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The ohmic and conventional heating methods in concentration of sour cherry juice:
Quality and engineering factors

Shokoofeh Norouzi, Ali Fadavi, Hosain Darvishi

PII: S0260-8774(20)30333-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2020.110242
Reference: JFOE 110242

To appear in: Journal of Food Engineering

Received Date: 21 July 2019

Revised Date: 30 May 2020
Accepted Date: 8 July 2020

Please cite this article as: Norouzi, S., Fadavi, A., Darvishi, H., The ohmic and conventional heating
methods in concentration of sour cherry juice: Quality and engineering factors, Journal of Food
Engineering (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2020.110242.

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Credit Author Statement

Shokoofeh Norouzi performed laboratory experiments, data analysis and drafted the
manuscript, Ali Fadavi proposed idea, supervised the project, contributed in data processing
and analyses and revised the manuscript. Hosain Darvishi advised during the project and
contributed in manuscript drafting.
 1 The ohmic and conventional heating methods in concentration of sour

2 cherry juice:

3 quality and engineering factors

5 Shokoofeh Norouzi a, Ali Fadavi b,*, Hosain Darvishi c

a
6 Department of Agrotechnology, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

b
7 Department of Food Technology, College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

c
8 Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan,

9 Sanandaj, Iran

10 __________________________

11 *Corresponding author

12 Ali Fadavi

13 Department of Food Technology, College of Abuoreihan, University of Tehran,

14 Tehran, Iran

15 Tel: +98-21-36040614; fax: +98-21-36040614; Email: afadavi@ut.ac.ir

16

1
17

18 Abstract:

19 In the present study, ohmic and conventional heating methods were applied to

20 concentrate sour cherry juice. The heating rate of ohmic method increased ten-fold compared

21 with conventional heating. The temperature gradient showed a 1.5 ºC difference between the

22 temperatures of the medium in the vicinity of the two electrodes. The electrical conductivity

23 of sour cherry juice at voltage levels of 30 – 50 V ranged from 0.70 to 2.52 S/m. The higher

24 values belonged to the end of the process and lower voltages. Acidity measurement showed

25 no significant difference among the applied voltages in ohmic heating with the exception of

26 35 V. The effect of conventional heating on the color change of sour cherry juice was more

27 than that of ohmic heating.

28 Keywords: Concentration; Conventional; Ohmic; Quality; Sour cherry juice

29

30 1. Introduction

31 Sour cherry juice (Prunus cerasus L.) is one of the most preferred natural drinks in the world

32 (Altuntas et al., 2010; Belibağli and Dalgic, 2007). Microbial spoilage and enzymatic

33 activities are factors that may constrain the shelf life of sour cherry juice (Altuntas et al.,

34 2010). However, increasing juice concentration and reducing water content are appropriate

35 strategies for extending the shelf life of fruit juice and limiting the microbial growth in

36 concentrated juices (Sabanci and Icier, 2017).

2
37 Sour cherry is a valuable agro-product with a number of health benefits and economic

38 values. Nonetheless, high moisture content and tender texture of fresh fruits make them

39 perishable and difficult to preserve (Deng et al., 2019). Moreover, processing of fruit and

40 fruit juice, in particular, is important in sour cherry due to its limited harvesting period which

41 impacts its fresh consumption (Arjeh et al., 2015; Sabanci and Icier, 2017). The economic

42 advantage of fruit juice concentration is related to the low cost of its packaging, storage,

43 transportation, and distribution operations.

44 There are different methods for concentrating fruit juice, the most common of which

45 is the conventional thermal processing (Darvishi et al., 2019). Conventional thermal

46 preservation processes rely on the indirect mechanisms of heat transfer to food products; in

47 these processes, the overall quality of stabilized foods is typically poor, especially when

48 fluids contain large particulates and fluids with high viscosity. Membrane and freeze

49 concentration have also been reported as the main fruit juice concentration methods. A main

50 problem associated with membrane process is fouling. High operational and installation costs

51 are among the other drawbacks of these methods (Sabanci and Icier, 2017; Utoro et al.,

52 2019).

