Using Computational Fluid-Dynamics (CFD) for the Evaluation of Tomato Puree Pasteurization: Effect of Orientation of Bottle

A. R. Lespinard[1, 2], R. H. Mascheroni[1, 2]
[1]Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos (CIDCA), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
[2]Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Published in 2014

Determination of the temperature in liquid foods may be derived by measurements or by modeling. However, the placement of thermocouple probes to record temperature in the container disturbs the flow patterns. For this purpose, Computational fluid-dynamics (CFD) offers a powerful tool for predictions of the transient temperature and velocity profiles during natural convection heating of liquid foods. On the other hand, the characteristics of liquid flow inside the container during heating are a function of its orientation and even small modifications can result in differences in the process. The objective of the present paper was to evaluate the effect of packaging orientation (conventional, inverted, and horizontal positions) in the pasteurization of tomato puree in a commercial glass bottle using CFD.