Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Mass transport analysis in perforation-mediated modied atmosphere packaging

of strawberries
G. Xanthopoulos a,, E.D. Koronaki b, A.G. Boudouvis b
a
b

Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Natural Resources Management & Agricultural Engineering, 75 Iera Odos Str., 11855 Athens, Greece
National Technical University of Athens, School of Chemical Engineering, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Str., 15780 Zografou, Greece

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 11 August 2011
Received in revised form 2 February 2012
Accepted 7 February 2012
Available online 23 February 2012
Keywords:
Modied atmosphere packaging (MAP)
Strawberries
Mathematical modelling
Finite element method
MaxwellStefan equations

a b s t r a c t
A space-and-time dependent mathematical model was developed to predict O2, CO2, N2 and H2O concentration in perforation-mediated polymeric packages during cold-storage of strawberries. The numerical
solution of the corresponding mathematical model was obtained by applying the nite element method
(FEM). The problem was solved in a domain corresponding to the headspace of a package augmented by
the total void spaces of the contained bulk produce and for realistic boundary conditions. Transport of O2,
CO2, N2 and H2O was modelled based on MaxwellStefan equations for gas transport through packagings
headspace and on Ficks law for diffusion through the micro-perforated packaging. The model predictions
were tested against published experimental data of O2 and CO2 concentrations in modied atmosphere
packaging storage of strawberries and the agreement is satisfactory. As for reaching the recommended
in the literature gases concentrations for strawberry storage, the model predictions revealed that the
tested micro-perforated polypropylene packaging combined with the adopted storage conditions are
marginally adequate. To this end, the theoretical ndings are suggestive of improvements, in terms of
material properties, especially with regard to the permeability of the polymeric packaging lm.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Modied atmosphere packaging (MAP) is a technique for modifying the in-package atmosphere using polymeric lms with or
without perforations to reduce quality deterioration and improve
shelf-life of the packaged produce through water loss, metabolic
and microbial activity reduction. The response of the packaged
produce to the generated atmosphere is affected by controllable
factors, such as packaging permeability, produce respiration, and
storage environment as well as uncontrollable factors, such as specie, cultivar, cultural practices, stage of development, harvest technique, tissue type, and postharvest handling. The permeability of
the commercially used packagings depends on their type, area
and thickness. The mean permselectivity that is the CO2-to-O2 permeability ratio, of the commercial packaging is close to 3.0 which,
according to Exama et al. (1993), Smith et al. (2003) and Guillaume
et al. (2011), is inadequate to achieve the recommended O2 and
CO2 concentrations when used with highly respired produce, unless micro-/macro-perforations are employed. In the design of a
MAP, produce mass/surface ratio, package dimensions and permeability should be considered. Signicant design parameters are also

Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 210 529 4031; fax: +30 210 529 4032.
E-mail address: xanthopoulos@aua.gr (G. Xanthopoulos).
0260-8774/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2012.02.016

the time required for reaching gas equilibrium, the in-package

relative humidity and the storage conditions.
Saltveit (2004) ranked strawberries, among others, perishable
commodities as highly respired produce with short storage-life.
Therefore modelling their MAP response corresponds to a worst
case scenario. Strawberries are not chilling sensitive and the recommended MA conditions are 05 C, 510% O2 and 1520% CO2
as these have been sum up from different sources (Kader, 1992a;
Thompson, 2003).
Respiration is a complex metabolic process affected by a range of
factors such are storage temperature, gas concentrations, physical
stress, availability and type of consumed substrates and ripening
stage of the produce (Saltveit, 2004). The gas concentration dependent respiration rate models are based mainly on empirical equations and enzyme kinetics theory (Peppelenbos and vant Leven,
1996; Hertog et al., 1998, 1999; Fonseca et al., 2002; Saltveit,
2004; Geysen et al., 2005). Transpiration is inuenced by internal
or commodity factors (morphological and anatomical characteristics, surface-to-volume ratio, surface injuries, and maturity stage)
and environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, air
movement, and atmospheric pressure; Kader, 1992b). Respiration
and transpiration operate as source/sink mechanisms of O2, CO2
and H2O and therefore their accurate mathematical description
plays an important role in the predictive capability of the overall
mathematical model. Heat transport within the package can be

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

327

Nomenclature
Ac
Af
aw
dc
Di/air
Di/eff
Dij
dpac
Dv
EaVmO2 =CO2
ei
hpac
Ka
K f ji
KmO2
KmO2 f
KmuCO2
Ks
lf
mb
Mi
_ total ji
m

_w
m
n
np
P

produce surface (m2)

packaging permeable area (m2)
water activity of the packaged produce
equivalent produce diameter (m)
binary diffusivity constant of i = O2, CO2, H2O in the air
(m2 h1)
effective diffusion coefcient of gas component i in the
air (m2 h1)
binary diffusion coefcient (m2 h1)
packaging width (m)
water vapour diffusion coefcient in the air (m2 h1)
activation energy of VmO2 or VmCO2 (J mol1)
error dened as the difference between the experimental and the predicted concentration of i = O2, CO2, H2O
headspace height (m)
air-lm mass transfer coefcient (kg m2 s1 Pa1)
packaging
permeability
in
i = O2,
CO2,
H2O
(m3 m h1 m2 Pa1)
MichalisMenten constant for O2 consumption (kPa)
MichalisMenten constant for inhibition on the fermentative metabolism by O2 (kPa)
MichalisMenten constant for non-competitive inhibition of CO2 (kPa)
skin mass transport coefcient (kg m2 s1 Pa1)
thickness of the packaging lm (m)
mass of bulk produce (kg)
molecular weight of i = CO2, H2O, N2, O2 (kg mol1)
ux rate of i = O2, CO2, H2O transport through the polymeric
packaging
and
its
micro-perforations
(kg m2 h1)
water vapour ux due to transpiration (kgH2 O m2 h1)
number of terms to sum up
micro-perforation number
total gas mixture pressure (Pa)