53 Ohmic heating is a novel thermal process which has been successfully carried out for

54 the processing of different fruit juices. In addition to shortening the processing time and

55 homogeneous temperature distribution, ohmic heating is an appropriate alternative to thermal

56 processing as it maintains the original juice. Owing to its quality-related advantages, ohmic

3
57 heating has gained the attention of food industries (Knirsch et al., 2010; Bhattacharjee et al.,

58 2019; Sabanci and Icier, 2019). In contrast to conventional heating, the fouling of food

59 materials in ohmic heating units is significantly reduced; therefore, the labor and cleaning

60 costs are much less than in conventional heating. The various advantages of ohmic heating

61 have increased its application in the processing of pumpable foods over the recent years (Icier

62 and Tavman, 2006). In food industry, this method has extensive potential applications,

63 including evaporation, blanching, fermentation, dehydration, and pasteurization (Knirsch et

64 al., 2010; Castro et al., 2004). Different parameters affect ohmic heating operation, but it is

65 mainly dependent on electrical conductivity (Jha et al., 2011).

66 Ohmic heating has been used in concentrating and cooking food materials (Darvishi et al.,

67 2015, Bozkurt and Icier, 2010). Ohmic heating was applied to concentrate tomato juice from

68 an initial moisture content of 9.33 (kg water/kg dry matter) to a safer level of 2.2 (kg

69 water/kg dry matter). With 133% increase in the voltage gradient, the concentration time was

70 reduced by about 84% (Boldaji et al., 2015). The concentration of orange juice by ohmic

71 heating and conventional vacuum heating reduced the vitamin C content by (18.0-38.8%) and

72 (47.4%), respectively (Darvishi et al., 2019). Fadavi et al. (2018) applied ohmic heating and

73 conventional vacuum heating methods to the concentration of tomato juice; they reported that

74 the mean percentage change of turbidity in the juice concentrated via ohmic method (9.23)

75 was lower than that of conventional vacuum heating method (18.05). It is important to

76 preserve the original properties of fresh juice. In addition to quality and nutritional aspects,

4
77 some factors affect the marketability of fruit juice, including higher clarity (lower turbidity)

78 and reduced viscosity, natural flavor, and longer shelf life (Karmakar and Sirshendu, 2019).

79 Other parameters such as cost, time, and energy consumption must be considered when

80 selecting a suitable method for fruit juice concentration. In this regard, it is important to

81 compare novel thermal methods such as ohmic heating with conventional heating methods.

82 The aim of the present study was to compare ohmic and conventional heating methods in

83 concentrating sour cherry juice. Different parameters such as heating rate changes, processing

84 time, product quality (pH, acidity, and turbidity), and color parameters were evaluated for

85 both ohmic and conventional heating methods. The electrical conductivity of sour cherry was

86 further determined.

87 2. Material and Methods

88 2.1. Sample Preparation

89 Sour cherry fruits were obtained from an Iranian genotype of sour cherry purchased from the

90 vegetable market in 2016, Urmia, Iran. Mature and undamaged sour cherries were selected by

91 visual observation of color to ensure the lack of any physical damage. After being washed

92 with tap water, the fruits were manually pressed to obtain the fresh juice. The extracted juice

93 was collected in PET juice bottles and stored in a refrigerator at −20 ºC. Prior to starting each

94 test, the required quantities of the sample were allowed to thaw inside a refrigerator. The

95 mean initial temperature of the samples was 32.5 °C and the average moisture content of the

5
 96 sour cherry juice was 7.55 (kg water/kg dry matter), determined by an oven at 105±1 °C for

97 72 h. The experiments were replicated five times.

98 2.2. Experimental setup and procedures

99 2.2.1. Ohmic heating

100 Fig. 1 shows the ohmic heating setup. The system was composed of a polyethylene (PE)

101 ohmic cell with 40 mm length, 44 mm width, and 90 mm height, a voltage regulating

102 transformer (Toyo MST-5kVA, 0–300 V, 50 Hz, China), two stainless steel electrodes

103 (90×44 mm) with 2 mm thickness (the gap between the two electrodes was 3.60 cm), a power

104 analyzer (Lutron DW-6090, Taiwan), a digital balance (A&D GF600, Japan) with an

105 accuracy of ±0.01 g for mass determination, five Type-K coated thermocouples, a PC, and a

