The efficient thermal processing of cylindrical multiphase meat: a study on the selection of microwave heating strategy

Abstract

Abstract The two-dimensional cylindrically shaped multiphase meat sample was modelled for microwave processing for two different interaction techniques i.e., lateral and radial during mono-mode operation of waveguide. The study was aimed to analyze the effect of volume fraction and sample size along with the duration of the procedure on the heat distribution corresponding to specified frequency and intensity of microwave. Procedure exhibiting higher heating rate and lower thermal non-homogeneity was set as the deciding factor for an optimal heating scheme. In order to achieve optimal processing at both 915 and 2450 MHz frequency, rotation of smaller samples and non-rotation of larger samples were recommended in most of the case studies; however, few exceptions were also observed and reported. In addition, reciprocity between volume fraction, intensity of the microwave radiation and procedure duration was also discussed. Overall, the present study would guide the studies on the microwave processing of two-dimensional multiphase meat.