assumed negligible for controlled environment storage. Moreover,

temperature uctuations during cold supply chain are ignored
because they are small and temporary; if accounted for, they
would increase the model complexity with negligible improvement of its predictive capability (Exama et al., 1993). Temperature
uctuations modelling would be of interest if microbial proliferation in the packaged produce is investigated which was beyond
the scope of this study.
Renault et al. (1994) developed a nite difference model for
gas prediction using MaxwellStefan equation and Fickian diffusion through micro-perforations, in which transport resistance
at micro-perforations ends was neglected. Improving the previous
model, Lee and Renault (1998) increased perforations length by
10% of its diameter and solved their model employing nite differences. Paul and Clarke (2002) tested a series of mass transport
mechanisms ( Henrys, Ficks, Knudsens and Poiseuilles ow laws)
through micro-perforations and calculated the theoretical length
of a micro-perforation. The simulations were carried out with a
steady-state model considering permeation and convective transport of atmospheric gases through the perforated packaging. Song
et al. (2002) modelled the MAP of blueberry based on heat and
mass balances accounting for the respiratory and transpiratory
response of the packaged produce and the transport phenomena
across the package. Rennie and Tavoularis (2009) presented a
mass transport model, solved with a nite volume technique, in
a cylindrical package with one perforation and found that the

Pi
P0
Ps
R
Re
respi
RH0
RMSE
RQox
RRi
Sc
Sf
Sh
Sp
St
T
t
Tref
Vb
Vc
Vmi,ref
VPD
xiorj
x0ji
Xm

e
q
qb
qi
xi

partial pressure of i = O2, CO2, H2O, N2 (kPa)

atmospheric pressure (Pa)
saturation water vapour pressure (Pa)
ideal gas constant (J mol1 K1)
Reynolds number
respiration ux of O2 and CO2 (kg m2 h1)
initial relative humidity
root mean square error
respiration quotient (dimensionless)
respiration rate of O2 consumption or CO2 production
(mol kg1 h1)
Schmidt number
lm permselectivity without considering microperforations (dimensionless)
Sherwood dimensionless number
micro-perforation area (m2)
lm permselectivity considering and the micro
-perforations (dimensionless)
storage temperature (C g9 K)
storage time (h)
reference storage temperature (K)
bulk produce volume (m3)
packaging volume (m3)
reference maximum specic respiration rate of O2 or
CO2 (mol kg1 h1)
vapour pressure decit (Pa)
molecular fraction of i or j = CO2, H2O and O2
initial molecular composition of i = O2, CO2, H2O (mol)
moisture ratio (kgH2 O 1001 kg1da)
porosity of the bulk produce
density of the air gasses components (kg m3)
bulk density (kg m3)
density of i = O2, CO2, H2O (kg m3)
mass fraction of i = CO2, H2O, N2, O2 (%)

in-package convective transport was 64% of the diffusive and

the most important mass transport mechanisms were respiration
and transpiration while CO2 solubility was not signicant for a
steady state case.
In summary, the previous models, developed to predict the MA
concentrations in perforation-mediated packages, were based on
unnecessary complicated assumptions related either with the
transport mechanisms or the physical responses of the packaged
produce under modied atmospheres. In few of them the resulting
governing equations have been solved with a robust numerical
technique like the nite element method. In some of them the
problem of gas transport was solved for non retail packaging domains to simplify the solution procedure. The main objective of
this study is the development of an efcient space-and-time
dependent model for perforation-mediated MAP, considering the
most important mass transport mechanisms (respiration, transpiration and diffusive transport of O2, CO2, N2 and H2O) in a retail
type micro-perforated package.

2. Description of the mathematical model and computational

analysis
In this section, are summed up the assumptions used in the
mathematical model and the sub-models that describe the biological activity (respiration and transpiration) and gas component

328

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

Table 1
Properties of the packaged produce, package dimensions, and storage conditions used
in the model.
Property

Value

Reference

dc

aw
mb
Af
lf
Kf|H2O
Vc
Kf|O2
Kf|CO2
dp
RHo
EaVm;CO2
EaVm;O2
VmO2 ;ref
VmCO2 ;ref
Tref
RQox
KmO2
KmuCO2
KmO2f

0.03 m
0.27
48.96  106 kg m2 h1 Pa1
600 kg m3
0.99
0.5 kg
0.1 m2
50 lm
4.5  1013 m3 m h1 m2 Pa1
0.0015 m3
8.5  1014 m3 m h1 m2 Pa1
2.8  1013 m3 m h1 m2 Pa1
80 lm
0.6
64 kJ mol1
64 kJ mol1
242 nmol kg1 s1
175 nmol kg1 s1
10 C
0.7
1.2 kPa
51 kPa
0.14 kPa

Rennie and Tavoularis (2009)

Rennie and Tavoularis (2009)
ASHRAE (1997)
Rennie and Tavoularis (2009)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Pauly (1996)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Renault et al. (1994)
Assumed
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)
Geysen et al. (2005)

