Design of Ohmic Thawing Cell with Hydrostatic Pressure Units: Application in Minced Beef

The thawing process is a common processing method used in the meat industry. To ensure provide food safety and protect meat quality, the thawing process should be carried out carefully. Ohmic thawing (OT) is one of the novel thawing methods. In this study, a custom-designed ohmic thawing prototype was set up and used to thaw frozen minced beef samples in different shapes (X: 13 × 4 × 3 cm3; Y: 13 × 6 × 2 cm3; Z: 13 cm height × 3.91 cm diameter) at 3 different voltage gradients (10–13-16 V/cm) by using 3 different electrode designs (E1, titanium foil; E2, needle type titanium electrode; E3, titanium embossed). The optimum OT condition resulting in a high-quality product with the highest process efficiency was determined. As an optimization procedure, a three-level general factorial design was performed. Thawing time, drip loss, thawing ratio, maximum temperature, ohmic power consumption, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency values were used as responses. The cylindrical sample shape resulted in higher changes in quality and decreased performance of the process. The optimum ohmic thawing condition was a 16 V/cm voltage gradient for Y-shaped samples by using an E2 electrode design. The thawing time for the optimum condition was 2074s corresponding ohmic power consumption of 15.84 W. The drip loss during thawing was measured at 1.20%. The maximum temperature reached during the thawing process was recorded as 15.90 °C. Energy efficiency and exergy efficiency values were greater than 35%. Based on these results, the overall desirability of the ohmic thawing method was evaluated as 0.755. The obtained desirability value indicated the ohmic thawing method to be highly efficient and effective in achieving optimal thawing outcomes. The results of this study could give valuable information on the design of industrial-scale ohmic heating units to be used with solid foods, especially for thawing purposes.