Multiscale modeling for food drying: A downscaling approach

Modeling cellular-level transport phenomena in plant-based food materials during drying remains a complex challenge. Intracellular water (ICW) plays a critical role in drying kinetics but is often overlooked in computational models. Multiscale modeling offers a potential approach to capture the effects of ICW; however, existing models frequently neglect ICW dynamics or predetermine its 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 to experimental data and a control model. The downscaling model predicts drying at 47 °C very well achieving mean relative errors (MREs) of 3.62 % and 0.66 % for the average moisture content and average temperature respectively. At 64 °C, the model also predicts drying well achieving MREs of 8.38 % and 0.90 % 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.