R
dpac
Kf o jO2

8.314 J mol1 K1

0.12 m
230.4  107 m3 m h1 m1 Pa1

Bird et al. (1960)

Assumed
Pauly (1996)

Kf o jCO2

111.6  107 m3 m h1 m1 Pa1

Pauly (1996)

Kf o jH2 O
Ef jO2
Ef jCO2
Ef jH2 O

288  107 m3 m h1 m1 Pa1

Pauly (1996)

45.7 kJ mol1
41.145.7 kJ mol1
42.345.7 kJ mol1

Pauly (1996)
Pauly (1996)
Pauly (1996)

e
Ks

qb

Table 2
Binary diffusion coefcients for low pressure (1 atm).
T (C) Dij  106 m2 s1

15

10

O2/CO2
O2/H2O
O2/N2
CO2/H2O
CO2/N2
H2O/N2
H2O/air
O2/air
CO2/air

14.15
19.48
19.10
13.73
14.13
19.13
19.43
19.30
14.25

13.69
18.82
18.52
13.25
13.68
18.48
18.77
18.70
13.80

13.25
18.17
17.94
12.79
13.24
17.84
18.13
18.11
13.35

12.81
17.53
17.36
12.33
12.81
17.22
17.49
17.53
12.91

Table 3
Initial in package mass, volume and molecular gases fractions.
Gases

Mass fraction (%)

Volume fraction (%)

Molecular fraction

N2
O2
CO2
H2O

76.46a
23.11
0.05
0.38

78.49a
23.11 (28.89/32) = 20.87
0.05 (28.89/44) = 0.033
0.38 (28.89/18) = 0.61

0.78a
0.21
0.00033
0.0061

qair = 1.25 kg m3;

Mair = 28.89 g mol1;

Xm = 0.0038
kgH2 O kg1da,
MO2 = 32 g mol1; MCO2 = 44 g mol1; MH2 O = 18 g mol1.
a
N2 is calculated from the balance of the gas components O2, H2O Kai CO2.

Packaged produce has uniform porosity and bulk density and

consists of spherical elements of uniform diameter dc.
Package walls are impermeable to O2, CO2, H2O and N2.
Packaged produce and the in-package gases are in thermal
equilibrium.
2.2. Respiration model

transport taking place through the headspace and the tested perforation-mediated modied atmosphere packaging.
2.1. Model assumptions
O2 consumption and CO2 production due to respiration depend
on the O2 and CO2 partial pressures through a MichalisMenten
type of model.
CO2 production is a combined oxidative and fermentative process; the oxidative contribution is proportional to the O2 consumption and the fermentative follows a MichalisMenten
type of model.
O2 consumption and CO2 production are temperature dependent following an Arrhenius law.
O2, CO2, H2O and N2 are exchanged between headspace and
packaging surroundings through the packaging lm and its
micro-perforations.

The respiration model involves the partial pressures PO2 , PCO2

(Pa) and the storage temperature T (K). The O2 consumption rate,
RRO2 (mol kg1 h1), is calculated from an enzyme kinetics model
with uncompetitive type CO2 inhibition:
(
"
#)
EaVmO2
PO2
RRO2
VmO2 ;ref exp
KmO2 PO2 1 PCO2 =KmuCO2
R1=T  1=T ref
1

The maximum specic respiration rate of O2 is evaluated at a

reference temperature Tref = 283 K (10 C) and its temperature
dependence is given by an Arrhenius type equation-cf. inside the
brackets of Eq. (1) (Geysen et al., 2005). KmuCO2 and KmO2 (kPa)
are MichalisMenten constants for uncompetitive inhibition of
CO2 and O2 consumption respectively; VmO2 ;ref (mol kg1 h1) is
the reference maximum specic consumption rate of O2 at Tref;
EaVmO2 (J mol1) is an activation energy and R (J mol1 K1) is the
ideal gas constant-cf. Table 1.

S1
MICRO-PERFORATED FILM
z
x

S3

S4 h pac

S2
d pac
PRODUCE AREA
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a perforation-mediated modied atmosphere package (left). The meshed computational domain (X) with 240 elements and boundary
conditions (S1, S2, S3, S4) are depicted on the right diagram.

329

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

RRCO2 RQ ox RRO2
1

1 PO2 =KmO2 f

"

VmCO2 ;ref exp

EaVmCO2

R1=T  1=T ref

#)
2

where RQox is the respiratory quotient (ratio of CO2 production and

O2 consumption for oxidative respiration); KmO2 f (kPa) is a
MichalisMenten constant related to the inhibition of the fermentative metabolism due to O2 presence; VmCO2 ;ref (mol kg1 h1) is the
reference maximum specic production rate of CO2 at Tref and
EaVmCO2 (J mol1) is an activation energy. The produce surface
area Ac (m2) is calculated assuming that the produce is spherical
and uniformly packed:

Ac 61  eV b =dc

VPD aw  RH0:04T  32:43T 8; 567T  757; 070

where 1=1=K s 1=K a (kg m2 s1 Pa1) is the transpiration coefcient and Ks (kg m2 s1 Pa1) the skin mass transport coefcient
(ASHRAE, 1997; Diner, 2003)-cf. Table 1. Ka (kg m2 s1 Pa1) is
the air-lm mass transport coefcient, calculated from SherwoodReynoldsSchmidt correlation for a sphere (Becker et al.,
1996):

Sh 2:0 0:55Re0:53 Sc0:33

20

40

60

80

100

120

80

100

120

80

100

120

0.5

O2 / CO2Concentration

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0

20

40

60

Time (h)

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
0

20

40

60

Time (h)
Fig. 2. The average headspace O2 and CO2 concentrations versus time for
experimental (Renault et al., 1994), (points) and predicted data (lines) for 5 (a),
10 (b) and 20 (c) micro-perforations of the PP packaging.