106 data logger (KRN100 series South Korea). The data of the five thermocouples (Type-K)

107 recorded the temperature at different positions to monitor the exact temperature distribution

108 for further assessment (Fig. 1). The sample temperature was based on the average

109 temperature of the three thermocouples T1, T2, and T3. Thermocouples T4 and T5 were

110 installed to specify the temperature inside and outside the cell wall, respectively. A sample of

111 sour cherry juice (25 gr) was poured between the two electrodes. The sour cherry juice

112 samples were concentrated when the mass decreased from 25 to 15 gr, meaning a water loss

113 of 40 % (Water loss (%) =100 × 1 − ). A maximum water loss of 40% was

114 selected to prevent the possible disruption of the current flow which occurred by intense

115 fouling. In this condition, the moisture content was reduced from 7.6 to 4.1 (kg water/kg dry

6
116 matter). The corresponding specific gravity values varied from 1.08 to 1.14. Sour cherry juice

117 is classified as a high acid liquid with a high electrical conductivity (Icier and Ilicali 2004).

118 The higher the electrical conductivity, the more intense the boiling will be. In the ohmic cell,

119 the space above the surface of the liquid was small. Therefore, when a high voltage gradient

120 was applied, the potential loss of the sample increased due to the increase in bubbles

121 formation. Therefore, the experiments were carried out at five voltage gradients of 8.3, 9.7,

122 11.1, 12.5, and 13.9 V/cm corresponding to 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 V, respectively with a

123 frequency of 50 Hz. Meanwhile, to have a safe system and prevent the passage of high

124 current through the system, a lower gradient voltage is recommended. In other words, to

125 reach an appropriate temperature, it is essential to balance the voltage and current (Sastry et

126 al., 2014). The time interval was 5 seconds for the temperature, sample mass, current, and

127 applied voltages.

128

129 2.2.2. Conventional heating

130 The conventional concentration process was conducted via a laboratory hot plate (IKA; RH

131 basic 2, Germany, and 400 W) accompanied with an Erlenmeyer flask. To have sufficient

132 materials, a sample of 50 grams was concentrated with the same water loss as that of ohmic

133 heating method (40 %). A digital balance (A&D GF600, Japan) with an accuracy of ±0.01 g

134 was used to record the mass loss, and the temperature was measured by a Type-K

135 thermocouple. The time interval for both mass and temperature was 5 seconds

7
136 2.3. Electrical conductivity

137 The electrical conductivity of the samples was determined by the following equation (Jha et

138 al., 2011):

L
σ= (1)
AR

139 , where σ is the electrical conductivity (S/m), L is the gap between two electrodes (m), A is

140 the cross-section area of the sample in the heating cell (m2), I is the current (A), and V is the

141 voltage (V).

142 Due to water evaporation, the contact area between sour cherry juice and electrodes was

143 reduced; thus, an effective contact area should be considered in the above equation (Darvishi

144 et al, 2015).

m
A= (2)
ρ L

145 , where ρ is sour cherry density (kg/m3), and m is the sample mass (kg). The product

146 density increased as a result of concentration and water loss; thus, a real density should be

147 considered according to the following equation (Fadavi et al., 2018):

m
ρ = (3)
− (m −m )

148 , where m and ρ represent the mass and density respectively, where subscript n-1

149 shows the previous recording data. Therefore, the exact electrical conductivity was specified

150 based on the following equation (Darvishi et al., 2015; Fadavi et al., 2018):

8
 L LI ρ L$ I
σ= = = (4)
AR AV m V

151 The specific gravity of sample juice was obtained as follows (Figura and Teixeira, 2007):

m −m m
S. G. = = (5)
m) − m m)

152 , where mst is the mass of sample and tube, mwt is the mass of distilled water and tube, m) is

153 the water mass, m is the sample mass, and m is the tube mass.

154 Electrical conductivity changes with temperature. The initial temperature should be the same

155 in each replication (Fadavi and Salari, 2019). Samples with different initial temperatures have

156 different electrical conductivity; the maximum initial temperature was~ 44 ℃ among all

157 treatment, hence considered as the starting point for all experiments (- = 0). Under this

158 condition, if a treatment had a lower initial temperature, the data located before this

159 temperature (44 ℃) were deleted, Then the processing time and heating rate were calculated

160 based this temperature. The average of instantaneous electrical conductivity at the same time

161 represented the mean value of the electrical conductivity for three replications.

