Modeling of temperature distributions in canned tomato based dip during industrial pasteurization

A mathematical model for the time prediction of three-dimensional temperature distributions in the bottled tomato based dip (originally named “Ajvar”) during industrial pasteurization is presented. A model follows the pasteurization process through six zones of industrial pasteurizator with different operational conditions. The thermal diffusivity of tomato based dip is experimentally determined. The numerical method of finite differences is used to solve a three-dimensional heat conduction equation with variable boundary and initial conditions. The temperature predictions obtained by dynamic model enable considerable optimization of the described industrial process of canned food pasteurization.