Re is the Reynolds number, Sc the Schmidt number and Dv

(m2 h1) the diffusion coefcient of water vapour in the air. Considering negligible ow around the packaged produce (i.e.,
Re = 0), Ka is estimated by:

K a 2Dv =T 273:15 dc R=M H2 O 

0.1

The water activity, aw, of the packaged produce is taken

slightly below saturation as 0.99 due to dissolved substrates
(Becker et al., 1996). Transpiration sets in when the water vapour
pressure at the produce surface (awPs) exceeds that in the headspace (RH Ps), i.e., when aw is higher than the relative humidity,
_w
RH; otherwise it is taken zero. The water vapour ux m
(kgH2 O m2 h1), is given as:

_ w VPD=1=K s 1=K a
m

0.2

Time (h)

O2 / CO2Concentration

0.3

2.3. Transpiration model

0.4

where Vb (m3) and e are the volume and porosity of the bulk produce, respectively; dc (m) is the equivalent produce diameter
(Richardson et al., 2002). Porosity values for different bulk agricultural products can be found in literature. The quantities PO2 ,
PCO2 , RRCO2 and RRO2 in Eqs. (1) and (2) are calculated in every
time step (see below) and the rest of the variables are taken from
Table 1.

Transpiration is driven by the water vapour pressure decit,

VPD (Pa), between produce surface and its surroundings, given
by Eq. (4) (Diner, 2003). The saturation water vapour pressurecf. in the polynomial equation in the second parenthesis of Eq.
(4), is given by ASAE (1998).

0.5

O2 / CO2Concentration

The CO2 production rate, RRCO2 (mol kg1 h1) is a combination

of oxidative and fermentative processes and follows an Arrhenius
law in temperature dependence (Geysen et al., 2005; Guillaume
et al., 2011):

where MH2 O (kg mol1) is the water molecular weight and

Dv 9:1  109 T2:5 =T 245:18 (m2 h1) the diffusion coefcient
of water in the air (Becker et al., 1996). The quantities VPD and
_ w from Eqs. (4) and (5) are calculated in every time step and the
m
rest of the variables are taken from Table 1.

2.4. Modelling of O2, CO2, H2O and N2 transport in the headspace

MaxwellStefan equation relates ux and gradient concentrations among the diffusive gas components of a multicomponent
gas system and is preferred due to its accuracy against the Ficks
law (Guillaume et al., 2011). The gas component mass fractions xi
(i = O2, CO2, H2O) in the headspace are calculated by means of the
MaxwellStefan diffusion formulation (Bird et al., 1960). Only gas
diffusion is considered, since inclusion of natural convection transport only marginally improves the theoretical prediction (Rennie
and Tavoularis, 2009). The governing transport equations read as:

330

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

100

Relative humidity (%)

80

60

40

20

0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (h)
Fig. 3. The average headspace RH with time at 10 C for 0.5 kg of strawberries.

"

#
n
X
@ xi
rP
0
q
Di j rxj xj  xj
r  qxi
P
@t
j1

2.5. Boundary conditions

The partial differential equations (Eq. (8)) are solved in a 2-D

domain corresponding to a rectangular headspace of a packaging
with width dpac (m) of retail size and height hpac V c  1  e
mb =qb =Af , augmented by the total void spaces of the contained
bulk produce since this formulation improves signicantly model
prediction; Af (m2) is the area of the permeable lm, mb (kg) the
bulk produce mass, Vc (m3) the packaging volume and qb (kg m3)
the bulk density of the bulk produce, all tabulated in Table 1. As already mentioned, the packaging walls are considered impermeable
to gas transport. The bottom boundary conditions include the
_ w (cf. Eq. (5)) and the gas compowater vapour production ux, m
nent i = O2, CO2 consumption and production uxes, respi
(kg m2 h1):

where q (kg m3) is the gas mixture (O2, CO2, N2 and H2O) density:
4
X
P
q
X i Mi
RT 273:15 i1

13

0:62RH0 Ps
X 100
; 18  T  260 C
P0  RH0 Ps

10a

O2  23:20100  X

10b

CO2  0:046100  X

10c

N2  1  O2   CO2   X

10d

X (kgH2 O 1001 kg1da) is the air moisture ratio (ASAE, 1998), P0

the atmospheric pressure (1 atm = 101,325 Pa), RH0 the initial relative humidity and Ps (Pa) the saturation vapour pressure. At every
time step, the quantities q, xi, Dij, xj, P, in Eqs. (8) and (9) are
calculated.

