MATHEMATICAL-MODEL FOR COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF MOISTURE TRANSFER IN MULTIPLE PACKAGE SYSTEMS

A mathematical model was developed for moisture transfer in multiple p ackage systems wherein different food products or components are packe d in individual primary packages and further unitized in a secondary p ackage. The Guggenheim-Anderson-de Beer (GAB) equation for moisture so rption isotherm was differentiated with respect to time and incorporat ed in the generalized moisture transport equation for the multiple pac kage system resulting in a system of simultaneous first order differen tial equations relating changes in water activities of the products to storage time. These equations are solved by the Runge-Kutta method, a nd the corresponding moisture changes in the products are obtained by using the original isotherm equations. The computer programme develope d on the basis of the model was used to simulate moisture changes in a 2-component multiple package system of doughnut mb. The predictions w ere in close agreement with the experimental values.