Conductive heat transfer in food processing Chapter 9 289

Therefore:
T1  T2
q ¼ 2pLk   (9.20)
r
ln 2
r1
C. Steady-state heat conduction through a sphere
Similar to the cylinder, the steady state conduction in a hollow sphere (Fig. 9.5) with A ¼ 4pr2 is obtained as shown
in Eq. (9.21)4:
T2  T1
q ¼ 4pkr 1 r2 (9.21)
r2  r1
D. Steady-state heat conduction in a multilayer slab
If one composite slab with several materials layers with different thermal conductivity (k1, k2, k3, …, kn)
and thickness (L1, L2, L3, …., Ln) are subjected to steady heat transfer (Fig. 9.6), the heat flux of each layer can be
calculated as follows6:


q k1 ðT1  T2 Þ k2 ðT2  T3 Þ k3 ðT3  T4 Þ … k n Tn  Tf
¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ ¼ (9.22)
A L1 L2 L3 Ln
Eqs. (9.23)–(9.25) represent the heat transfer equations for each slab:
qL1
¼ T1  T2 ¼ ðDT Þ1 (9.23)
Ak1
qL2
¼ T2  T3 ¼ ðDT Þ2 (9.24)
Ak2
…

FIG. 9.5 Heat transfer in a hollow sphere.16

290 SECTION C Heat and mass transfer in food engineering

FIG. 9.6 Steady state heat transfer in a multilayer slab with conduction in layers and convection at surfaces.14

qLn
¼ Tn  Tf ¼ ðDT Þn (9.25)
Akn
Eq. (9.26) is obtained by summing these equations:
qXn
li X
¼ DT ¼ T1  Tf (9.26)
A 1 ki

And for an equivalent homogeneous slab, Eq. (9.27) or Eq. (9.28) is used:
qL
¼ T1  T 2 (9.27)
AK
or:
kAðT1  T2 Þ
qr ¼ (9.28)
L
E. Conduction through a multilayer cylinder
Eq. (9.29) is used to calculate the heat transfer through a multilayer cylinder (Fig. 9.7) with three layers of different
material and different thermal conductivity (k1, k2, and k3)4:
2pLðT4  T1 Þ
qr ¼       (9.29)
r2 r3 r
ln ln ln 4
r1 r2 r3
+ +
k1 k2 k3

9.4.1.1 Heat conduction and thermal resistance

Assume a heat transfer in a slab and Fourier’s first law (Eq. 9.17), while the rate of heat conduction in the wall is propor-
tional to the heat transfer area (A), the distance in the direction of the transport (L) provides resistance to heat transfer
(Eq. 9.30)12:
Q T  T1
¼ q ¼ kA 2 (9.30)
t L
Since each material has a different ability to conduct heat, another property named thermal conductivity (k) is considered
for heat transfer resistance calculation.12 The L/k is thermal resistance per unit area of material and shown by R (m2 K/W).
According to this information, the resistance to heat transfer for each heat transfer area can be written as follows12:
 Conductive heat transfer in food processing Chapter 9 291

FIG. 9.7 Heat transfer through a multilayer cylinder in the radial direction.4

L
R¼ (9.31)
kA
In a composite conductor that consists of several conductor series, the total thermal resistance can be calculated as the sum
of individual thermal resistance.6
When convection heat transfer occurs at the two surfaces, heat flux can be calculated using Eq. (9.32) (at the hot surface)
and Eq. (9.33) (at the cold surface):
q1
¼ Th  T1 (9.32)
A hh

q1
¼ T4  Tc (9.33)
A hc
For radial conduction through a cylinder wall, the resistance can be calculated as follows16:

lnðro =ri Þ
Rt, conduction ¼ (9.34)
2pLk
The thermal resistance of a sphere can be calculated through the Eq. (9.35)16:
 
1 1 1
Rt, conduction ¼  (9.35)
4pk ri ro

In composite systems, some temperature drop occurs across the interface between contact materials. This change in tem-
perature is attributed to thermal contact resistance, Rt.16
Consider two solid materials that are in contact with each other. In the case of heat conduction, the surfaces of solids are
in contact at the interface. The important point is that none of the surfaces at the interface will form a perfect thermal contact
even if pressed together—because of the presence of some roughness at the surfaces (Fig. 9.8), a typical plane of contact
always has some tiny air gaps.16,22 The heat will transfer trough such a path at the interface. Note that conduction phe-
nomena in solid-to-solid contact are highly effective but the interfaces filled with the air or gas phase have low thermal
conductivity and heat transfer through the gaps is due to conduction and/or radiation across the gaps.16,22 In such conditions,
the major contribution to heat resistance is due to the gaps and the contact area is small.16 If solid material has a thermal
conductivity higher than the interfacial fluid (air), the Rt reduces by increasing the area of contact spots through increasing
the joint pressure and/or by reducing the roughness of surfaces. In addition, the contact resistance can be reduced by the
application of a fluid with large thermal conductivity.16
292 SECTION C Heat and mass transfer in food engineering

FIG. 9.8 Contact plane of heat transfer between two solids.22

If the interfacial conductance is assumed as hc, which is similar to heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K), and DT as tem-
perature difference across an interface with area A, there are Eqs. (9.36)–(9.38)22:
Q ¼ Ahc DT (9.36)
DT
Q¼ (9.37)
Rt
L
Resistance ðK=WÞ ¼ Rt, c ¼ (9.38)
hc A
The hc depends on the following factors22:
l The cleanliness of solids that are in contact;
l Type of the contacting materials;
l The pressure that the surfaces are in contact with each other;
l The presence or absence of substances in the interstitial spaces; and
l The contact plane temperature.
Generally, predicting the Rt,c is done experimentally.