Volume fraction (%)

In Eqs. (8) and (9), t (h) is the storage time, Dij (m2 h1) the (i, j)
element of the multicomponent Fick diffusivity matrix D, xiorj the
molecular fraction of component i or j = O2, CO2 and H2O and P
(Pa) the total gas mixture pressure. The mass fraction of N2 is
calculated from the balance of the gas components mass fractions,
xN2 1  xO2  xCO2  xH2 O . Renault et al. (1994) and Rennie and
Tavoularis (2009) found that accounting for CO2 solubility in their
models did not affect the nal steady-state gas concentrations. Predictions with and without CO2 solubility accounted for, differ by
respi RRi M i qb Ac
11
less than 2%. Based on the previous ndings, the CO2 solubility
was ignored. Estimation of the Dij coefcients was based on the
where RRi is calculated from Eqs. (1) and (2) and Ac from Eq. (3). The
ChapmanEnskog kinetic theory analysis (Bird et al., 1960) and
top boundary conditions include the gas component i = O2, CO2, H2O
was carried out for four storage temperatures (0, 5, 10 and 15 C)
transport through micro-perforated packaging lm:
covering the cold supply chain-cf. Table 2. Mi (kg mol1) is the
molecular weight of the component i.
_ total ji K f ji =lf qi np Sp Di=air =lf Af R=M i T
m
For the initial (t = 0) in-package conditions, T = 10 C, P0 = 1 atm 12
 x0 ji P 0  xi R=M i qi T
and RH0 = 60%, the model is fed with the initial mass fraction valO2
CO2
ues xi-cf. Table 3 and binary diffusivity coefcients Dij-cf. Table 2
35
q
i
for i or j = O2, CO2, H2O and N2.
!
4
X
The initial xi values of O2, CO2 Kai H2O are calculated from Eqs.
30

x
q
M
=
x
M
i
i
i
i
(10a)(10d), considering that gas components mass fractions in
i1
the dry air are H2O < 1%; O2: 23.20%; CO2: 0.046% (ASAE, 1998).
25
20
15
10
5
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (h)
Fig. 4. The average headspace O2 and CO2 concentrations when packaging has no
micro-perforations.

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

331

1.4E-04

Respiration flux (kg m -2h-1)

1.2E-04
1.0E-04
O2,
O
2 5-perforations
CO2,
CO
2 5-perforations
O
2,
2 10-perforations
CO
CO2,
2 10-perforations
O
2,
2 20-perforations
CO
CO2,
2 20-perforations
O2,
O
2 no-perforations
CO2,
CO
2 no-perforations

8.0E-05
6.0E-05
4.0E-05
2.0E-05
0.0E+00
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (h)

Fig. 5. Respiratory (O2 and CO2) uxes for 0, 5, 10 and 20 micro-perforations.

Fig. 6. Contour maps of O2 and CO2 (%) concentrations for different micro-perforations number and diameters for 30 lm (a) and 60 lm lm (b) thicknesses. Storage
temperature 5 C.

_ total ji (kg m2 h1) is the total ux (accounting for lm and

where m
micro-perforations) of i = O2, CO2, H2O; K f ji (m3 m h1 m2 Pa1) is
the permeability of the packaging lm (experimentally determined)
for i = O2, CO2, H2O. Pauly (1999) described the temperature dependence of permeability for many polymeric lms with an Arrhenius
type equation, K f ji K f0 ji expEf ji =RT 273:15. The parameters
of the previous equation (cf. Table 1) for i = O2, CO2, H2O, were taken
from Pauly (1999) for a PP lm and used for strawberry MAP storage at 5 C to consider in this way, the temperature dependence of
permeability. At 10 C storage, the O2 and CO2 permeability values

were taken from Renault et al. (1994) study for their tested PP lm.
lf (m) is the thickness of the packaging lm-cf. Table 1, qi (kg m3)
the density of the gas component i and x0|i the initial molecular
fraction of i = O2, CO2, N2, H2O in the headspace-cf. in Table 3. Sp
(m2) is the area of a cylindrical micro-perforation of diameter dp
(m2), np the number of packaging micro-perforations and lf (m)
the micro-perforation length taken equal to the thickness of the
packaging lm-cf. Table 1. Di=air (m2 h1) is the diffusion coefcient
of component i in the air (cf. Table 2) taken at 10 C. Di/air can also be
calculated in terms of an effective diffusion coefcient:

332

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

O2

CO2

22
20

Volume fraction (%)

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (h)
Fig. 7. Average O2 and CO2 concentration for PP packaging of 30 lm thickness; 6 micro-perforations; 50 lm diameter of micro-perforation. Storage temperature 5 C.

1=Di=eff

xj =Dij

14

j1

The previous approach is justied when the diffusive component i moves with velocity close to the rest of the diffusive gas
components (Bird et al., 1960). In preliminary computations, the
Di/air and Di/eff formulations yield almost identical values (difference 6 1%) and thus a simpler approach of a constant diffusion
coefcient, Di=air was used in Eq. (12), for the tested cases. The
_ total ji is calculated from Eq. (12) at each time step, since the inm
package partial pressure of component i = O2, CO2, H2O,
Pi = xi R=M i qi T, changes with storage time.
2.6. Computational domain and numerical solution procedure
The computational domain geometry and the applied conditions correspond to a retail package and have been chosen to improve computational efciency and facilitate comparison with
the experimental data of Renault et al. (1994). The chosen computational domain (cf. Fig. 1) corresponds to a rectangular retail plastic container. Due to the uniform ambient conditions applied, a 2-D
formulation of the gas transport in a perforation-mediated MA
packaging is feasible. The set of the governing equations along with
their boundary and initial conditions was discretized numerically
by the FEM using COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4 (Comsol Inc., 2007,
USA). The mesh was unstructured and composed of triangular elements and Langrange quadratic shape functions. The choice for
solving the resulting linearised equation system was the Generalized Minimal Residual Method (GMRES) with the incomplete
LU-factorization as preconditioner (Pashos et al., 2009), due to its
reduced memory requirements and low computational cost.
Mesh-independence of the solutions was tested by solving the
problem for three meshes composed of 60, 240 and 960 elements.
In each case, the maximum time step taken was 3600 s, as dictated
by the solver. From the trials, small differences (>1%) were detected among the calculated concentrations of O2, CO2, and H2O.
Finally, the mesh of 240 elements (cf. Fig. 1) was selected and used
for obtaining the results presented below.
3. Results and discussion
The case studied here was so chosen as to enable comparison of
model predictions with the experimental data in Renault et al.

