SPECIFIC HEAT

Thermal Properties of Food

 SPECIFIC HEAT

Specific heat is the amount of heat required

to increase the temperature of a unit mass
of the substance by unit degree. Therefore,
its unit is J/kg K in the SI system.

The specific heat depends on the nature of

the process of heat addition in terms of
either a constant pressure process or a
constant volume process.
However, because specific heats of
solids and liquids do not depend on
pressure much, except extremely high
pressures, and because pressure
changes in heat transfer problems of
agricultural materials are usually
small, the specific heat at constant
pressure is considered (Mohsenin,
1980).
 Prediction of Specific Heat

The specific heats of foodstuffs depend

very much on their composition. Knowing
the specific heat of each component of a
mixture is usually sufficient to predict the
specific heat of the mixture (Sweat,1995).

Heldman (1975) proposed the following

equation to estimate the specific heat of
foodstuffs using the mass fraction of its
constituents (water, protein, fat,
carbohydrate, and ash):

cp = 4.180Xw water + 1.547Xwprot +

Choi and Okos (1986) suggested the
following equation for products containing n
components:

cp = (Xwi . cpi )

Where:

Xwi = mass fraction of component i ,

cpi = specific heat of component i (J/kg K).
The temperature dependence of specific heat of
major food components has been studied. The
specific heat of pure water, carbohydrate (CHO),
protein, fat, ash, and ice at different
temperatures can be expressed empirically in
J/kgC according to Choi and Okos (1986) as
follows:

cpwater = 4081.7 5.3062 T + 0.99516T 2 (for

40 to 0C)

cpwater = 4176.2 0.0909 T + 5.4731 103 T

2
(for 0 to 150C)

cpCHO = 1548.8 + 1.9625 T 5.9399 103 T 2

(for 40 to 50C)
cpprot = 2008.2 + 1.2089 T 1.3129
103 T 2 (for40to150C)

cpfat = 1984.2 + 1.4373 T 4.8008

103 T2 (for 40 to 150C)

cpash = 1092.6 + 1.8896 T 3.6817

103 T 2 (for 40 to 150C)

cpice = 2062.3 + 6.0769 T

where temperature (T ) is in (C) in these

equations.
Specific heat of moist air can be
expressed as a function of relative
humidity (RH) of air (Riegel,1992):

cpmoist air = cpdry air(1 + 0.837RH)

Generally, experimentally determined specific
heat is higher than the predicted value.

The reason may be the presence of bound

water, variation of specific heat of the
component phases with the source and
interaction of the component phases
(Rahman, 1995).

Rahman (1993) considered the excess specific

heat, cex, due to the interaction of the
component phases and proposed the following
equation:
Rahman (1993) correlated the excess specific
heat for fresh seafood as:
These equations are valid in a temperature
change when there is no phase change. If
there is a phase change, latent heat must be
incorporated. This is accomplished by using a
new term, apparent specific heat, which
includes both latent and sensible heat:
Estimate the specific heat of potatoes
containing 85% water.

Data:

cpwater = 4186.80 J/kgK

cpnonfat solids = 837.36 J/kgK
Solution:

Using Eq. (3.95) as suggested by Choi and

Okos (1986):
 Approximate Composition of Wild Rice

Component Weight
(%)

Water 8.5
Carbohydrate 75.3
Protein 14.1
Fat 0.7
Ash 1.4

Determine the specific heat of wild rice grain

at 20C using Heldmans equation and Choi
and Okoss equations. Compare results.
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