162 2.4. Quality aspects

163 2.4.1. pH

164 The pH was determined using a digital pH meter (Hanna Hi 207, Italy).

165 2.4.2. Total titratable acidity

166 Total titratable acidity was measured based on the predominant acid found in sour cherry

167 juice (Malic acid) (Damar and Ekşi, 2012; Arjeh et al., 2015). In this method, fruit juice (2.5

9
168 g) was solved in distilled water to reach 25 mL volume. Afterwards, titration with NaOH (0.1

169 N) was performed in the presence of phenolphthalein until a constant pink color was

170 obtained. Finally, acidity was calculated as follows (Mirsaeedghazi et al., 2010):

0.0067 M
A = 100 × (7)
W

171 , where A is the total acidity, M is the volume of used NaOH, and W is the sample weight.

172 2.4.3. Turbidity

173 Turbidity was measured in nephelometric turbidimeter units (NTU) using a portable

174 turbidimeter (TU-2016, LUTRON-Taiwan). The NTU is the relative index of the side

175 scattering of an incident beam of light compared against an aqueous chemical standard of

176 formazin (Barter and Deas, 2003).

177 2.4.4. Color assessment

178 Color parameters, comprised of "L"(whiteness or lightness), "a" (redness/greenness), and "b"

179 (blueness/yellowness), were calculated before and after each heating treatment using CIE L*,

180 a*, b* scale (Jha, 2010). Color assessment was conducted by Adobe Photoshop CS4

181 software. The color change (ΔE) was calculated for each applied heating treatment in

182 accordance with the following equation (Dai et al., 2013):

183 ∆3 = 4(5 − 56 )$ + (8 − 86 )$ + (9 − 96 )$ (8)

184 , where 56 , 86 , and 96 represent the initial amounts of juice color prior to concentration.

10
185 All measurements were performed in three replications. The values of color parameters

186 (before and after conventional and ohmic heating processes) were compared using paired

187 Student's t-test in line with the following equation (Rosner1982):

< − =<
-= (9)
><

188 , where < is the average of the differences between the two observations of all pairs, =< is

189 the mean difference of population, and >< is the standard error of the mean difference.

190 Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to compare conventional and ohmic heating

191 in terms of ΔE (color change indicator) .

192 2.5. Statistical analyses:

193 A completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used to investigate the

194 effects of the applied thermal treatments on the physicochemical properties of sour cherry

195 juice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done using SAS® software (SAS Institute Inc.,

196 Cary, NC). The least significant difference (LSD) test at 1% probability level was used for

197 means comparison.

198 3. Results and Discussion

199 3.1. Engineering aspects

200 Table 1 summarizes the initial values of specific gravity (-), moisture content (kg water/kg

201 dry matter), pH, acidity, turbidity, L, a, and b parameters of the fresh sour cherry juice.

11
202 Time-temperature charts are necessary for a good evaluation of temperature changes and

203 boiling point value. Fig. 2 shows the temperature profiles detected under different heating

204 conditions. Following the come-up time (CUT), the sample temperature reached a maximum

205 value of ~ 96 ℃ and then remained constant throughout the evaporation process, particularly

206 in ohmic heating. During the evaporation process, the sample temperature in the ohmic

207 method was higher than that in the conventional heating, which is attributed to the heat

208 transfer mechanism and the rate of energy input into the sample juice. The comparison of

209 CUT indicated the similarity between ohmic heating at low voltage (30 V) and the

210 conventional method regarding temperature trends. This means that the rate of input energy

211 into sample juice was very low in these two cases.

212 Fig. 3 shows a typical time-temperature variation. The visual observation showed an

213 early and local evaporation with more bubble formation near the electrodes (Fig. 3). The

214 thermocouple readings within the cell were almost the same up to ~65℃, after which point a

215 deviation occurred in the reading. The mean temperature concerning the last thousand

216 seconds of the process was 97.9 ± 0.2 and 96.4 ± 0.1 ℃ for thermocouples 3 and 1,

217 respectively. The variation in thermocouple readings was reported to be approximately 5% in

218 the previous study (Zareifard et al., 2003). This difference in temperature is the possible

219 reason for the more deposit concentration material on the corresponding electrode and/or

220 more bubble formation near one electrode, which hindered the heat transfer. One possible

221 solution is to use a pitch blade turbine or a propeller impeller to make a forced recirculation

12
222 that causes axial flow and shear stress, thereby reducing the rate of deposit formation due to

223 shear stress. (McCabe et al., 1985).

