3. Results and discussion
Experimental data for kS as a function of the sample’s
volume are given in Figs. 2–7. Resulting linear
correlations together with their correlation coefficients
are given in Table 1. Figs. 2–7 and Table 1 show that the
mass transfer rates (and corresponding cooling rates)
depend on the sample’s volume for beef and chicken
meat. These materials suit the hypothetical assumption
expressed by Eq. (3) that the mass transfer surface can
be expected to be proportional to the sample volume.
A very slight dependence was observed for parsley.
No dependence of kS on the sample’s volume was found
for carrots, potatoes and pork meat. Because of the
generally slight dependence of kS on the sample’s volume we have also calculated the mean values of this
parameter, as shown in Table 2.
The great dispersion of the data (which is obvious
from Figs. 2–7) can be attributed to experimental errors
when measuring the mass of sample, temperature and
pressure. However, the main source of this dispersion
seems to be the complex biological nature of the food
material (composition variability, structural inhomogeneity,
anisotropy, etc.).