Ohmic Heating of Aloe vera Gel: Electrical Conductivity and Energy Efficiency

Abstract

<em>Ohmic heating is defined as a process which alternating electric current is passed through food with the primary purpose of heating it due to the electrical resistance and </em><em>can be specially applied as an alternative heating method. In this research, Aloe vera gel concentrates</em><em> having 0.5-2% soluble solids were ohmically heated up to 60°C by using four different voltage gradients (30–60 V/cm). The dependence of electrical conductivity on temperature, voltage gradient, and concentration were obtained. Results indicated that there was a linear relationship between </em><em>temperature</em><em> and electrical conductivity. The range of the electrical conductivity was 0.45 to1.20 S/m,</em><em> which was dependent on the concentration and voltage gradient, although the effect of concentration was very higher than voltage gradient. </em><em>The ohmic heating System Performance Coefficients (SPCs) were calculated by using the energies given to the system and taken by </em><em>the Aloe vera gel samples and were in the range of 0.67- 0.89 and the highest SPC (0.89) was observed</em><em> at 0.5 % and 30 V/cm.</em>