The effects of concentration on electrical conductivity of orange juice concentrates during ohmic heating

Ohmic heating is an alternative heating technique, using an electrical current passing through the food product. It can be specially used in pumpable food lines as an alternative heating unit. In this study, orange juice concentrates having 0.20 - 0.60 mass fraction soluble solids were ohmically heated by using five different voltage gradients ( 20 - 60 V/ cm). The dependence of electrical conductivity on temperature, voltage gradient and concentration were measured. The ohmic heating system performance coefficients were calculated by using the energies given to the system and taken by the orange juice samples. The mathematical model results, taking system performance coefficients into account, were compared with experimental ones. The predictions of the mathematical model were found to be very accurate.