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Project

‘Multiscale understanding of the dynamics of frying-induced water and oil transport in porous foods’

Complex heat, oil and water transfers occur during food frying. Concerns over the high caloric content of fried food bring about the challenge to minimize oil uptake during the process without compromising product quality. When more moisture evaporates during frying, more oil is taken up by the food. The aim is to build and validate a mathematical model describing the dynamics of frying-induced water loss and oil uptake in porous food matrices in relation to changes in their starch and protein components. To reach the research objectives, insights will be gained at molecular, microscopic and macroscopic scales. Multiscale modelling will be applied for unraveling the role of starch and gluten in bringing about structural and textural properties of the fried products with relation to oil uptake. The resultant porous media transport and mechanics model of frying will then be validated and used to develop effective ingredient and process based strategies for lowering fried food fat content without affecting its textural properties. Finally, the applicability of the modelling framework will be tested in the production of a fried potato flake based product. Particular developments in the project are: - To understand the relation between microstructure, water evaporation and oil absorption, artificial and simplified food model systems are fabricated. Additive manufacturing techniques are explored. - X-ray nano-CT imaging will be applied to reveal the porous structures of the different model food systems as a function of frying temperature and time. Dynamic imaging (4D CT) of the fluid flow will be essential for understanding microscopic fluid flow as a step towards optimal design of frying processes. - At the microscale, pore network model for heat and mass transport in the porous structure is developed and coupled to a mechanics model to describe the non-linear (hyper)elasto-plastic behavior of material. - At the macroscale, a solid mechanics and multiphase multicomponent porous media model is constructed.

Date:3 Oct 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Multiscale Modelling, 4D-CT Imaging, Transport phenomena, Food technology
Disciplines:Food technology, Modelling and simulation, (Multiphase) flow, Numerical computation
Project type:PhD project