Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Physical properties of three onion varieties

as affected by the moisture content
a,b,* a,*
L. Abhayawick , J.C. Laguerre , V. Tauzin a, A. Duquenoy b

a
Department of Sciences et Techniques Agro-Industrielles, Institut Sup

erieur Agricole de Beauvais,
rue Pierre Waguet, 60026 Beauvais Cedex, France
b
UMR-G
eniAl, Ecole Nationale Sup

erieure d’Industries Agricoles et Alimentaires, 1,
Av des Olympiades, 91744 Massy Cedex, France
Received 19 January 2001; accepted 4 March 2002

Abstract
Three onion varieties (Sweet Vidalia, Spirit and Niz) were selected for this study based on their dry matter amounts ranging from
7% to 18%. The contents of their major components (protein, fat, ash and sugar) were analyzed. Three types of physical properties,
thermal (conductivity, specific heat capacity, diffusivity), structural (density and porosity) and dielectric (relative permittivity and
loss factor) properties were measured and calculated.
The conductivity and specific heat capacity were measured using an annular heat source probe. Density was measured by liquid
displacement method while a coaxial line probe was used to measure the dielectric properties.
The thermal conductivity ranged from 0.12 to 0.54 W/m K for completely dried and fresh onion, whereas the specific heat ca-
pacity varied from 0.87 to 4.01 kJ/kg K. These properties varied linearly with varying moisture contents. A second order polynomial
equation was fitted to the density variation with varying moisture contents. The densities increased from 970 for fresh onion to 1250
kg/m3 for dried. Dielectric permittivity decreased from 66 to 1.6 as onion dries. Loss factor also decreased from 15.5 to 0.20.
Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Onions; Physical properties; Dielectric properties; Thermal properties; Bulk density; Thermal conductivity; Heat capacity