(1994) for strawberries stored at 10 C in a PP packaging. The

parameter values used in the model are summarized in Table 1.
Renault et al. (1994) provided values only for the packaging permeable area 0.1 m2 and the container volume 1.5 L. In this case,
the container geometry was of a retail type, following a general
rule which associates container and produce volumes by a factor
of 4/3 (Vc = 4/3Vb) (Exama et al., 1993). In the proposed model,
the gas diffusion is computed only in the augmented packaging
headspace and this is of interest in the model. Therefore, assuming
a width of the micro-perforated lm, dpac = 0.12 m, the headspace
height (hpac = 0.009 m) is estimated as previously explained (cf.
in Section 2.5) based on the container volume, produce mass, bulk
density and porosity, and the micro-perforated lm area (cf. Table
1). In Renault et al. (1994), the lm thickness, lf, is not specied and
the length of the micro-perforations was taken 50 lm; here lf was
taken 50 lm too. Lee and Renault (1998) and Paul and Clarke
(2002) used in their calculations an effective micro-perforation
length assuming transport resistance at micro-perforations ends
but this approach needs further analysis and experimental verication and therefore it was not taken in account. The aspect ratio of
the previous container, dened as hpac/dpac is 0.075. The corresponding ratio from Rennie and Tavoularis (2009) simulations
was 0.28, which was higher since their tested domain did not correspond to a retail type container and the headspace height was
higher than the respective commodity layer height. The effective
produce area for 0.5 kg strawberries is 0.12 m2 and the ratio of
the produce area to permeable area is 1.2. The initial in-package
gases concentrations are estimated (cf. Eqs. (10a)(10d)) assuming
that the temperature within the package stays constant and equal
to the storage temperature throughout the simulation period. The
ambient gas concentrations were calculated based on Eqs. (10a)
(10d) and the simulation period extended up to 5 days. Rennie
and Tavoularis (2009) report that equithermal conditions lead to
over-prediction of O2 concentration and under-prediction of CO2,
but their conclusions were based on long-term simulations
(4 days) rather to short-term which actually correspond to a
uctuation case. The estimated root mean square error,
P
RMSE n1 ni1 e2i 0:5 between predicted and experimental data
for CO2 and O2 mass fractions (cf. Fig. 2) ranged between 1.0%
and 2.2%.
Although no data were given from Renault et al. (1994) about
water vapour concentration, the estimated in-package relative
humidity varied in a similar way as in the case of Fishman et al.

333

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

Total Flux

"Flux through microperforations"

Flux through film

6.0E-05

flux through film

5.0E-05

O2

80%

4.0E-05

Mass flux %

Flux (kg m-2 h-1)

flux through microperforations

100%

3.0E-05
2.0E-05

60%
40%
20%

1.0E-05

0%

0.0E+00

20

40

60

80

100

120

20

40

Total flux

60

80

100

"Flux through microperforations"

Flux through film

0.0E+00

C2

flux through film

100%

flux through microperforations

CO2

80%

-2.0E-05

Mass flux %

Flux (kg m-2 h -1)

-1.0E-05

-3.0E-05
-4.0E-05
-5.0E-05

60%
40%
20%

-6.0E-05
0

20

40

60

80

100

0%

120

Time (h)
Total flux

20

40

60

80

100

120

Time (h)

Flux through microperforations

Flux through film

5.0E-07

flux through film

flux through microperforations

100%

H2

4.0E-07

H2

3.0E-07

80%

2.0E-07

Mass flux %

Flux(kg/m 2 h)

120

Time (h)

Time (h)

1.0E-07
0.0E+00
-1.0E-07
-2.0E-07
-3.0E-07

60%
40%
20%

-4.0E-07
-5.0E-07

0%
2

0
12

11

96

10

88

72

80

64

140

56

120

48

100

40

80

Time (h)

32

60

24

40

20

16

-6.0E-07

Time (h)

Fig. 8. O2, CO2 and H2O uxes through PP packaging with micro-perforations and lm (left) and the % mass ux (right).

(1996) and Song et al. (2002). According to these, the packages

were saturated (100% RH) few hours after the produce had been
sealed-cf. Fig. 3. An average value for the skin mass transport coefcient (cf. Eq. (5)) was taken as 48.96  106 kg m2 h1 Pa1 from
ASHRAE (1997).
The PP packaging tested by Renault et al. (1994) had permeability for O2 8.5  1014 m3 m h1 m2 Pa1 and for CO2
2.8  1013 m3 m h1 m2 Pa1 at 10 C. The permselectivity of
the non-perforated area of the PP packaging was 3.3 and CO2
accumulation (>30%) and O2 exhaustion, shown in Fig. 4, occurred
inducing anaerobiosis after 38 h of storage. The fermentative
metabolism (Geysen et al., 2005) increased CO2 production
(Fig. 5) before it reached an equilibrium value (1.0  104
1.2  104 kg m2 h1) while the O2 consumption became zero.
Strawberries are not chilling sensitive fruits and are normally
stored at low temperatures (05 C), where respiratory metabo-