224 It is necessary to have a sufficient knowledge of heating rate for a proper design of ohmic

225 system, safety system, and a high quality product (Sastry et al., 2014). Table 2 indicates the

226 heating rate variations in ohmic and conventional methods. The heating rate was calculated

227 when the temperature varied from (44.1 ±0.3 ℃) to (80.0 ±0.3 ℃). This rate was higher in

228 the ohmic method than in the conventional heating, especially at higher voltages. Compared

229 to the conventional method, the heating rate of ohmic heating increased from two-fold at 30V

230 to ten-fold at 50 V. The lower heating rate of the conventional method is ascribed to the low

231 heat transfer by conduction. The inherent properties of the food material and electrical

232 conductivity influence the heating rate (Sastry et al., 2014). In previous studies, the heating

233 rate of seawater depended on the concentrations of total dissolved solids and the electrical

234 field strength (Assiry et al. 2010). Duguay et al., (2016) tested the shredded cabbage and

235 Daikon radish cubes with different salt concentrations. The general trend was that the heating

236 rate increased with voltage and salt concentration. Different factors, such as particle type and

237 concentration, salt concentration, voltage, temperature, and frequency were found to impact

238 the heating rate in a static ohmic heating system (Duguay et al., 2016). When the samples

239 were heated at higher voltage gradients, the higher input energy augmented the activity of

240 water molecules and ionic substances, resulting in higher heating rates (Icier and Ilicali,

241 2005; Assiry et al., 2010).

13
242 Compared to the conventional heating method, the required time for the unit mass

243 concentration of sour cherry juice was reduced about 13 % using ohmic heating applied at 50

244 V (Table 2). The tempering time of frozen potato puree decreased by ohmic heating because

245 electrical conductivity and heating rate increased with salt concentration and/or frequency

246 (Seyhun et al. 2013). Regarding the moisture reduction of tomato paste, the ohmic process

247 showed that the usage of ohmic reduced the drying time of tomato paste by 80–97%

248 compared with hot air drying (Hosainpour et al., 2014). In the present study, the processing

249 time also decreased by approximately 45% when the applied voltage increased from 30 to 50

250 V (Table 2). This indicates that water evaporation rate was more severe at higher voltages

251 since the passage of current through the sample was higher, thereby augmenting the heat

252 generation rate in the sample and significantly reducing the processing time (P≤0.05)

253 (Goullieux and Pain, 2005; Darvishi et al., 2015).

254 The electrical conductivity is linearly related to temperature up to the boiling point. The

255 electrical conductivity and current trends of any treatment represent the average value of

256 three replications at a given time (Figs. 4 and 5). The condition for averaging three

257 replications is to have almost the same temperature at the same time. To choose nearly the

258 same temperature of each treatment, caused a less standard deviation (less spread out) for

259 electrical conductivity at a given time. As mentioned in section 2-3, the maximum initial

260 temperature among all treatments was ~ 44 ℃. All treatments were rearranged at this

261 temperature. Moreover, from a statistical perspective, having the same initial conditions made

14
262 the results more reliable and comparable. To evaluate the effect of 44 ℃ as the starting point,

263 the heating rate and processing time of 40 V treatment (mid treatment of 30, 35, 40, 45, and

264 50 V) were calculated based on the real initial temperature. The results were not significantly

265 different from those calculated at 44 ℃, with the changes in heating rate and processing time

266 being less than 1.8 % and 4 %, respectively. The change of processing time value decreases

267 even more when a higher concentration required because the participation of CUT in

268 processing time decreases more.