1. Introduction ficiently accurate for certain types of foods, such as the

Physical properties of food stuffs play a signifi-
cant role in modeling and computation of heat and
mass transfer in basic food processing operations, such
as drying, thermal processing and freezing. Foods are
highly complex systems that measurement of physical
properties demands much ingenuity which could be the
cause of the paucity of data in the scientific literature.
Some authors tabulated thermal conductivities
(Sweat, 1974), and dielectric properties (Kent, 1987;
Tinga & Nelson, 1973) of food materials. Physical
properties of different onion varieties vary with their
proximate composition, with the influence of moisture
content being the most obvious. Generalized composi-
tion based equations, predicting thermal conductivity,
specific heat and density are reported in the literature.
The predicted values using these equations are not suf-
*
Corresponding author. Present address: ISAB-dept STAI 32 BD
DU PORT 95094 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex France.
E-mail address: jclaude.laguerre@isab.fr (J.C. Laguerre).
0260-8774/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 9 9 - 7
porous foods, where the porosity influences all proper-
ties. Rapusas and Driscoll (1995) have developed several
mathematical models to describe the changes in ther-
mophysical properties of white onion slices as a function
of moisture content.
The objective of the present study is to obtain a
complete set of data of physical properties for three
onion varieties containing dry matters in the range of
8% to 17% (w/w) and to relate these data to water
content for further use. These data will be helpful in
better comprehension of combined microwave-convec-
tive drying of onions, the study at which our current
research activities was focused.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Onions
Three onion varieties, namely Sweet Vidalia, Spirit
and Niz, cultivated at the institute’s farm were used in
254 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262
the study. The onions were harvested each year in Au-
gust, and stored for a period of one year in a cold room
(4 °C). The dry matter content of onions stored for one
year was 3% lower than that of freshly harvested.
2.2. Sample preparation
Onions were peeled manually by removing the skin
and the first layer, and sliced using a kitchen scale food
processor (Moulinex). The slices, 3 mm thick, were then
placed on perforated trays made of metal, and dried in a
ventilated hot air oven at 55 °C to obtain the samples of
different moisture contents. Dried onions were cooled
to room temperature (25 °C) and then each sample was
divided into two portions, one portion was used for the
physical property determination and the other was used
for moisture determination.
2.3. Onion composition analysis
Moisture content: Seven grams of fine particles were
dried in a vacuum oven at 70 °C for 7 h.
Protein content: Kjeldahl method was employed to
determine the protein content of a 15 g sample.
Fat content: Two grams of particles were transferred
on a filter paper placed in a B€
uchner Funnel and washed
using 20 ml of water. After three repeated washings, the
samples were dryed at 70 °C in a vacuum oven. Then the
lipids in the sample were extracted into anhydrous ether
using a Soxlet extractor. After 4 h extraction period, the
solvent was evaporated with the help of a rotovapor,
cooled to room temperature and weighed.
Ash: Ten grams of onion were ignited in a muffle
furnace at 550 °C for 7 h.
Carbohydrate content: Carbohydrate content was
computed as the difference between total dry matter,
and proteins and fats.
2.3.1. Thermal properties (thermal conductivity, specific
heat capacity, diffusivity)
The thermal conductivity and the volumic heat ca-
pacity were measured using a CT meter (TELEPH,
Meylan, France). The range of the power which can be
provided is 0–2.5 W and the accuracy is 5% for thermal
conductivity and volumic heat capacity. The method
used is based on ISO standard 8894-1. The apparatus
measures the response of the product to a thermal shock
by the help of a flat probe. This flat probe is composed
of two parts: an annular heat source which heats the
product and a thermocouple sensor placed in the center
of the ring to measure the product temperature. Thus,
a known heat flux is transmitted through the product
during a selected heating period using the annular heat
source and the sensor is used to follow up the evolution
of the product temperature. The temperature increases
until a maximum, then decreases. This evolution of the
temperature depends upon the thermal characteristics of
the product. Using the heat diffusion equation, the
thermal conductivity and diffusivity of the product in
which the probe is embedded, are computed. They are
calculated from Eqs. (1) and (2). For the thermal
property determination, the probe was inserted into a
bed of ground onion powder and then the powder was
packed well to remove air pockets. This ensured a better
contact of the probe with the product. All measurements
were obtained at room temperature (25 °C).
Q
DT ¼ erfcðr2 =4atÞ ð°CÞ ð1Þ
4pk
where Q is the heat flux (W); k, the thermal conductivity
(W/m K); a, the thermal diffusivity (m2 /s); r, the sensor
radius (m); t, the time (s);
r2 tc
a¼ ð2Þ
6 ðtm  tc Þtm logðtm =tm  tc Þ
where tm is the time for reaching the maximum tem-
perature (s); tc , the heating time (s).
The volumic heat capacity Cv (J/m3 K) was calculated
using the equation:
k
a¼ ð3Þ
Cv
Thermal property measurement was done at room
temperature (25 °C). Knowing the density of the prod-
uct, specific heat capacity can be calculated using the
equation:
Cv
Cp ¼ ðJ=kg KÞ ð4Þ
q
where Cp , Cv and q represent the specific heat capacity,
the volumic heat capacity and the density respectively.
2.3.2. Structural properties (density and porosity)
Apparent density was measured by liquid displace-
ment method. Toluene was used as the liquid because the
onion pieces float on water. The picnoflasks were cali-
brated with distilled water at ambient temperature and
their average volume was determined to be 58.63 ml. The
density of toluene was 865:23  0:9 kg/m3 as determined
by triplicate analyses for each onion sample. Three rep-
licates were done for each onion sample. About 10 g of
finely cut onion were weighed precisely and then trans-
ferred into a half filled picnoflask and then filled with
toluene. After placing the lid the level of the liquid was
carefully adjusted. The volume of the onion sample was
calculated using the following formula:
Wtotal  Wpf  Wonion
Vonion ¼ Vpf  ðm3 Þ ð5Þ
qtoluene
where Vpf is the volume of picnoflask; Wtotal , the weight
of the picnoflask plus the sample and toluene (kg); Wpf ,
the weight of the picnoflask; Wonion , the weight of the
sample and qtoluene , the density of toluene.
 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262 255

