A Model for the Prediction of Tobacco Temperature and Oxygen Profiles in Warehouse Aging Process

Abstract

A mathematical model on the temperature and oxygen profiles for the tobacco warehouse aging process was formulated and solved by numeric analysis. The model parameters were obtained using the non-linear regression method by fitting several years measured temperatures to the model. The R square value between measured and calculated tobacco temperatures in warehouse aging process are all over 0.95. The proposed model can be used to predict the tobacco hogshead temperature profile at different time and positions with ambient temperature, tobacco moisture contents and pH. At the same time, the model also predicts the oxygen profile in the hogshead. The effects of the ambient temperature, pH, void fraction, the reaction active energy, oxygen diffusivity, and the oxygen consumption rate constant on the temperature profile were studied.