Thermophysical Properties of Lemon Juice as Affected by Temperature and Water Content

• Published in: Journal of chemical and engineering data 2009-08, Vol.54 (8), p.2269-2272
• Main Authors: Minim, Luis A, Telis, Vânia R. N, Minim, Valéria P. R, Alcantara, Lizzy A. P, Telis-Romero, Javier
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Food industries; Fruit and vegetable industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Non alcoholic beverage industries and mineral waters
• ISSN: 0021-9568; 1520-5134
• DOI: 10.1021/je900155c

To design equipment for food processing and estimate process times for refrigerating, freezing, heating, or drying of foods, the thermophysical properties must be known. Since the thermophysical properties of foods are strongly dependent upon chemical composition and temperature, composition and temperature based models provide a means of estimating these properties. In this work, the thermophysical properties of lemon juice were determined at a water mass fraction of (0.381 to 0.900) and a temperature of (273.45 to 353.75) K. Density and thermal conductivity varied from (962.3 to 1282.8) kg·m−3 and (0.344 to 0.624) W·m−2·K−1, respectively. Heat capacity and thermal diffusivity varied from (2446.5 to 4060.1) J·kg−1·K−1 and (0.1160·10−6 to 0.1785·10−6) m2·s−1, respectively. Simple polynomial functions were fitted to the experimental data, and good agreements were obtained. In the tested range, water content showed greater influence on the thermophysical properties.