Modelagem e simulação da desidratação osmótica em pedaços de abacaxi utilizando o método de elementos finitos Modeling and simulation of the osmotic dehydration process of pineapple's pieces using the finite element method

Abstract

Water loss and sugar gain were modelling during the osmotic dehydration process of pieces of pineaplle. The transfer of solute to the fruit and the water to the solution was based on Fick's 2nd law. The three dimensional model was solved by the finite element method with the usage of the software COMSOL Multiphysics 3.2. The main and cross diffusion coefficients and the Biot number were determined on the simulation and the deviation between the experimental and the simulated data were 4,28% to sucrose and 1,66 to the water.

Keywords

• finite elements
• multicomponent diffusion
• osmotic dehydration