Thermal behavior of CMC solutions under simulation of radio frequency pasteurization

Pasteurization and enzyme-inactivation are an economical and convenient way to provide safety and shelf-life stability. However, long heating time and non-uniform temperature distribution are the main issues of traditional thermal processing for enzyme-inactivation. Because of the volumetric heating and high heating rate, radio frequency (RF) treatment is considered as one of the most promising physical enzyme-inactivating methods. A 6 kW, 27.12 MHz RF heating system was applied to explore the effect of cylindrical container dimension and solution concentration on the thermal behavior of high-viscosity liquid food. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) solution as a non-Newtonian fluid was selected as a model liquid food in this study. The target temperature for enzyme inactivation was 70 °C. The experimental results showed that the electrode gap, container length, and container diameter affected the heating rate and uniformity of the liquid food. Furthermore, when the concentration of CMC solution increased from 0.5% to 2.0%, the heating rate of the solution firstly increased and then decreased, while the heating uniformity index of the solution increased from 0.008 ± 0.001 to 0.056 ± 0.002. The simulation results showed that the higher electric field strength led to a higher heating rate, temperature, and velocity of natural convection of the solution at the ends of the container. Then, the recirculation zones from the ends to the center of the container were formed, which was diminished with the increasing concentration solution, resulting in the increased maximum temperature difference of solution. The results of this research may provide useful data for subsequent continuous flow studies and information on potential RF enzyme-inactivation in high-viscosity liquid foods.