lism is reduced. Based on this storage practice, simulations were

carried out at 5 C for two PP thicknesses, namely 30 and 60 lm,
for 5 micro-perforation diameters, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 lm and
for various micro-perforation numbers ranging from 0 up to 10
(cf. Fig. 6). The recommended MA conditions ranged between 5
10% for O2 and 1520% for CO2 (Kader, 1992a; Thompson, 2003).
The O2 and CO2 concentrations range widely due to the different
postharvest response among strawberries from different varieties.
From the plotted contour maps in Fig. 6, it was found that the
closest to the recommended O2 and CO2 volume fraction combination was 8.1% and 9.7% (average values) respectively, and it was
achieved with a packaging of 30 lm thick, with 6 micro-perforations of 50 lm diameter each (cf. Fig. 7). The total micro-perforations area, assuming them as cylindrical, was 1.18  108 m2 and
the calculated permselectivity values were Sf = 3.4 without micro-perforations and St = 0.78 with micro-perforations. From the

334

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

same contour maps can be seen that the desired accumulation of

CO2 (1520%) is achieved for less than 2 micro-perforations regardless diameter size while the suggested reduced O2 level (510%) is
achieved for more than 4 micro-perforations and more than 50 lm
in diameter. Based on the previous ndings, for the specic PP
packaging and storage conditions, the recommended O2 and CO2
concentrations are marginally achieved. Exama et al. (1993) mentioned that a packaging permselectivity close to 1.1, under certain
storage conditions, is required for reaching the recommended O2
and CO2 concentrations, a value higher than the one estimated here
(0.78).
Based on Eq. (12), the O2 and CO2 contribution to the overall gas
ux through the micro-perforated packaging was quantied using
the previous MAP case. In Fig. 8 are presented the O2 inux
(positive) and CO2 and H2O efux (negative). It can be seen that
the largest gas exchange is taking place through the packaging micro-perforations, as it was expected. Mannapperuma et al. (1989)
noted that O2 diffusion in air is about 8.5  106 times than in LDPE
lms while the corresponding ratio for CO2 is 1.5  106. This difference in gas diffusion means that the gas exchange through a
microperforated material occurs almost entirely through the
micro-perforations. The effect of very small holes on the O2 concentration in the package atmosphere is greater than its effect on
CO2 concentration. Kader (1992a) reported that the permselectivity of commonly used packaging lms for fresh produce is for LDPE
2.05.9, for PVC 3.66.9 and for PP 3.35.9. The adoption of microperforation with these lms as referred by Mannapperuma et al.
(1989) changes considerably their permselectivity. The previous
behaviour was noted in the present study, as the permselectivity
of the continuous PP lm reduces from close to 3.0 down to 0.74
with the inclusion of micro-perforations, regardless of the storage
temperature, the pores number and their diameter.
From the present simulation, 7.3% of O2 exchange is taking place
through the continuous part of the packaging and 92.7% through
the micro-perforations. For CO2, 20.5% through the continuous part
and 79.5% through the micro-perforations and for water, 3.6%
through the continuous and 96.4% through the micro-perforations.
Among the three gas components, CO2 transport through the nonperforated part of the packaging is comparable with the transport
through the packaging micro-perforations (20.5% against 79.5%).
This calls for further investigation with regard to the mechanical
or chemical modication of the material properties so as to enhance accumulation of CO2 in the packaging, which is desirable
in most of the MAP cases.
4. Conclusions
A computational model was developed for the prediction of O2,
CO2, H2O (and N2) transport in perforation-mediated polymeric
packages during MAP of strawberries. The model incorporates
the most important mass transport mechanisms, namely respiration, transpiration and diffusive transport of O2, CO2, N2 and H2O.
The problem of formulating the usually randomly packaged commodity is tackled by treating it as a porous medium and solving
the simplied problem only for the headspace in a 2-D arrangement. The comparison of models predictions with published
experimental data was satisfactory with discrepancy P 2.2%. The
computations showed that with the PP micro-perforated packaging, the recommended gas concentrations were marginally
achieved at 5 C. The predictions suggest as most advantageous
packaging choice the one with 30 lm thickness and 6 micro-perforations of 50 lm diameter each; the in-package atmosphere
reached, had 8.2% O2 and 9.7% CO2. In this particular case, the ratio
of the exchanged CO2 through the continuous packaging and
through the micro-perforations is approximately 1:4, while for
the other gas components is about 1:9.