9.4.1.2 Overall heat transfer coefficient

In real heat transfer, there will be more than one resistance to heat transfer. With a combination of all resistances, the overall
heat transfer coefficient U can be achieved, which is helpful in heat transfer calculations.15 The overall heat transfer coef-
ficient (U) is made up of individual conductive and convective resistances (R values).14 For example, according to Fig. 9.6,
the U of convective and conductive heat transfer in the multilayer slab with convection on two sides could be estimated
using Eqs. (9.39), (9.40):
1 1 L L L 1
¼ + 1 + 2 +⋯+ n + (9.39)
UA hh A Ak1 Ak2 Akn hc A
or:
Reff ¼ Rh + R1 + R2 + …: + Rn (9.40)
 Conductive heat transfer in food processing Chapter 9 293

Note that when the layers are parallel, Eq. (9.41) is suggested:
1 1 1 1 … 1 1
¼ + + + + + (9.41)
Reff Rh R1 R2 Rn Rc
According to U, the qr can be calculated as follows:
T1  T2
qr ¼ UAðT1  T2 Þ ¼ (9.42)
1
UA
In a hollow cylinder (Fig. 9.4), we can estimate the overall heat transfer coefficient at the inside area of the tube (Ai) as
follows:
1 1 Ai Lnðro =ri Þ A
¼ + + i (9.43)
U i hi 2pkL Ao h o
There is also Eq. (9.44) for estimating the overall heat transfer coefficient at the outside area of the tube (Ao):
1 A A Lnðro =ri Þ 1
¼ o + o + (9.44)
Uo Ai hi 2pkL ho
Assume a multilayer cylinder consist of three layers of tubes, such as Fig. 9.7, which have convection at inner and outer
sides, Eq. (9.45) could be easily used to sum the thermal resistance of each layer for calculating the U as15:
1 1 Lnðr2 =r1 Þ Lnðr3 =r2 Þ Lnðr4 =r3 Þ 1
¼ + + + + (9.45)
U hh 2pk1 L 2pk2 L 2pk3 L hc
1 1
The term hh is for heating fluid and hc is for cooling fluid in the tube.
In a composite solid, according to Fig. 9.9, thermal resistance is calculated using Eq. (9.46):
Reff ¼ R1 + R23 + R4 (9.46)
where R23 is the resistance of the parallel materials of 2 and 3, as follows:

1 R R
R23 ¼ 1 =R + 1 =R ¼ 2 3 (9.47)
2 3 R2 + R 3
The rate of heat transfer in a material increases with reduction in the resistances. Calculation of the overall heat transfer
resistance can help determine the limiting heat resistance. The limiting heat resistance is the largest calculated resistance in
the equation that can control the overall heat transfer and should be controlled to gain the largest efficiency during the heat
transfer.15

FIG. 9.9 A composite wall.

294 SECTION C Heat and mass transfer in food engineering

9.4.1.3 Fouling
Heat exchangers are the most important instruments in food heating processes. During the processing of foods, deposition
of various kinds of materials may have negative effects on the heat transfer rate in heat exchangers. This phenomenon
produces a layer on the surface of exchangers with relatively low thermal conductivity. The nature of these deposits
depends on the nature of the food being is processed; for example, the denatured proteins in milk, burned pulp in tomato
juice, and caramelized sugar in syrups.6 This phenomenon is called fouling and has a significant role in heating rate by heat
exchangers.
During the tube or plate pasteurization process, fouling can create an additional resistance in the system, which may
become the limiting resistance and reduce significantly the heat transfer during thermal processing.15 Enough knowledge
about fouling materials and their deposition rate and thermal conductivity is essential for heat exchanger thermal calcu-
lations. In this case, the resistance of fouling film will be considered as a thermal layer in overall heating resistance cal-
culations.6 Let us assume a pipeline with insulation outside of the tube and fouling inside the tube (Fig. 9.10).
If we want to study the effect of insulation and fouling during a thermal process, the U based on Ai can be calculated as
follows22:
1 1 ri Lnðrp =ri Þ ri Lnðro =rp Þ r
¼ + + + i + Rf (9.48)
Uold hi kpipe kinsul r o ho
Note that the U here is called the Uold because it is calculated before cleaning the fouling film. The Rf (Eq. 9.49) is the
fouling resistance per unit area of pipe (m2 K/W)22,23:
1 1
Rf ¼  (9.49)
Uold Unew
It should be noted that when there is not enough information about fouling material conductivity and their deposition rate, it
is assumed that the fouling film resistance to the heat transfer has a linear relation with time, as follows:
1 1
¼ + bt (9.50)
Uold Unew
where Uold is an overall heat transfer coefficient of the fouled exchanger, Unew is the overall heat exchanger coefficient of
the clean exchanger, and b is fouling factor derived experimentally or from tables (m2 K/W s).23

FIG. 9.10 Fouling of a pipe.22