical experience
has led to this number being set, for C. botulinum, at 1012:1.
For other organisms, and under other circumstances, it may well be different. The results of
experiments to determine the times needed to reduce actual spore counts from 1012 to 1 (the
lower, open, circles) or to 0 (the upper, closed, circles). Thermal death time curve for
Clostridium botulinum Based on research results from the American Can Company In this
graph, these times are plotted against the different temperatures and it shows that when the
logarithms of these times are plotted against temperatures, the resulting graph is a straight
line. The mean times on this graph are called thermal death times for the corresponding
temperatures. Note that these thermal death times do not represent complete sterilization, but
a mathematical concept which can be considered as effective sterilization, which is in fact a
survival ratio of 1:1012, and which has been found adequate for safety any canning process
must be considered then from the standpoint of effective sterilization. This is done by
combining the thermal death time data with the time-temperature relationships at the point in
the can that heats slowest.
Generally, this point is on the axis of the can and somewhere close to the geometric centre.
Using either the unsteady-state heating curves or experimental measurements with a
thermocouple at the slowest heating point in a can, the temperature-time graph for the can
under the chosen conditions can be plotted. This curve has then to be evaluated in terms of its
effectiveness in destroying C. botulinum or any other critical organism, such as thermophilic
spore formers, which are important in industry. In this way the engineering data, which
provides the temperatures within the container as the process is carried out, are combined
with kinetic data to evaluate the effect of processing on the product. The standard reference
temperature is generally selected as 121.1°C (250 °F), and the relative time (in minutes)
required to sterilize, effectively, any selected organism at 121°C is spoken of as the F value
of that organism. In our example, reading from Fig. 6.4, the F value is about 2.8 min. For any
process that is different from a steady holding at 121°C, our standard process, the actual
attained F values can be worked out by stepwise integration. If the total F value so found is
below 2.8 min, then sterilization is not sufficient; if above 2.8 min, the heat treatment is more
drastic than it needs to be. Equivalent Killing Power at Other Temperatures The other factor
that must be determined, so that the equivalent killing powers at temperatures different from
121°C can be evaluated, is the dependence of thermal death time on temperature.
Experimentally, it has been found that if the logarithm of t, the thermal death time, is plotted
against the temperature, a straight-line relationship is obtained.
We can then write from the graph log t - log F = m(121 –T) = log t/F where t is the thermal
death time at temperature T, F is the thermal death time at temperature 121°C and m is the
slope of the graph. Also, if we define the z value as the number of degrees below 121°C at
which t increases by a factor of 10, that is by one cycle on a logarithmic graph, t = 10F when
T = (121 - z) so that, log 10F - logF = log (10F/F) = 1 = m[121 - (121 - z)] and so z = 1/m
Therefore log (t/F) = (121 - T)/z or t = F x 10(121-T)/z.
Now, the fraction of the process towards reaching thermal death, dS, accomplished in time dt
is given by (1/t 1 ) dt, where t 1 is the thermal death time at temperature T 1 , assuming that
the destruction is additive. That is dS = (1/t 1 )dt or = (1/F)10-(121-T)/z dt When the thermal
death time has been reached, that is when effective sterilization has been achieved, dS = 1
that is (1/F)10-(121-T)/z dt = 1 or 10-(121-T)/z dt = F. This implies that the sterilization
process is complete, that the necessary fraction of the bacteria/spores have been destroyed,
when the integral is equal to F.
In this way, the factors F and z can be combined with the time temperature curve and
integrated to evaluate a sterilizing process. The integral can be evaluated graphically or by
stepwise numerical integration. In this latter case the contribution towards F of a period of t
min at a temperature T is given by t x 10-(121-T)/z Breaking up the temperature-time curve
into t 1 min at T 1 , t 2 mm at T 2 , etc., the total F is given by F = t 1 x 10-(121-T1)/z + t 2 x
10-(121-T2)/z + ………….. This value of F is then compared with the standard value of F for
the organism, for example 2.8 min for C. botulinum in our example, to decide whether the
sterilizing procedure is adequate.
 PASTEURIZATION
Pasteurization is a heat treatment applied to foods, which is less drastic than sterilization, but
which is sufficient to inactivate particular disease-producing organisms of importance in a
specific foodstuff. Pasteurization inactivates most viable vegetative forms of microorganisms
but not heat-resistant spores. Originally, pasteurization was evolved to inactivate bovine
tuberculosis in milk. Numbers of viable organisms are reduced by ratios of the order of
1015:1. As well as the application to inactivate bacteria, pasteurization may be considered in
relation to enzymes present in the food, which can be inactivated by heat. The same general
relationships as were discussed under sterilization apply to pasteurization. A combination of
temperature and time must be used that is sufficient to inactivate the particular species of
bacteria or enzyme under consideration. Fortunately, most of the pathogenic organisms,
which can be transmitted from food to the person who eats it, are not very resistant to heat.
The most common application is pasteurization of liquid milk. In the case of milk, the
pathogenic organism that is of classical importance is Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
This curve can be applied to determine the necessary holding time and temperature in the
same way as with the sterilization thermal death curves. However, the times involved are
very much shorter, and controlled rapid heating in continuous heat exchangers simplifies the
calculations so that only the holding period is really important. For example, 30 min at
62.8°C in the older pasteurizing plants and 15 sec at 71.7°C in the so-called high
temperature/short time (HTST) process are sufficient. An even faster process using a
temperature of 126.7°C for 4 sec is claimed to be sufficient. The most generally used
equipment is the plate heat exchanger and rates of heat transfer to accomplish this
pasteurization can be calculated by the methods explained previously.
An enzyme present in milk, phosphatase, is destroyed under somewhat the same time-
temperature conditions as the M. tuberculosis and, since chemical tests for the enzyme can be
carried out simply, its presence is used as an indicator of inadequate heat treatment. In this
case, the presence or absence of phosphatase is of no significance so far as the storage
properties or suitability for human consumption are concerned.
Enzymes are of importance in deterioration processes of fruit juices, fruits and vegetables. If
time-temperature relationships, such as those that are for phosphatase, can be determined for
these enzymes, heat processes to destroy them can be designed. Most often this is done by
steam heating, indirectly for fruit juices and directly for vegetables when the process is
known as blanching. The processes for sterilization and pasteurization illustrate very well the
application of heat transfer as a unit operation in food processing. The temperatures and times
required are determined and then the heat transfer equipment is designed using the equations
developed for heat-transfer operations.

EXAMPLE
Pasteurisation of milk a pasteurization heating process for milk was found, taking
measurements and times, to consist essentially of three heating stages being 2 min at 64°C, 3
min at 65°C and 2 min at 66°C. Does this process meet the standard pasteurization
requirements for the milk, as indicated in Fig. 6.7, and if not what adjustment needs to be
made to the period of holding at 66°C?
Pasteurization times t T can be read off the UK pasteurisation standard, and from and these
and the given times, rates and fractional extents of pasteurization can be calculated:
At 64°C, t64 = 15.7 min
so 2 min is 2 = 0.13 15.7
At 65°C, t 65 = 9.2 min
so 3 min is 3 = 0.33 9.2
At 66°C, t 66 = 5.4 min
so 2 min is 2 = 0.37 5.4
Total pasteurization extent = (0.13 + 0.33 + 0.37) = 0.83.
Pasteurization remaining to be accomplished = (1 - 0.83) = 0.17. At 66°C this would be
obtained from (0.17 x 5.4) min holding = 0.92 min. So an additional 0.92 min (or
approximately 1 min) at 66°C would be needed to meet the specification.