269 Electrical conductivity plays a key role in ohmic heating. Based on 3 = A(∇C)$ , heat

270 generation in food material is directly related to electrical conductivity (Goullieux and Pain,

271 2005). Figures 4 and 5 show the variations in the current and electrical conductivity as a

272 function of moisture content and sample temperature at different applied voltages. The

273 current intensity and electrical conductivity of the sour cherry juice increased with raising the

274 temperature during CUT (Figs. 4-A and 5-A). This could be due to the reduction in the

275 viscosity of the sour cherry juice as a result of increased temperature, which causes a

276 decrease in the frictional drag force between the ions. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the

277 electrical conductivity with temperature (Icier and Ilicali, 2005). At a given moisture content

278 during CUT, the current and electrical conductivity were higher at higher voltages (Figs. 4,

279 5). Similar trends for electrical conductivity have been reported in previous research (Assiry,

280 2010; Sarang et al., 2008). One study showed that the usage of stirrer significantly decreased

281 the differences between the electrical conductivity of different gradient voltages (Gomathy et

15
282 al., 2015). As the applied voltage increased, the ampere passing through the system suddenly

283 reached a higher value at the beginning of the process (Fig. 5-A). One unexpected finding

284 was that as the temperature approached~ 95 ℃, two different electrical conductivity trends

285 were observed. At higher electrical field strengths, there was a sudden decrease in the current

286 intensity and electrical conductivity at boiling point (~ 95 ℃), which could be attributed to

287 the generation of vapor bubbles interrupting the electrical current passage (Figs. 4-B and 5-

288 B). This entailed violent evaporation of water in the samples; hence, the heating processes

289 (energy transfer) were stopped and restarted periodically. The high rate of gas bubble

290 formation worked as an electrical insulation that reduced the electrical current, thereby

291 lowering the electrical conductivity of the solution (Boldaji et al., 2015). At lower voltages

292 (30 V), the temperature gradually approached the boiling point, and the current slowly

293 increased to maximum values and then decreased. Lower bubble interruption augmented the

294 mobility of effective ions, leading to a continuous increase in electrical conductivity (Figs. 4-

295 C and 5-C). With a moisture content of less than 7 (kg water/ kg dry matter), electrical

296 conductivity was observed to increase with decreasing the voltage. Darvishi et al. (2015)

297 reported the same behavior for the electrical conductivity of tomato juice. A possible

298 explanation might be that vapor formation rate decreases at lower voltages. The electrical

299 conductivity values of sour cherry juice at voltage levels of 30 – 50 V varied from 0.77 to

300 2.60 S/m. When the samples were warmed up to 80 oC, the obtained values of electrical

301 conductivity were comparable with those detected in orange juice with 0.15–1.15 S/m (Icier

16
302 and Ilicali, 2005) and sour cherry juice with 0.1–1.6 S/m (Icier and Ilicali, 2004). With ohmic

303 heating under vacuum conditions, electrical conductivity changed with the increase in the

304 total soluble solids of sour cherry. The results of sour cherry juice concentration showed

305 increased electrical conductivity during CUT, and a decreasing trend at the end of

306 evaporation periods (Sabanci and Icier, 2017).

307 3.2. Quality aspects

308 Food acidity indicates the presence of organic and inorganic acids. The amount of acidity

309 determines the food flavor, color, stability, and level of quality. The means comparison

310 analyses were performed using LSD test at 1 % probability level; results showed no

311 significant differences among 30, 40, 45, and 50V of ohmic heating treatments in terms of

312 acidity (Fig. 6). The obtained mean acidity values of sour cherry juice treated with these

313 voltages were 11.3 % more than the initial acidity value of fresh sour cherry juice (Fig. 6 and

314 Table 1). However, ohmic heating at 35 V applied voltage and conventional heating had

315 similar effects on the acidity of sour cherry juice. The acidity values of these two treatments

316 were lower compared with the fresh juice (Fig. 6 and Table 1). These findings are in

317 agreement with the results of Fadavi et al. (2018) who reported that the changes in juice

318 acidity percentage did not vary significantly by either ohmic (under atmospheric pressure) or

319 conventional heating methods.

