科研之友
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摘要
High energy and time consumption in the dehydration of sugar cubes hinder its industrial commercialization. Microwave is employed to overcome the drawbacks of hot air drying. For microwave power 880W, pulsing ratios 1.5, 2.5, 4.5, and 10 were applied to prevent thermal runaway and probable melting and caramelization. In order to monitor the spatial thermal variation of sugar cubes, thermal imaging was performed. Maximum effective diffusivity was measured to be 9.0905x10(-8)m(2)/s, which belongs to pulsing ratio 2.5 and is 16 times larger than when hot air is used. Furthermore, the minimum specific energy consumption and minimum energy cost were calculated to be 314,192.45J/g H2O and 0.179x10(-3)$/g, respectively, which found in pulsing ratio 2.5. Technically speaking, regarding the critical temperatures of sugar cubes and energy economy, the study suggests pulsing ratio 2.5 for sugar cube dehydration using microwave power 880W.
Practical applicationsSugar cube production line consists of several unit operations. Dehydration is the last operation commonly known as the major concern in industry due to high level of quality issues and energy aspects. At present, hot air drying is the common method in plants and is highly dependent on thermal conductivity of cubes which is very low. This method exerts notable costs to producers. Microwave technology as a solution is investigated in this research. Influencing parameters such as diffusivity, energy consumption, economy of energy, and kinetics are experimentally assessed and described. Based on the results obtained, the industry would have a full perception of using microwave radiation as a substitute for conventional hot air drying in order to resolve the challenges of energy, time, and costs.
- 出版日期2018-2
