Abstract
During processing of canned mixtures of solid-liquid foods, conduction and convection occur simultaneously. The literature lacks in a complete simulation study where a large number of solids are dispersed in the liquid phase, e.g. canned peas. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine temperature changes inside a can containing solid-liquid food mixtures. For this purpose, dispersed stationary solids (canned peas in water) in a 2D (axi-symmetrical) configuration were applied. Ansys V11 (Ansys Inc., Canonsburg, PA) was used to solve continuity, energy and momentum equations. For experiments, canned pea samples were prepared in 500 g cans, and heating process was conducted in a retort under pasteurization conditions at ≈98 °C. Temperature changes were measured using needle type thermocouples, and simulation results were validated against experimental data. This study is expected to be a significant contribution to the literature for further optimization studies and to form basis of an industrial project to improve canning process of solid-liquid mixtures