CHAPTER 2:

THE BASIC MODES OF

HEAT TRANSFER (PART I)
CH2035 FOOD ENGINEERING 2
Semester 1, 2024-2025

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OUTLINE:
▪Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
▪Heat Conduction
▪Thermal Conductivity
▪Specific Heat
▪Thermal Diffusivity

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MECHANISMS OF HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Any analysis of the processing of foods must be based on a
thorough understanding of heat, momentum & mass transfer.
➢It is self-evident that a knowledge of heat transfer to and within
foods (both solids and fluids) is important;
➢The common food processing operations, involving the heat
transfer : sterilisation, evaporation, freezing, drying.
▪ Heat is defined as the form of energy that can be transferred
from one system to another as a result of temperature
difference.
➢ The transfer of energy as heat is always from the higher-
temperature medium to the lower-temperature one, and heat
transfer stops when the two mediums reach the same
temperature.
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MECHANISMS OF HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Heat can be transferred in three different modes:
conduction, convection, and radiation.
➢ All modes of heat transfer require the existence of a
temperature difference, and all modes are from the high-
temperature medium to a lower-temperature one.

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 MECHANISMS OF HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Conduction is heat transfer by means of
molecular agitation within a material
without any motion of the material as a
whole.
➢ Higher speed particles will collide with the
slower ones, with a net transfer of energy to
the slower ones.
▪ Convection is heat transfer by mass motion
of a fluid such as air or water when the heated
fluid is caused to move away from the source
of heat, carrying energy with it.
▪ Radiation is heat transfer by
electromagnetic waves such as visible light,
Ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation.
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MECHANISMS OF HEAT TRANSFER
▪ Any electromagnetic wave
above absolute zero
radiates heat.

▪ Heat transfer is the science which deals with the rates of

energy transfer.
▪ Thermodynamics is the science which deals with the
equilibrium states of matter and precludes the existence
of a temperature gradient.
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HEAT CONDUCTION
▪ Conduction is the transfer of energy from the more energetic
particles of a substance to the adjacent less energetic ones as a
result of interactions between the particles.
➢ Conduction can take place in solids, liquids, or gases.
➢ In gases and liquids, conduction is due to the collisions and
diffusion of the molecules during their random motion.
➢ In solids, it is due to the combination of vibrations of the
molecules in a lattice & the energy transport by free electrons.
▪ A cold canned drink in a warm room, for example,
eventually warms up to the room temperature as a
result of heat transfer from the room to the drink
through the aluminum can by conduction.
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 HEAT CONDUCTION
▪ The rate of heat conduction through a medium depends on
the geometry of the medium, its thickness, and the
material of the medium, as well as the temperature
difference across the medium.
➢A hot water tank is wrapped with glass wool (an insulating
material) reduces the rate of heat loss from the tank.
❖ The thicker the insulation, the smaller the heat loss.
➢A hot water tank loses heat at a higher rate when the
temperature of the room housing the tank is lowered.
❖ Further, the larger the tank, the larger the surface area
and thus the rate of heat loss.
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 HEAT CONDUCTION
▪ Consider steady heat conduction through a large
plane wall of thickness ∆x = L and area A, see Fig. 1.
➢ Temperature difference across the wall, ∆T = T2 - T1
➢ Experiments have shown that the heat transfer rate,
Q through the wall is doubled when the
temperature difference ∆T across the wall or the
area A normal to the direction of heat transfer is
doubled, but Q is halved when the wall thickness L Fig.1: Heat
is doubled. conduction
through a
➢ The heat conduction rate through a plane layer is
proportional to the temperature difference across large plane
the layer & the heat transfer area, but is inversely wall of
proportional to the thickness of the layer. thickness x &
area A.
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HEAT CONDUCTION

➢ where the constant of proportionality k is the thermal

conductivity of the material, which is a measure of the
ability of a material to conduct heat.
▪ In the limiting case of ∆x → 0, the equation above reduces to
the differential form:

➢ which is called Fourier’s law of heat conduction.

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 HEAT CONDUCTION
➢ The dT/dx is the temperature gradient, which is the slope
of the temperature curve on a T-x diagram (the rate of
change of T with x), at location x.
➢ The relation above indicates that the rate of heat
conduction in a given direction is proportional to the
temperature gradient in that direction.
➢ Heat is conducted in the direction of decreasing
temperature, and the temperature gradient becomes
negative when temperature decreases with increasing x.
➢ The negative sign in the equation ensures that heat transfer
in the positive x direction is a positive quantity.
➢ The heat transfer area A is always normal to the direction
of heat transfer.
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 HEAT CONDUCTION

Fig.3: In heat
Fig.2: The rate of heat conduction conduction analysis, A
through a solid is directly proportional represents the area
to its thermal conductivity. normal to the direction
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of heat transfer.
 HEAT CONDUCTION
EXAMPLE 1:
▪ One face of a stainless-steel plate 1 cm thick is
maintained at 110°C, & the other face is at 90°C.
➢ The thermal conductivity of stainless steel is
17 W/(m °C).
➢ Assuming steady-state conditions, calculate
Heat flow in a
the rate of heat transfer per unit area through
plate.
the plate.
SOLUTION:
𝑑𝑇
𝑄 = −𝑘𝐴
𝑑𝑥
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 HEAT CONDUCTION
EXAMPLE 2:
▪ In an experiment to measure the heat transfer
rate of meat, beef was formed into a square
section block 5 cm × 5 cm and 1 cm thick.
➢The temperatures of each face were measured with
thermocouples and found to be 28.5 and 23.3◦C,
respectively.
➢The thermal conductivity of beef, k is 0.615 Wm−1 K−1
➢The edges of the block were insulated and heat was
supplied continuously to one face of the block.
➢What is the heat transfer rate?
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HEAT CONDUCTION
▪ The differential form of Fourier’s law:
𝑑𝑇
𝑄 = −𝑘𝐴
𝑑𝑥
2 28.5−23.3
𝑄 = −(0.615 𝑊𝑚−1 𝐾 −1 ) 0.05𝑚
0−0.01𝑚
= 0.80 W.

➢ Note: The temperature difference across the block of

5.2◦C is equal to a temperature difference of 5.2 K.

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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ The thermal conductivity of a material can be defined as
the rate of heat transfer through a unit thickness of the
material per unit area per unit temperature difference.
➢ The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of the
ability of the material to conduct heat.
➢ A high value for thermal conductivity indicates that the
material is a good heat conductor, and a low value
indicates that the material is a poor heat conductor or
insulator.
➢ In SI units, thermal conductivity:

➢ Note that W/(m°C) is same as W/(m K). bblee@unimap.edu.my

THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ There is wide variability in the magnitude of thermal
conductivity values for commonly encountered materials.
■ Metals: 50 - 400 W/(m oC)
■ Alloys: 10 - 120 W/(m oC)
■ Water: 0.597 W/(m oC) (at 20 oC)
■ Air: 0.0251 W/(m oC) (at 20 oC)
■ Insulating materials: 0.035 - 0.173 W/(m oC)
▪ Most high-moisture foods have thermal conductivity values
closer to that of water.
▪ The thermal conductivity of dried, porous foods is
influenced by the presence of air with its low value.
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THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
Material Temperature (◦C) Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)
Air 52 0.0282
Water 20 0.603
Apple juice 25 0.55
Apple sauce 23 0.692
Butter 4 0.197
Fish (fresh) 0 0.43–0.54
Fish (frozen) − 10 1.2
Honey 2–70 0.50–0.62
Ice −25 0.45
Milk (whole) 20 0.50–0.53
Peanut oil 4 0.168
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ The thermal conductivity of pure copper (metal) at room
temperature is k = 400 W/m · °C, which indicates that a 1-m-
thick copper wall will conduct heat at a rate of 400 W per m2
area per °C temperature difference across the wall.
➢ Copper is a good electric conductor are also a good heat
conductor, and have high values of thermal conductivity.
➢ Materials such as rubber, wood, and Styrofoam are poor
conductors of heat and have low conductivity values.
▪ Fig.4 shows a simple experimental setup to measure the
thermal conductivity of a material.
➢ A layer of material of known thickness and area can be
heated from one side by an electric resistance heater of
known output.
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THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
➢ If the outer surfaces of the heater are
well insulated, all the heat generated
by the resistance heater will be
transferred through the material
whose conductivity is to be
determined.
➢ Then measuring the two surface
temperatures of the material when
steady heat transfer is reached and
together with other known quantities Fig. 4: A simple
give the thermal conductivity. experimental setup to
determine the thermal
conductivity of a material.
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energies of the
particles such as the molecules or atoms of a substance.
➢ In a liquid or gas, the kinetic energy of the molecules is due to
their random translational motion as well as their vibrational
and rotational motions.
➢ When two molecules possessing different kinetic energies
collide, part of the kinetic energy of the more energetic
(higher-temperature) molecule is transferred to the less
energetic (lower temperature) molecule, much the same as
when two elastic balls of the same mass at different velocities
collide, part of the kinetic energy of the faster ball is
transferred to the slower one.
➢ The higher the temperature, the faster the molecules move
and the higher the number of such collisions, and the better
the heat transfer.
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ The kinetic theory of gases predicts and the experiments
confirm that the thermal conductivity of gases is proportional
to the square root of the thermodynamic temperature T, and
inversely proportional to the square root of the molar mass M.
𝑻
𝒌∝
𝑴
➢ The thermal conductivity of a gas increases with increasing
temperature and decreasing molar mass.
➢ So it is not surprising that the thermal conductivity of helium (M
= 4, k = 0.152 W/m · °C) is much higher than those of air (M =
29 , k = 0.026 W/m · °C) & argon (M = 40 , k = 0.016 W/m · °C).
➢ The thermal conductivity of gases is independent of
pressure in a wide range of pressures encountered in practice.
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ The mechanism of heat conduction in a liquid is complicated
by the fact that the molecules are more closely spaced, and they
exert a stronger intermolecular force field.
➢The thermal conductivities of liquids usually lie between
those of solids and gases.
➢The thermal conductivity of a substance is normally the
highest in the solid phase and the lowest in the gas phase.
➢Unlike gases, the thermal conductivities of most liquids
decrease with increasing temperature, with water being a
notable exception.
➢Like gases, the conductivity of liquids decreases with
increasing molar mass.
➢Liquid metals (e.g., mercury & sodium) have high thermal
conductivities and are suitable for use in applications where a
high heat transfer rate to a liquid is desired, as in nuclear
power plants.
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ In solids, heat conduction
is due to two effects:
➢ the lattice vibrational
waves induced by the
vibrational motions of
the molecules positioned
at relatively fixed
positions in a periodic
manner called a lattice,
➢ the energy transported Fig. 5: The range of
via the free flow of thermal conductivity
of various materials
electrons in the solid.
at room temperature.
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THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

Fig. 6: The mechanisms of heat conduction

in different phases of a substance.
▪ The thermal conductivity of a solid is obtained by adding
the lattice and electronic components.
➢The relatively high thermal conductivities of pure
metals are primarily due to the electronic component.
➢The lattice component of thermal conductivity strongly
depends on the way the molecules are arranged.
➢For example, diamond, which is a highly ordered
crystalline solid, has the highest known thermal
conductivity at room temperature. bblee@unimap.edu.my
 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
▪ The thermal conductivities of materials vary with
temperature.
➢The variation of thermal conductivity over certain
temperature ranges is negligible for some materials, but
significant for others.
➢The thermal conductivities of certain solids exhibit
dramatic increases at temperatures near absolute zero,
when these solids become superconductors.
➢For example, the conductivity of copper reaches a
maximum value of about 20,000 W/m ·°C at 20 K, which is
about 50 times the conductivity at room temperature.
▪ The temperature dependence of thermal conductivity
causes considerable complexity in conduction analysis.
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 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
➢Therefore, it is common practice to
evaluate the thermal conductivity k at
the average temperature and treat it as a
constant in calculations.
▪ In heat transfer analysis, a material is
normally assumed to be isotropic - to have
uniform properties in all directions.
➢Except those that exhibit different
structural characteristics in different
directions, such as laminated composite
materials & wood.
➢The thermal conductivity of wood across
the grain, for example, is different than
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 SPECIFIC HEAT
▪ Specific heat is the quantity of heat that is gained or lost by
a unit mass of product to accomplish a unit change in
temperature, without a change in state.