320 pH is an important factor as far as surface corrosion and heat resistance of microorganism

321 are concerned (Sastry et al., 2014). The pH increased with the rise in the voltages of ohmic

17
322 heating until 45 V and then decreased at 50 V (Fig. 6). The pH values obtained by ohmic

323 treatments above 40 V (45 and 50 volts) were more than those achieved by conventional

324 heating (Fig. 6 and Table 1). Sabanci and Icier (2017) reported that voltage gradient had no

325 significant effect on the change of pH and titratable acidity when concentrating sour cherry

326 juice by ohmic heating assisted vacuum evaporation (Sabanci and Icier, 2017). There are

327 contradictory findings concerning ohmic heating of tomato (Boldaji et al., 2015) and

328 pomegranate juice (Darvishi et al., 2013). Different types of heat processing affect enzyme

329 inactivation, which can significantly change the pH of the final product (Anthon and Barrett,

330 2012).

331 The turbidity of concentrated sour cherry juice increased with the applied voltages of ohmic

332 heating (Fig. 6). However, all turbidity values of sour cherry juice concentrated by ohmic

333 heating were lower than the initial turbidity value in the fresh sour cherry juice (Fig. 6 and

334 Table 1). High phenolic content has been reported in sour cherry juice (Oksuz et al., 2019;

335 Okur et al., 2019). Therefore, increased turbidity with voltage can be related to the more

336 accumulated phenolic compounds. Sabanci and Icier (2019) reported an increase in the total

337 phenolic content by increasing the voltage gradient during sour cherry juice concentration

338 through ohmic evaporation method (Sabanci and Icier, 2019). According to the results of

339 LSD test at 1% probability level, the lowest turbidity mean belonged to 30 V of ohmic

340 heating although this voltage resulted in the maximum processing time. A higher processing

341 time is expected to result in a higher turbidity. The findings of fast heating method

18
342 (microwave) revealed that turbidity decreased due to the lower retention time of the final

343 product (Naderi et al., 2015). The minimum value of turbidity at 30 V might be due to the

344 sedimentation of some solid materials (Fig. 6 and Table 1). The heating type, which defines

345 temperature gradient, is responsible for the turbidity of food materials. Conventional heating

346 led to more increase in the turbidity of sour cherry juice compared with the lower applied

347 voltages of ohmic heating (30 and 35 V) (Fig. 6). According to the LSD results, conventional

348 heating had no significant differences with 30, 35, 40, and 50 voltages of ohmic heating in

349 terms of turbidity, at 1% probability level (Fig. 6). The haze and turbid, responsible for

350 undesirable color, can reduce the quality and marketability of a fruit juice (Mirsaeedghazi et

351 al., 2010).

352 3.3. Color assessment

353 Color is a feature that can influence the consumers. It is a unique visual qualitative indicator

354 (Jha, 2010). Color change has been used as a criterion to assess the effect of different

355 processing methods, including ohmic heating (Mercali et al., 2014), oven-drying (Demir et

356 al., 2019), gamma irradiation (Arjeh et al., 2015), and ultrasound-assisted vacuum drying (da

357 Silva et al., 2019) in different food materials. Paired t-test was used to assess the effect of

358 applied thermal heating treatments on the color parameters of sour cherry juice and compare

359 the paired observations (before-and-after observations) on the same treatment. Table 3 shows

360 the means comparison analysis of a, b, and L parameters of the sour cherry juice color

361 regarding both ohmic and conventional heating methods via the paired Student's t-test. All

362 the three parameters changed by conventional heating method at 5% probability level (Table

363 3). It seems that the long processing time caused more degradation. With ohmic heating

364 method, the “a” parameter was changed at 30 and 45 V and 5 and 1% probability levels,

19
365 respectively; however, it can be concluded that the ohmic heating did not change “b” and “L”

366 parameters (Table 3).

367 Mercali et al. (2014) observed a decrease in red color during the ohmic heating of acerola

368 pulp, which was indicated by a reduction in a* parameter. They attributed this color change to

369 the degradation of anthocyanin (Mercali et al., 2014). Sabanci and Icier (2019) reported

370 significant changes in L*, a*, and b* color properties of sour cherry juice after concentration

371 by conventional vacuum evaporation and ohmic vacuum at a gradient voltage of 10 V/cm.

372 The reasons behind the color change were ascribed to the degradation of monomeric

373 anthocyanin and the formation of brown color during the heat processing methods (Sabanci

374 and Icier, 2019). The findings of the present study are not in line with the results of previous

375 studies (Brochier et al., 2018). The ohmic-treated samples of sugarcane juice were more

376 yellowish and lighter than the fresh juice due to the change in L*, b*, and a* parameters

377 (Brochier et al., 2018).

