This study provided practical information on the EEC behavior of particle–fluid systems, which is important for a better under- standing of heating behavior in the ohmic heating process of par- ticle–fluid food systems. Theoretically, there are five basic structural models (Table 2) for EEC prediction in solid–fluid food systems. Those models do not contain difficult-to-determine empirical parameters, and EEC prediction using those models is not complicated and is therefore useful in practical applications.
The Parallel and Series models may not exist in real food processing situations, but they can indicate the useful limit values of highest and lowest EEC among all two-component structures. The structure of solid particles dispersed in continuous liquid (ME-1) is the most useful model that can be effectively used for EC evaluation in the ohmic heating processing of particle–fluid food systems. The unified model (Eq. (7)) can be used to determine the EEC values for particle–fluid systems containing different types of solids.