Following equation was used to calculate the appar- contacting the probe onto a flat face of the product. The
ent density of the sample: signal reflected from this interface can be related to di-
Wonion electric properties of the product (Engelder & Bufler,
qapparent ¼ ðkg=m3 Þ ð6Þ 1991). The measurement system (HP 85070 dielectric
Vonion
probe kit) was equipped with a network analyzer, a
The true density at different water contents was esti-
coaxial probe, and an external computer loaded with
mated from the density of water and of the dry mater,
software for data analysis.
and the water fraction (wet basis) of each sample. Dry
Fresh onions were cut in halves longitudinally and
mater for density evaluation was obtained by grinding
the probe was placed on the cut surface. The dried
the lyophilized onion samples. The density evaluation of
samples were ground and packed into a little cylindrical
dry matter was done in three replicates. True density
container made of Teflon and the probe was placed on
was calculated as:
the free surface of the powder. For measurements
WDM þ Wwater
qtrue ¼ ðkg=m3 Þ ð7Þ at different temperatures, the container was held in a
VDM þ Vwater waveguide and heated by microwaves. The temperature
where WDM is the dry matter weight; Wwater , the weight of was recorded using an optical fiber temperature sensor.
water; VDM , the volume of dry matter and Vwater , the
volume of water. The true density may be expressed in
terms of the apparent density and water content as 3. Results and discussion
shown in the following equation:
qDM qwater 3.1. Chemical composition
qtrue ¼ ðkg=m3 Þ ð8Þ
qwater þ ½ X ðqDM  qwater Þ
Table 1 shows the chemical composition of three
where X is the water content (wet basis). onion varieties. Readers are referred to Fenwick and
Porosity (volume of the pores in a given volume of Hanley (1990) for more details on chemical composition
onion) was estimated using the true and apparent den- of onions. Composition of Spirit and Niz varieties were
sity values. The internal porosity was calculated using not contrastingly different but that of Sweet Vidalia
following equation: varied noticeably. Sweet Vidalia variety contained more
Vpores water and reducing sugar than those detected in the
e¼ ð9Þ
Vonion other two varieties. It was susceptible to rotting and
where Vpores is the volume of the internal pores and Vonion , sprouting during storage. Moreover, the pieces of Sweet
the volume of onion including pores. The following Vidalia onions remained stick together during drying,
formula shows the internal porosity as a function of mainly due to high sugar content and their physical
density: structure modified considerably (more shrinkage) when
compared to other varieties. Hence, this variety was
qapparent
e¼1 ð10Þ difficult to manipulate for physical property determi-
qtrue nation and yielded data with comparatively higher
standard deviations.
2.3.3. Dielectric properties (relative permittivity and loss
factor) 3.1.1. Thermal properties (thermal: conductivity, specific
An open-ended coaxial probe, which is a cutoff sec- heat capacity, diffusivity)
tion of transmission line, was used to measure the Thermal conductivity, specific heat and diffusivity
dielectric properties. The material was measured by values (at 25 °C) are given in Table 2. Thermal con-

Table 1
Chemical composition of three onion varieties
g/100 g of FMa g/100 g of DMb
Sweet Vidalia Spirit Niz Sweet Vidalia Spirit Niz
Water 92  0:23 88  0:56 83  0:51
Protein 1:02  0:08 0:7  0:05 1:17  0:08 15 6 6
Fat 0:44  0:09 0:55  0:17 0:43  0:08 6 4 2
Ash 0:45  0:03 0:4  0:02 0:58  0:04 6 3 3
Reducing sugars 4  0:4 3  0:3 2  0:1 50 29 11
Carbohydrates 4:4  0:4 6:2  0:4 5:4  0:5 56 52 32
Flavor volatilesc 4.9 2.7 0.8
a
FM: fresh matter.
b
DM: dry matter.
c
Flavor volatiles (number of mol/mg) were estimated in dried samples containing 5% (w/w) water.
256 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262

Table 2
Thermal properties (at 25 °C) of three onion varieties used in the study
Water per- Thermal Specifc heat Diffusivity 1007
centage (wb) conductivity (kJ/kg K) (m2 /s)
(W/m K)
Sweet Vidalia
92.00 0.54 4.01 1.45
85.81 0.55 4.22 1.36
58.21 0.28 2.47 1.14
46.21 0.27 2.15 1.22
44.92 0.29 2.63 1.06
33.56 0.23 1.74 1.28
32.85 0.28 2.37 1.15
26.11 0.14 1.06 1.28
21.71 0.12 1.07 1.03
13.64 0.18 1.30 1.31
5.87 0.13 0.87 1.43 Fig. 1. Variation of specific heat with moisture content of three onion
varieties (experimental and calculated using Eqs. (13) and (15)).
Spirit
87.66 0.50 3.79 1.39
75.48 0.42 2.88 1.51
58.46 0.27 2.64 1.03
49.89 0.34 2.62 1.27
44.93 0.29 2.17 1.27
30.76 0.25 1.92 1.26
22.10 0.18 1.50 1.14
15.62 0.15 1.34 1.09
1.67 0.12 0.94 1.26
Niz
81.34 0.47 3.37 1.44
72.13 0.46 3.42 1.37
62.79 0.40 2.98 1.35
47.98 0.37 2.82 1.27
24.76 0.24 1.83 1.27
24.46 0.30 2.19 1.3
18.56 0.24 1.86 1.24
13.67 0.24 1.88 1.23
0 0.14 Fig. 2. Variation of effective thermal conductivity with moisture con-
tent of three onion varieties (experimental and calculated using Eqs.
(14) and (16)).

