Kinetic modeling and determination of mass transfer parameters during cooking of rice

- Predictive models are applied for estimating accurately the processing behavior of different products under various conditions.
- Mass transfer parameters during cooking process were obtained by developing a mathematical model.
- 13 new predictive models were proposed for kinetic modeling of rice cooking process.

The mass transfer parameters including effective moisture diffusivity (Deff), mass transfer coefficient (KC) and mass transfer biot number (Bi) during rice cooking were calculated by developing a mathematical model in cylindrical coordinates. According to the evaluation of these parameters, the values of Bi ranged from 0.66 to 2.94. The values of KC and Deff were also found to be in the range of [1.12 − 1.81] × 10− 5 m/s and [0.46 − 3.26] × 10− 8 m2/s, respectively. The kinetics behavior of cooking process was also modeled by the most commonly used predictive models (e.g. Page, Newton, Logarithmic, Henderson and Pabis) and by 13 new models that were proposed in this study. Five statistical parameters (i.e. the coefficient of determination, Sum of square error, root mean square error, reduced chi-square and t-value) were applied for comparison of all predictive models. The quadratic model was found to be the best predictive model for describing the cooking behavior of rice. It was also found that the proposed models of this study show the better prediction than common models used by other researchers.Industrial relevanceDesign, operation, control, and optimization of various food processors and equipment such as dryers, fryers and cookers in pilot and industrial scale must be safe, efficient and economical. A suitable design of such equipment will be possible by obtained results of this study.