Mathematical Modeling of Heat Transfer of Microwave Heated Fish Gel

Studying the combination effects of microwave power level, heating time and pattern is very costly when dealing with expensive raw materials such as seafood products. Therefore modeling fish gel as a replacement for seafood can be an alternative way. The objectives of this study are to develop a mathematical model to describe the heating profile of fish gel and to study the effects of shape and the composition of the fish gel on heating profiles. Fish gel was formed into a cylinder shape and heated from temperature of 7.5 °C using power levels of 60, 70 and 80% for 36, 33 and 24s. Fiber-optic probes measured the temperature at geometric center, surface, and bottom of the cylinder gel and the headspace. A 2-D cylindrical geometry model was established and a finite element method was applied to solve the equations. The model can predict the heating profile within the temperature range of .8 °C for different compositions of fish gel. Cold spots were observed at the bottom of the cylinder. There is a potential to use formulated fish gel to mimic seafood products for better understanding of microwave processing mechanisms.