ductivity changed from 0.55 W/m K for fresh onion to

0.09 W/m K for completely dried while the specific heat
capacity varied from 4.01 kJ/kg K for fresh to 0.9 kJ/
kg K. These properties varied linearly with moisture
content (Figs. 1 and 2). Use of the composition based
models to predict thermal properties is logical since any
changes in foods are reflected in those components.
Following two theoretical equations were used to pre-
dict thermal conductivity and specific heat of liquid
foods (Murakami & Okos, 1989):
X
k¼ Xiv ki ð11Þ
X of dry matter) and found that the predicted values were
Cp ¼ XiW Cpi
where Xiv , Xiw ,
ki and Cpi are the volumic fraction, mass
fraction, conductivity and specific heat of each consti-
tituent, respectively.
Eq. (12) could be expressed as follows:
Cp ¼ 1:547Xc þ 1:711Xp þ 1:928Xf þ 0:908Xa þ 4:180Xw
k ¼ 0:25Xc þ 0:155Xp þ 0:16Xf þ 0:135Xa þ 0:58Xw
ð14Þ
where Xc , Xp , Xf , Xa , and Xw are the mass fractions of
carbohydrates, proteins, fats, ash and water, respec-
tively. According to Murakami and Okos (1989), these
models are largely erroneous for porous foods, and the
thermal conductivity model is not valid. Rapusas and
Driscoll (1995) tested the above specific heat model and
a thermal conductivity model (Eq. (14)) established by
Sweat (1986), with Southport White Globe onions (17%
ð12Þ
higher than the experimental.
Even though thermal conductivity is a metric value,
the weight fractions of the constituents were used in Eq.
(14) because the equation was established using an ex-
perimental dataset of about 430 values. The predicted
values were plotted for the three onion varieties used in
this study (Figs. 1 and 2). Similar trends were evident for
ð13Þ three varieties. Predicted specific heat agrees well with
 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262
experimental data for Niz, but were noticeably different
for the other two. This may be due to the porosity which
is not a parameter of Eq. (13). Moreover, there was
certain error in prescribing the specific heat of a given
component. For example, the specific heat of milk
protein is probably different from the specific heat of
soy protein (Sweat, 1986). The thermal conductivity
predicted by Eq. (14) was very high. As explained by
Rapusas and Driscoll (1995), the effect of lower con-
ductivity and specific heat of air phase had a decreasing
effect on these properties because the drying increases
the porosity. Thus, the air proportion inside the product
increases and tends to minimize the measured values for
thermal properties.
Moreover, even though, the experimental values at
different water contents seemed to be slightly dependent
upon the variety, if we consider the dry matter content,
the thermal conductivity or specific heat are very close
for the three varieties (see Figs. 1 and 2). Hence, the
following two Eqs. (15) and (16) were fitted to the
conductivity and specific heat data relating to the water
content, regardless of the variety.
Cp ¼ 0:9ð1  X Þ þ 4:18X ðkJ=kg KÞ ð15Þ
K ¼ 0:12ð1  X Þ þ 0:6X ðW=m KÞ ð16Þ
Specific heat and thermal conductivity of water at 25 °C
are 4.18 kJ/kg K and 0.6 W/m K, respectively, whereas a
mean value of the specific heat (0.9 kJ/kg K) or the
thermal conductivity (0.12 W/m K) of all constituents,
including that of the air phase, should be used to rep-
resent the dry matter. Similar correlations (Eqs. (17) and
(19)) were reported by Miles, Van Beek, and Veerkamp
(1983).
Cp ¼ Cp0 ð1  X Þ þ Cpw X ðkJ=kg KÞ ð17Þ
where Cpw is the specific heat of water and Cp0 is the
apparent specific heat of the dried product, given by
Cp0 ¼ ða0 þ 0:001T Þ 4:19 kJ=kg K ð18Þ
where T is the temperature in °C and a0 , a food-specific
constant given for different foodstuffs.
K ¼ ks ð1  X Þ þ 0:6X ð19Þ
where ks is the thermal conductivity of the dry matter.
For moisture contents higher than 30%, a linear re-
lationship between thermal diffusivity and the moisture
fraction (w/w wet basis) was observed by Riedel cited by
Bimbenet and Loncin (1995), Kostaropoulos and Sar-
avacos (1997) and Miles et al. (1983). Thermal diffusivity
values obtained for three onion varieties and the values
predicted using the model established by Riedel (Eq.
(20)) are shown in Fig. 3.
6 6
a ¼ 0:088 10 þ ðaw  0:088 10 ÞX ð20Þ
Published values of thermal diffusivity of a variety of
moist foods are in good agreement with the values
257
Fig. 3. Variation of thermal diffusivity with moisture content of three
onion varieties (experimental and calculated using Eq. (20)).
predicted by the Riedel’s linear model (Kostaropoulos &
Saravacos, 1997) and this is confirmed by our experi-
mental data except for the Sweet Vidalia variety at lower
water contents. This variety is more porous than the two
others and, as discussed earlier, the physical structure of
this variety is largely modified by drying. Kostaropoulos
and Saravacos (1997) reported that the thermal dif-
fusivity of foods is affected strongly by the physical
structure of the food material.
However, it can be noticed that this equation as ex-
plained above is not valid for our data for a moisture
content lower than 30%. Thus the extrapolation is not
valid for dry products. The anomalous behavior of dif-
fusivity at low moistures is characteristic of porous
and granular foods. The thermal diffusivity of the air
(2:25 105 m2 /s) is about 150 times higher than that of
liquid water (1:45 107 m2 /s) at 25 °C and atmospheric
pressure. Therefore, foods with high porosity are ex-
pected to have higher thermal diffusivity than foods with
low porosity at equal water content.
3.1.2. Structural properties (density and porosity)
The density and porosity data are given in Table 3.
Assuming the volume of each food constituent remains
constant on mixing, in theory, the density of a food can
be calculated using the following composition based
equation (Miles et al., 1983; Murakami & Okos, 1989):
1
q ¼ P Xi ð21Þ
qi
where Xi is the mass faction and qi , the density of each
constituent, respectively. This equations is valid only for
non-porous foods and could be written for porous foods
as follows:
1
q ¼ ð1  eÞ P Xi ðMiles et al:; 1983Þ ð22Þ
qi
where e is the porosity of the food. Average density for
the fats, carbohydrates, proteins and water are 930,
258 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262