In overall, the model can be used for fruits and vegetables of any
shape, whole or fresh-cut. Based on the adopted boundary conditions, the model can easily be adjusted to different types of packaging (permeable or not) given that the appropriate property
values are available. Moreover, calculations can be performed for
different storage temperature regimes, relative humidity and gas
concentrations met in the fresh cold chain, providing, in this
way, useful predictions about the appropriateness of the used
packaging lm and/or the applied storage conditions.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their insightful and helpful comments.
References
ASAE, 1998. Psychrometric data. ASAE Standards. D271.2 DEC94.
ASHRAE, Psychometrics. In: 1997 ASHRAE Handbook: Fundamentals. American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Atlanta,
GA (Chapter 6).
Becker, B.R., Misra, A., Fricke, B.A., 1996. Bulk refrigeration of fruits and vegetables.
Part I. Theoretical considerations of heat and mass transfer. International
Journal of HVAC & R Research 2, 122134.
Bird, R.B., Stewart, W.E., Lightfoot, E.N., 1960. Transport Phenomena, rst ed. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
COMSOL Multiphysics. Users Guide, COMSOL, 2007.
Diner, I., 2003. Refrigeration Systems and Applications, rst ed. John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd., West Sussex.
Exama, A., Arul, J., Lencki, R.W., Lee, L.Z., Toupin, C., 1993. Suitability of plastic lms
for modied atmosphere packaging of fruits and vegetables. Journal of Food
Science 58 (6), 13651370.
Fishman, S., Rodov, V., Ben-Yehoshua, S., 1996. Mathematical model for perforation
effect on oxygen and water vapour dynamics in modied-atmosphere packages.
Journal of Food Science 61 (5), 956961.
Fonseca, S.C., Oliveira, F.A.R., Brecht, J.K., 2002. Modelling respiration rate of fresh
fruits and vegetables for modied atmosphere packages: a review. Journal of
Food Engineering 52, 99119.
Geysen, S., Verlinden, B.E., Conesa, A., Nicola, B.M., 2005 Modelling respiration of
strawberry (cv. Elsanta) as a function of temperature, carbon dioxide, low and
superatmospheric oxygen concentrations. Information and technology for
sustainable fruit and vegetable production FRUTIC 05, 1216 September
2005, Montpellier France.
Guillaume, C., Guillard, V., Gontard, N., 2011. Modied atmosphere packaging of
fruits and vegetables, modeling approach. In: Martn-Belloso, O., Soliva-Fortuny,
R. (Eds.), Advances in Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables Processing. CRC Press,
Taylor & Francis Group, NY, pp. 255284.
Hertog, M.L.A.T.M., Boerrigter, H.A.M., Van den Boogaard, G.J.P.M., Tijskens, L.M.M.,
Van Schaik, A.C.R., 1999. Predicting keeping quality of strawberries (cv.
Elsanta) packed under modied atmospheres: an integrated model approach.
Postharvest Biology and Technology 15, 112.
Hertog, M.L.A.T.M., Peppelenbos, H.W., Evelo, R.G., Tijskens, L.M.M., 1998. A
dynamic and generic model of gas exchange of respiring produce: the effects
of oxygen, carbon dioxide and temperature. Postharvest Biology and
Technology 14, 335349.
Kader, A.A., 1992a. Modied atmospheres during transport and storage. In: Kader,
A.A. (Ed.), Postharvest technology of horticultural crops, second ed. University
of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Publication 3311.
Kader, A.A., 1992b. Postharvest biology and technology: an overview. In: Kader, A.A.
(Ed.), Postharvest technology of horticultural crops, second ed. University of
California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Publication 3311.
Lee, D.S., Renault, P., 1998. Using pinholes as tools to attain optimum modied
atmospheres in packages of fresh produce. Packaging Technology Science 11,
119130.
Mannapperuma, J.D., Zagory, D., Sigh, R.P., Kader, A.A., 1989. Design of polymeric
packages for modied atmosphere storage of fresh produce. In: Fellman, J.K.
(Ed.), Proceedings of the 5th International Controlled Atmosphere Research
Conference, June 1416, Wenatchee, WA, Vol. 2, pp. 225233.
Pashos, G., Kavousanakis, M.E., Spyropoulos, A.N., Palyvos, J.A., Boudouvis, A.G.,
2009. Simultaneous solution of large-scale linear systems and eigenvalue
problems with a parallel GMRES method. Journal of Computational and Applied
Mathematics 227, 196205.
Paul, D.R., Clarke, R., 2002. Modelling of modied atmosphere packaging based on
designs with membrane and perforations. Journal of Membrane Science 208,
269283.
Pauly, S., 1999. Permeability and diffusion data. In: Brandrup, J., Immergut, E.H.,
Grulke, E.A., Abe, A., Bloch, D.R. (Eds.), Polymer Handbook, fourth ed. John Wiley
& Sons.
Peppelenbos, H.W., Vant Leven, J., 1996. Evaluation of four types of inhibition for
modelling the inuence of carbon dioxide on oxygen consumption of fruits and
vegetables. Postharvest Biology and Technology 7, 2740.

G. Xanthopoulos et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 111 (2012) 326335

Renault, P., Souty, M., Chambroy, Y., 1994. Gas exchange in modied atmosphere
packaging. 1: A new theoretical approach for micro-perforated packs.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 29, 365378.
Rennie, T.J., Tavoularis, S., 2009. Perforation-mediated modied atmosphere
packaging. Part I. Development of a mathematical model. Postharvest Biology
and Technology 51, 19.
Richardson, J.F., Harker, J.H., Backhurst, J.H., 2002. Coulsons and Richardsons
Chemical Engineering: Particle Technology and Separation Processes. Vol. 2,
fth ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Saltveit, M.E., 2004. Respiratory metabolism. The commercial storage of fruits,
vegetables, and orist and nursery stocks. Agriculture Handbook Number 66.
USDA, ARS.

335

Smith, J.P., Ramaswamy, H.S., Ranganna, B., Raghavan, G.S.V., 2003. Packaging of
fruits and vegetables. In: Chakraverty, A., Mujumdar, A.S., Raghavan, G.S.V.,
Ramaswamy, H.S. (Eds.), Handbook of Postharvest Technology: Cereals, Fruits,
Vegetables, Tea, and Spices. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, pp. 539554.
Song, Y., Vorsa, N., Yam, K.L., 2002. Modeling respirationtranspiration in a modied
atmosphere packaging system containing blueberry. Journal of Food
Engineering 53, 103109.
Thompson, A.K., 2003. Fruits and Vegetables: Harvesting, Handling and Storage.
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK.