FREEZING
• Freezing is a method of food preservation that involves
lowering the temperature of food products to below their
freezing point, thereby inhibiting microbial growth and
enzymatic activity.
• It is widely used for preserving meats, fruits, vegetables, and
prepared meals.
• Freezing is the most satisfactory method for long term
preservation of food
• It consists of a reduction in temperature generally to -18oC or
below and crystallization of part the water and some of the
solutes
• The reduction of the product temperature to levels below 0oC
causes significant reduction in the growth rate of microbes and
microbial activities
• Enzymatic and oxidation reactions are
also reduced
• The formation of ice crystals within the
product changes the availability of water
to participate in reactions
• Freezing when done effectively results
in high quality products (retention of
flavour, colour and nutritive value of
foods, and moderately effective for
preservation of texture)
• Depending on the product and nature of
freezing process, freezing can have
detrimental effects e.g. elevation and
fluctuation in storage temperature
could have adverse effects on the
product
Supercooling
• When the temperature of water is lowered
below its freezing point and crystallization
does not occur it is said to be Supercooled
or Undercooled
• Temporally supercooling generally does not
impair food quality whereas freezing does
• Hence the detrimental effects associated
with freezing can be attributed to water-
ice transformation rather than reduction
in temperature
Crystallization of water
• Is the formation of systematically
organized solid phase from a solution. It
consist of
(i) Nucleation
(ii) Crystal growth
• Nucleation is the association of molecules
into tiny ordered particles which serves as
sites for crystal growth
• The enlargement of the nucleus by the
orderly addition of molecules is referred
to as crystal growth
Freezing Methods
• To achieve freezing the product should be
exposed to a low temperature environment
for sufficient time to remove both
sensitive heat and latent of fusion from
the product
• This results in a reduction in product
temperature and the conversion of water
to ice
• Foodstuffs have abundant water and in
most freezing cases about 20% of the
water remains in the liquid state
• Freezing can be accomplished by one of
the following methods:
(i) Air freezing
(ii) Liquid immersion freezing
(iii)Cryogenic freezing
• The system could be classified as either
direct or indirect. For direct systems,
the refrigerant has direct contact with
the product whereas a barrier
separates the refrigerant and the
product in indirect systems
• Air freezing
- Is the most common commercial method
- Packaged or unpackaged solid foods can be frozen
with air at temperatures ranging from -18oC to -
40oC
- Vigorous circulation of air commonly referred to
as ‘air blast freezing’ enables rapid freezing
- high-velocity air is blown over the food products
- Air blast freezing is accomplished by placing the
product on trays and passing it slowly through an
insulated tunnel containing air which flows
countercurrent to the product
- It is economical
- Can accommodate foods of different sizes and
shapes
- However, excessive hydration of unpackaged
foods may result if conditions are not carefully
controlled
- Another modification of air-blast freezing is
Fluidized bed freezing
- Small pieces of food products forming a bed of
particles (depth of bed being 2.5-12.5 cm deep)
are suspended in high velocity air blast
- Freezing can be accomplished at rapid rate
• Advantages of fluidized bed over
convectional air blast are:
(i) Efficient heat transfer and rapid
freezing
(ii) Less product dehydration and less
frequent defrosting of equipment
• The major disadvantage of fluidized bed
freezing is that large particles cannot be
fluidized at a reasonable air velocities
Contact freezing:
where packaged or unpackaged food is placed on or
between cold metal plates and cooled by conduction
In contact freezers, food products are sandwiched
between two cold metal plates and are cooled by
conduction
The plates are cooled by circulating cold
refrigerant through the channels in the plates
Fast and efficientbut their use is limited to flat
foods no thicker than about 8 cm with good thermal
conductivity, such as meat patties, fish fillets etc
Direct contact freezer Indirect contact freezer
The product being frozen is - Materials being frozen are
fully surrounded by the separated from the
freezing medium, the refrigerant by a conducting
refrigerant, maximizing the material, usually a steel plate
heat transfer efficiency.