Table 3
Structural properties of three onion varieties used in the study e ¼ 0:255  0:43X þ 0:25X 3 ð26Þ
Water percentage Apparent True density Porosity Sweet Vidalia
(wet basis) density (kg/m3 ) (kg/m3 ) q ¼ 1010 þ 282X  762X 2 þ 399X 3 ð0:95Þ ð27Þ
Sweet Vidalia 3
e ¼ 0:37  0:46X þ 0:25X ð28Þ
92.00 940 1025 0.083
82.51 934 1059.1 0.118 Experimental and predicted values are shown in Figs.
76.37 971 1082.3 0.103 4 and 5.
60.27 983 1148.5 0.144
45.93 1024 1214.6 0.157
The relation between the volume of pores and the
33.56 1030 1278 0.194 volume of water evaporated during drying is shown in
26.11 1046 1319.5 0.207 Fig. 6. Two distinct periods can be seen for each variety:
11.85 1023 1407 0.273 one with a slow increase in slope, and the other with a
0.00 1014 1489 0.319 sharp increase. This could be attributed to the shrinkage
Spirit of onion pieces during the first period. When the prod-
87.66 1002 1040.3 0.037 uct dried to a certain degree, shrinkage was limited,
75.48 1064 1085.8 0.020 resulting in the increase of slope of the curve.
58.46 1077 1156.4 0.069
49.89 1101 1195.5 0.079
44.93 1112 1219.4 0.088 3.1.3. Dielectric properties (relative permittivity (dielec-
30.76 1096 1293.3 0.153 tric constant) and loss factor)
22.10 1125 1343 0.162 Dielectric constant is equivalent to the relative per-
15.62 1114 1382.8 0.194
mittivity (er ¼ e=e0 ), or the permittivity relative to free
1.67 1149 1476.9 0.222
Niz
81.34 1044 1063.4 0.018
81.08 1032 1064.4 0.030
62.79 1111 1137.6 0.023
47.98 1167 1204.6 0.031
24.46 1204 1329.1 0.094
18.56 1229 1364.4 0.099
13.67 1196 1395.1 0.143
Standard deviations varied from 3–41 to the apparent density values.

1550, 1380 and 995 kg/m3 , respectively. The problem

with this model is the lack of accurate method to mea-
sure porosity. It has been a common practice to calcu-
late porosity from density and density reported in this
study were also calculated using porosity data. Hence, Fig. 4. Variation of density with moisture content of three onion va-
Eq. (20) is of little use. Lozano, Rotstein, and Urbicain rieties (experimental and calculated using Eqs. (23) and (25)–(27)).
(1983) studied the evolution of apparent density and
porosity of pears, carrots, potatoes, sweat potatoes and
garlic with moisture content and proposed a general
empirical model for density. According to his experi-
mental data, there was no homogeneity of behavior for
both density and porosity.
Regardless of not having a physical meaning, the
following equations, which are similar to those devel-
oped by Rapusas and Driscoll (1995), could be fitted to
porosity and density at different water contents for each
onion variety.
Niz
q ¼ 1322  715X þ 1268X 2  1004X 3 ð0:99Þ ð23Þ
3
e ¼ 0:193  0:39X þ 0:25X ð24Þ
Spirit Fig. 5. Variation of internal porosity with moisture content of three
onion varieties (calculated with the help of density data and using Eqs.
q ¼ 1154  318X þ 744X 2  656X 3 ð0:95Þ ð25Þ (24) and (26)–(28)).
 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262 259

Table 4
Dielectric properties of three onion varieties used in the study
Water percentage e0 e00 Penetration
(wet basis) depth (cm)
Sweet Vidalia
91.76 70.35 14.35 2.29
85.38 69.34 16.51 1.98
75.62 64.31 21.38 1.48
65.24 53.77 22.28 1.31
50.76 26.30 15.33 1.35
27.78 6.32 2.93 3.43
19.97 5.35 2.54 3.64
15.38 2.74 0.33 19.46
6.16 2.12 0.23 24.72
0 1.64 0.19 27.46
Spirit
89.84 0.06 15.11 2.11
Fig. 6. Volume the pores created vs volume of water evaporated. 85.56 0.05 16.91 1.87
77.47 0.20 18.59 1.67
58.02 0.19 18.51 1.32
space. The permittivity in free space, e0 is about 40.66 0.10 9.54 1.67
8:854 1012 . 19.93 0.01 5.32 2.31
The complex relative permittivity is equal to: 10.53 0.09 0.93 8.14
 0   00  8.16 0.04 0.57 9.50
e e 2.49 0.00 0.38 13.87
er ¼ j ð29Þ
e0 e0 Niz
The real part of the complex permittivity (e0r ¼ e0 =e0 ) 83.60 60.19 14.69 2.08
70.91 61.68 19.68 1.58
expresses the degree to which an electric field may build 53.41 45.48 18.95 1.42
up within a material when a dielectric field is applied to 35.34 28.25 14.27 1.50
the material. The imaginary part of the complex per- 31.57 22.50 11.97 1.60
mittivity (e00r ¼ e00 =e0 ), called the loss factor, is a measure 25.32 7.00 2.39 4.38
of how dissipative or lossy a material is to an external 17.79 3.42 0.68 10.67
12.69 2.94 0.34 19.90
electric field. The loss factor includes the effects of both 6.09 2.47 0.17 35.33
dielectric loss and conductivity (Application Note 1217- 3.36 2.44 0.15 40.21
1, 1992; Schiffmann, 1995). 0 172 0.19 26.97
Relative permittivity and loss factor measured at
ambient temperature (28–30 °C) at different water con-
tents are given in Table 4. These properties at different Figs. 7 and 8 show the accuracy of these general
temperatures and for some samples are given in Table 5. models. As shown in Fig. 7, permittivity decreased
Table 4 also gives the penetration depth calculated at slowly at the higher and lower water contents. A sharp
different water contents using the following formula
decrease was observed from about 75% to 30% water.
(Decareau, 1985):
Initially, the loss factor increased up to about 70% water
pffiffiffi 2 0sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 00 2ffi
130:5
content, and then decreased. When the water content
k0 2 4 0 @ e
D¼ e 1þ  1A 5 ð30Þ was lower than 30%, e00 was very low. Schiffmann (1995)
2p e0 defined a critical moisture content, below which the
water exists primarily as bound water. The dielectric loss
where D is the depth at which the available power in the of bound water is very low since it is not free to rotate
material has dropped to about 37% of its value at the under the influence of the electromagnetic field (analo-
surface, and k0 , the free space wavelength (12.2 cm). gous with ice). The critical moisture content for highly
The dielectric properties did not vary between vari- hygroscopic materials occurs between 9% and 29% of
eties. Following two polynomial equations were fitted to water (wet basis).
experimental data regardless of the variety. The permittivity values decreased from 66 to 1.6 as
e0 ¼ 206:76X 3 þ 316:81X 2  44:99X þ 3:8099 the onions were dried. Loss factor also decreased from
15.5 to 0.20. The microwave power absorbed by a ma-
ðR2 ¼ 0:98Þ ð31Þ
terial is proportional to the loss factor. Hence it is not
efficient to dry with microwaves at low water content
e00 ¼ 139:67X 3 þ 154:46X 2  10:111X þ 0:0624
which we also observed during our drying experiments
ðR2 ¼ 0:95Þ ð32Þ (Abhayawick, Laguerre, & Duquenoy, 2000).
260 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262