➢where Q is heat gained or lost (kJ), m is mass (kg), Δ T is

temperature change in the material (°C), and cp is specific
heat (kJ/[kg °C]).
➢In thermodynamics, two kinds of specific
heats are interested: specific heat at
constant pressure cp and specific heat at
constant volume cv.
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 SPECIFIC HEAT
▪ Please take note:
➢ Heat capacity (cp) - the amount of heat required to raise
the temperature of an object by 1K [Unit: J/g.K or kJ/kg.K]
➢ Specific heat (or specific heat capacity & also called as
massic heat capacity) of a substance (cp) - the amount of
energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram (or 1
kg) of the substance by 1K [Unit: J/g.K or kJ/kg.K]
➢ Volumetric heat capacity (cp,v) - the amount of heat
required to raise the temperature of one unit of volume
of an object by 1K [Unit: J/ml.K or kJ/ m3.K]
❖ The volumetric heat capacity can also be expressed as
the specific heat capacity [J⋅K−1⋅kg−1] times the density
of the substance [kg/L, or g/mL]. 𝒄 =𝝆 𝒙 𝒄
𝒑,𝒗 𝒑
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 SPECIFIC HEAT
➢ The specific heat at constant volume cv can be viewed as
the energy required to raise the temperature of the unit
mass of a substance by one degree as the volume is
maintained constant.
➢ The energy required to do the same as the pressure is
maintained constant is the specific heat at constant
pressure cp.
➢ cp >> cv because at constant pressure
the system is allowed to expand and
the energy for this expansion work
must be supplied to the system.
Fig. 7: Constant-volume & constant pressure
specific heats cv & cp (for helium gas).
 SPECIFIC HEAT
▪ cv is related to the changes in internal energy and cp to the
changes in enthalpy.
➢ Proper definition: cv is the change in the internal energy of
a substance per unit change in temperature at constant
volume.

➢Likewise, cp can be defined as

the change in the enthalpy of
a substance per unit change in
temperature at constant
pressure.
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 SPECIFIC HEAT
➢Specific heat is an essential part of the thermal analysis of
food processing or of the equipment used in heating or
cooling of foods.
➢With food materials, this property is a function of the
various components that constitute a food, its moisture
content, temperature, and pressure.
➢The specific heat of a food increases as the product
moisture content increases.
➢For a gas, the specific heat at constant pressure, cp, is
greater than its specific heat at constant volume, cv.
➢In most food processing applications, specific heat at
constant pressure cp is used, since pressure is generally
kept constant except in high-pressure processing.
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THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
▪ The product ρcp, which is frequently encountered in heat
transfer analysis, is called the heat capacity of a material.
➢Both the specific heat cp and the heat capacity ρcp
represent the heat storage capability of a material.
➢But cp expresses it per unit mass whereas ρcp expresses it
per unit volume, as can be noticed from their units J/kg · °C
and J/m3 · °C, respectively.
▪ In the transient heat conduction analysis is the thermal
diffusivity, which represents how fast heat diffuses
through a material and is defined as:

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THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
▪ The thermal conductivity k represents how well a material
conducts heat
➢ The heat capacity ρcp represents how much energy a
material stores per unit volume.
➢ The thermal diffusivity of a material can be viewed as the
ratio of the heat conducted through the material to the heat
stored per unit volume.
➢ A material that has a high thermal conductivity or a low heat
capacity will obviously have a large thermal diffusivity.
➢ The larger the thermal diffusivity, the faster the propagation
of heat into the medium.
➢ A small value of thermal diffusivity means that heat is
mostly absorbed by the material and a small amount of heat
is conducted further.
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 THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY Table 1: The thermal
▪ Note that the thermal diffusivity diffusivities of some
ranges from α = 0.14 x 10-6 m2/s for materials at room
water to 149 x 10-6 m2/s for silver, temperature
which is a difference of more than Material α, x 10-6 m2/s
a thousand times.
Silver 149
➢ the thermal diffusivities of beef Gold 127
and water are the same.
Ice 1.2
➢ This is not surprising, since meat Concrete 0.75
as well as fresh vegetables and
Water (L) 0.14
fruits are mostly water, and thus
they possess the thermal Beef 0.14
properties of water. Wood 0.13
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(oak)
THERMAL DIFFUSIVITY
EXAMPLE 3:
A large block of frozen fish, 100 mm thick, is placed in a cold
store such that its surface temperature is brought
instantaneously to −25◦C.
Take the density, thermal conductivity and heat capacity of
the fish block to be 1000 kg m−3, 1.1Wm−1 K−1 and 1800 J kg−1
K−1, respectively.
Calculate the thermal diffusivity of the block.
SOLUTION:

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