• Plate Freezing
- There is indirect contact between product
and cooling medium
- Product is placed on a metal surface which
is cooled by the refrigerant
- Double contact plate freezers with
packaged foods sandwiched between are
commonly used
- The plates are so arranged that they can
be opened or closed in a vertical direction
which enables the removal or addition of
product
- The plates make firm contact with
products thus facilitating heat transfer
and assuring the packaged surfaces do
not bulge during freezing
- They are also economical and minimize
problems associated with dehydration
and defrosting of equipment
• Liquid Immersion
- This is accomplished when either packaged or
unpackaged food is frozen by immersion in or
by spraying with a freezant that remains liquid
throughout the process
- The freezing medium could be propylene glycol,
NaCl, CaCl2 and mixtures of salt and sugar
- Although not common, liquid immersion is used
commercially for canned citrus juice
concentrates and poultry during initial stage of
freezing and occasionally for fish and shrimps
- Major advantage include rapid freezing
• Cryogenic freezing
- Unpackaged products are exposed to an
extremely cold freezant undergoing a
change of phase
- This ensures rapid freezing
- Heat removal is accomplished during a
change of state of the freezant and this
process distinguishes cryogenic freezing
from the liquid immersion freezing
- Food grade freezants include liquid
nitrogen (-196oC) and Carbon dioxide (-
79oC)
- Freezing rate associated with cryogenic
freezing are much greater than those
obtained with convectional air-blast or
plate freezing but moderately greater than
liquid immersion and fluidized bed freezing
- Liquid nitrogen is used in many cryogenic
freezers
- In a typical freezer the product is placed
on a conveyor belt and moved into an
insulated chamber with three
compartments
- In the 1st compartment the product is cooled
with moderately cold gaseous liquid nitrogen
which moves countercurrent to the product
- In the middle compartment liquid nitrogen is
sprayed on the product
- In the 3rd compartment the product is allowed
to equilibrate to the desired final temperature
(between -18oC to-30oC) before it is
discharged
- Product frozen by cryogenic freezing are
generally of higher quality and the quality
characteristics could likely be retained if the
time of frozen storage is minimized and/or the
temperature at frozen storage is -23oC or
lower
• Cost of freezing by various methods
- Cryogenic freezing by liquid N2 is the most expensive
method of all the others because the N2 is discarded
- However the total freezing cost per kg of products are
approximately the same for air blast plate and fluidized
bed freezing
• Pre-freezing treatment for Fruits and
Vegetables
- Aside from pre-freezing treatments such
as washing, grading, sorting, cutting and
packaging one has to control enzymatic
activities in the fruits and vegetables
before freezing
- Fruits and vegetables usually undergo
undesirable changes in flavour, colour and
texture if such pre-treatment operations
are not carried out
- Therefore blanching is done with either
steam or hot water
- However, the control of polyphenol oxidase
(PPO) cannot be achieved by heating since
desirable organoleptic properties could be
destroyed
- Therefore chemical additives such as SO2,
malic and citric acids used to control enzymatic
browning caused by PPOs
- The ability of ascorbic acid to maintain phenolic
substances in a reduced and colourless state
helps in controlling enzymatic browning
- Pre-treatment by deeping fruits and vegetables
in sugar syrups also help to lesson enzymatic
browning by acting as barrier to entrance of
oxygen
Freezing Point Temperature and Freezing
Point Depression
- The freezing point temperature, or initial freezing point, of
a food product is defined as the temperature at which ice
crystals begin to form.
- Knowledge of this property of foods is essential for proper
design of frozen storage and freezing processes because it
affects the amount of energy required to reduce the food’s
temperature to a specific value below freezing.
- Foods freeze at temperatures lower than the freezing point
of pure water because the water in the foods is not pure
water and, when removing heat energy from the food, the
freezing point is depressed (lowered) due to the increase in
solute concentration in the ice-water sections of the
material.
- Freezing time is defined as the time required to reduce the
initial product temperature to some established final
temperature at the slowest cooling location
- The freezing time estimates the residence time of the
product in the system and it helps calculate the process
throughput
FREEZING POINT OF FOODS
Freezing point is defined as the temperature at which
the first ice crystal appears and the liquid at that
temperature is in equilibrium with the solid.
If the freezing point of pure water is considered, this
temperature will correspond to 0 °C (273°K).
Freezing curves for pure water and a food product illustrating the
Figure 1.
concept of freezing point depression (latent heat is released over a range of
temperatures when freezing foods versus a constant value for pure water).
• Freezing curves (Time-Temperature plots)
-30 A
Schematic freezing curves for
food at different freezing
Temperature (oC) rates
-20
10
B
0
S
-10
-20
C
-30 D
Figure 2. Time (hr)
- The figure shows a typical curve for fast and
slow freezing of materials
- Line AS represent the removal of sensible heat.