Table 5
Dielectric properties of three onion varieties at different temperatures
Sweet Vidalia Spirit Niz
Water h e0 e00 Water h e0 e00 Water h e0 e00
percentage percentage percentage
(wet basis) (wet basis) (wet basis)
92 18 65.79 11.39 88 26 69.07 14.76 83 18.2 66.33 15.48
18 72.17 11.68 40 66.63 10.25 40 58.78 11.21
40 66.59 8.60 60 64.25 9.17 60 58.19 10.80
65 64.46 7.86 90 63.32 8.94 80 57.33 10.26
73 64.27 7.70 90 61.32 8.41 90 56.59 9.76
80 61.67 7.25 99 58.95 8.76 70.9 33 58.75 18.93
90 59.48 6.86 60 57.18 18.34
75.6 30 55.80 20.70 80 56.72 18.28
40 54.96 20.33 92 55.72 18.21
53.7 54.65 20.19 96 54.25 18.17
61.3 54.18 20.12 97 48.86 16.36
71.8 53.36 20.01 53.4 32 42.98 18.70
86.2 52.17 19.76 57 44.06 18.33
90 50.97 19.59 75 45.56 18.42
97 49.44 19.45 88 45.73 18.29
100 40.54 14.93 95 46.34 18.28
50.8 28 30.92 18.63 101 46.30 18.09
32 31.31 18.52 31.6 30 19.24 10.57
42 34.13 18.62 48 20.15 10.82
60 34.05 17.60 85 21.74 10.89

70 36.22 18.06 17.8 40 2.72 0.55

90 37.68 18.82 60 2.65 0.56
95 38.92 18.74 70 2.72 0.58
98.8 39.87 19.82 86 2.87 0.65
110 39.67 19.02 100 3.19 0.76
20 28 5.81 2.91 110 3.70 0.96
60 5.80 2.96
70 5.85 3.04
77 5.96 3.16
85 6.15 3.39
90 6.47 3.68
6.16 28 2.37 0.28
43 2.17 0.27
50 2.12 0.24
58 2.06 0.25
76 1.89 0.19
97 1.98 0.14