There is no H2O – ice transformation within
this period
- Point S is the sub-cooling point. Its detection
depends on the sensitivity and location of the
temperature measuring device
- The release of heat of crystallization after
point S causes a rise in temperature to point B
which represents the apparent initial freezing
point
- Section BC represents the period where a
major portion of the H2O in the product is
crystallized. During this period heat is
generated from the formation of ice which
forms the bulk of heat to be removed during
freezing
- At point C the product contains far less
freezable water than it had initially
- Further removal of heat can effect a
substantial decrease in temperature during
section CD than during section BC
- The final stage of the freezing process (CD) is
referred to as the Tempering Period
• Frozen food Properties
- As the water in the product changes from liquid to
solid the density, thermal conductivity, enthalpy
and apparent specific heat change as temperature
goes below the initial freezing point
o Density
- Freezing results in volume expansion. Hence ice
occupies more volume than water. Note that mass is
unchanged. Therefore the density of ice is less
than that of water and hence floats in the water
o Thermal Conductivity
- Thermal conductivity of ice is approximately four
time higher than liquid water. The majority of
increase within 10oC below the initial freezing
temperature of the product
o Enthalpy
- The enthalpy is normally zero at -40oC and
increases with temperature in a upward
fraction. Significant changes occur within
10oC below the initial freezing
temperature where most of the phase in
water occur
o Apparent Specific heat
-The specific latent heat of a frozen food at
a temperature greater than 20oC below the
initial freezing point is not significantly
different from that of unfrozen product
• Freezing Time
- Is the most essential factor needed for
selecting a freezing system to ensure optimum
product quality. It establishes freezing system
capacity and has direct influence on the overall
product quality
- Quick freezing results in better quality
product. Therefore it is important to ensure
rapid freezing
• Definitions of freezing time
Several definitions exist:
(i) It is the time taken from ‘start’ to ‘finish’. It
depends on initial and final temperatures
(ii) Time from initial to reaching -10oC or -18oC.
One end is fixed but still time depends on initial
temperature
(iii) The time taken from 0oC to -18oC. Both sides are
somewhat fixed
(iv) The time taken to cross the zone of maximum ice crystal
formation (ie. From -1oC to -5oC)
- Note that each definition has its own drawback. The most
widely used definition is (ii)
• Freezing rate
- Is based on ice propagation rate
Freezing rate = Product Thickness
Freezing time from one side of the product
(ie freezing from one side)
Or
Freezing Rate = ½ (Product Thickness)
Freezing time from both side of the product
(ie freezing from both sides)
- Based on propagation rate freezing is said
to be :
(i) Slow when the rate is less than 1cm/hr
(ii) Moderate when rate is between 1 and
5cm/hr
(iii)Fast when the rate is more than 5cm/hr
- Predicting/estimating freezing time
depends on:
(i) process design
(ii) Product/package design
(iii) Equipment design
(iv) Process control
• Methods of estimating freezing time
- Use of analytical solution to heat transfer
equation
- Use of computerized solution
- Use empirical equations
• Contributions to total freezing time from 3-stages of
freezing
Freezing takes place in 3 stages
- Pre-cooling
- Phase change
- Tempering
Example 1
100 kg of a product with 77% moisture content is to be
frozen. The initial temperature of the product is 20oC and the
final freezing temperature is -10oC. The freezing point of the
product is -1oC. Assuming a constant rate of heat removal of
10KW, calculate:
(i) The times for pre-cooling, phase change and tempering
(ii) The total freezing time and % contribution from each
period
Use Siebel equation for calculating specific heat
Soln
Using Siebel equation:
Cp above freezing
Cp = 0.837 + 3.35Xm where Xm = moisture fraction
Cp = 0.837 + 3.35(0.77) = 3.416 kJ/kg
Cp below freezing
Cp,below = 0.837+1.256 X 0.77 = 1.804 KJ
Latent heat (L) for food = 335Xm
= 335(0.77) = 257.95 KJ
Pre-cooling time
Heat removed from a product
Q = m Cp dT=100 X 3.416 X (20 -)-1)= 7173.6 kJ/s
Time = Q = 7173.6kJ = 7173.6kJ
Rate 10 kW 10kJ/s
= 717.36s = 11.95 min
Phase change time (no change in temperature)
Heat lost Q = mL
= 100 X 335(0.77) = 25800kJ
Time = Q = 25800kJ
Rate 10 kJ/s
= 2580s = 43 min
Tempering time
The heat removed during tempering: Q=m x Cp,below x (Tf.p−Tfi)
= 100 X 1.804 X -1-(-10)
= 1623.6kJ
Time = Q = 1623.6kJ
Rate 10kJ/s = 162.36s = 2.71 min
Total time = Time of (Pre-cooling + Phase change + Tempering
= 11.95 + 43.0 + 2.71 = 57.7 min
% contribution from each period
Pre-cooling = 11.95 X 100 = 21%
57.7
Phase Change = 43.0 X 100 = 75%
57.7
Tempering = 2.71 X 100 = 5%
57.7
Phase change accounts for 75%. Therefore
(i) Most models try to estimate the phase change period and
(ii) Corrections are made to accommodate the other two periods