Fig. 7. Variation of dielectric permittivity with moisture content of Fig. 8. Variation of dielectric loss factor with moisture content of three
three onion varieties (experimental and calculated using Eq. (31)). onion varieties (experimental and calculated using Eq. (32)).
 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262
Fig. 9. Variation of the penetration depth of microwaves during drying
(depth from the surface of the onion bed, calculated using Eq. (30)).
Fig. 10. Variation of the loss factor with temperature for the samples
containing different water percentages.
As depicted in Fig. 9, when the water content was
low, the penetration depth was higher. Below 30% of
water, the penetration depth increased and drying was
not more efficient for a thin layer of product. However,
during our experiments, we observed an overheating
phenomena at this transition level which could be ex-
plained by the decrease of the specific heat at lower
water content. Low specific heat favored the increase in
temperature even though the absorption was lower.
Furthermore the slight increase of e00 at this level
(Fig. 10) favored the temperature increase because of the
lower conductivity and diffusivity.
4. Conclusions
A complete set of data on the physical properties was
obtained for three onion varieties containing dry matter
ranging from 8% to 17% (w/w). The variation of these
properties as a function of the water content was mod-
261
eled. These models will be included in combined mi-
crowave and hot air drying of onions. The results
contributed to the better understanding of this process
on which our research has focussed.
Acknowledgements
Commission of the European Communities, Agri-
culture and Fisheries (FAIR) specific RTD programme,
CT95-465, is gratefully acknowledged for the financial
support accorded to this study. It does not necessarily
reflect its views and in no way anticipates the Commis-
sion’s future policy in this area.
References
Abhayawick, L., Laguerre, J. C., & Duquenoy, A. (2000). Optimiza-
tion of process conditions for combined microwave and convective
drying of onions. In: Proceedings of the 8th International congress
on engineering and food, Mexico.
Application Note 1217-1. (1992). Basics of measuring the dielectric
properties of materials. Hewlett-Packard literature, p. 15.
Bimbenet, J.-J., & Loncin, M. (1995). Bases du g
enie des proc
ed
es
alimentaires (pp. 248–250). Paris: Masson.
Decareau, R. V. (1985). Microwaves in the food processing industry.
Florida: Academic Press, Inc.
Engelder, D. S., & Bufler, C. R. (1991). Measuring dielectric properties
of food products at microwave frequencies. Microwave World,
12(2), 2–11.
Fenwick, G. R., & Hanley, A. B. (1990). Chemical composition. In J.
L. Brewster, & H. D. Rabinowitch (Eds.), Onions and allied crops
(pp. 17–31). Florida: CRC Press, Inc.
Kent, M. (1987). Electrical and dielectric properties of food materials: a
bibliography and tabulated data, London. England: Science and
Technology Publishers.
Kostaropoulos, A. E., & Saravacos, G. D. (1997). Thermal diffusivity
of granular and porous foods at low moisture content. Journal of
Food Engineering, 33, 101–109.
Lozano, J. E., Rotstein, E., & Urbicain, M. J. (1983). Shrinkage,
porosity and bulk density of foodstuffs at changing moisture
contents. Journal of Food Science, 48, 1497–1553.
Miles, C. A., Van Beek, G., & Veerkamp, C. H. (1983). Calculation of
thermophysical properties of foods. In R. Jowitt, F. Escher, M.
Kent, B. M. Mckenna, & M. A. Roques (Eds.), Phisical properties
of foods (pp. 269–312). Amsterdam: Elsevier Applied Science
Publishers.
Murakami, E. G., & Okos, M. R. (1989). Measurement and prediction
of thermal properties of foods. In R. P. Singh, & A. G. Medina
(Eds.), Food properties and computer-aided engineering of food
processing systems (pp. 3–48). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
Rapusas, R. S., & Driscoll, R. H. (1995). Thermophysical properties of
fresh and dried white onion slices. Journal of Food Engineering, 24,
149–164.
Schiffmann, R. F. (1995). Microwave and dielectric drying. In A. S.
Mujumdar (Ed.), Handbook of industrial drying (pp. 345–372). New
York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.
Sweat, V. E. (1974). Experimental values of thermal conductivity of
selected fruits and vegetables. Journal of Food Science, 39, 1080–
1083.
262 L. Abhayawick et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 55 (2002) 253–262

Sweat, V. E. (1986). Thermal properties of foods. In M. A. Rao, & S. Tinga, W. R., & Nelson, S. O. (1973). Dielectric properties of materials
S. H. Rizvi (Eds.), Engineering properties of foods (pp. 49–87). New for microwave processing—Tabulated. Journal of Microwave
York: Marcel Dekker Inc. Power, 8(1), 23–65.