378 In ohmic heating of acerola pulp, Mercali et al., (2014) observed electrochemical reactions at

379 low electric field frequencies, which caused more color changes in the treated samples. On

380 the other hand, ohmic and conventional heating processes showed similar color changes at

381 frequencies higher than 100 kHz, where electrochemical reaction was at its minimum

382 (Mercali et al., 2014). A possible reason for these contradictory findings is the difference in

383 voltage gradients, waveforms, and compounds with different activities, leading to different

384 color changes during ohmic heating of different food materials (Brochier et al., 2018).

385 The means comparison analysis of the color changes via LSD test at 1% probability level

386 showed that different voltages of ohmic heating had similar effects on the ΔE of sour cherry

387 juice. However, the color change caused by ohmic and conventional heating methods were

388 significantly different at 1% probability level (Fig. 7). Based on the means comparison

389 analysis, the highest ΔE mean of sour cherry juice belonged to the conventional heating

20
390 method (Fig. 7). Yildiz et al. (2009) used ohmic heating to process pomegranate juice; the

391 samples were heated and evaluated over two heating periods, namely initial and holding

392 times. Their results showed that ohmic heating treatment had no significant effect on color

393 change during the holding period (Yildiz et al., 2009). Aloe vera gel juice pasteurization was

394 examined by Saberian et al. (2015). The browning index of samples did not change

395 significantly when processed either conventionally or ohmically (Saberian et al., 2015).

396 Different results could occur in various food materials because of the different reaction and

397 oxidation of the medium during the ohmic heating process.

398

399
400 4. Conclusions

401

402 Sour cherry is typically concentrated by evaporators, necessitating the use of alternative

403 methods as far as energy and quality aspects are concerned. Different deposits on electrodes

404 and/or more bubble formation near one electrode seems to be the possible reason for the

405 different temperatures of medium near each electrode. To decrease this effect, it is

406 recommended that an axial flow be implemented by a propeller. Electrical conductivity

407 shows different trends at different voltage gradients. An increasing trend was observed at low

408 gradient voltages. In terms of processing time and color changes (ΔE), higher voltages of

409 ohmic heating (45 and 50 V) can be recommended as a suitable alternative to conventional

410 heating in fruit juice processing. There were no significant differences among applied

411 voltages of ohmic heating in terms of color parameters of “b” and “L”, and color changes

412 (ΔE). In addition, the applied voltages of 30, 40, 45, and 50 V had similar effects on acidity

413 of sour cherry juice. These observations can be associated with the closeness of the studied

414 voltage gradients. Ohmic heating was proven superior over the conventional heating for sour

415 cherry juice concentration. However, more assessments are required in terms of the

21
416 inactivation of microorganism and the enzymatic activity of the concentrated juices for both

417 thermal methods.

418
419 Acknowledgments

420 Our thanks to Mohsen Niazian, Kurdistan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and

421 Education Center, for his assistance for the statistical analyses in this project.

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

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565

566
567
568
569
570

Table1. Some physical and chemical properties of fresh sour cherry juice

Characteristic Value ± (Standard deviation)

Specific Gravity (-) 1.08 ± (0.00)
Moisture content (db) 7.55 ± (0.01)
pH 3.3 ± (0.01)
Acidity(g/L) 1.06 ± (0.05)
Turbidity (NTU) 819 ± (35)

571

572

573

574 Table 2. Variation of processing time and heating rate in different voltages of ohmic heating during

575 concentration of sour cherry juice.

Applied voltage (V)

Parameters 30 40 50 Con.

Processing time (hour/kg water) 25.1(±0.7) 19(±1) 13.9(±0.8) 16.0(±0)

Heating rate (∁°/HI. J) 3.6(± 1.3) 9.0(± 1.3) 18.1 (± 0.6) 1.8 (± 0.4)

576

577

578

579

28
580

581

582

583

584

585

586

587

588

589

590

591
Table3. The means comparison analysis for a, b and L of sour cherry juice in
different voltages of ohmic heating along with conventional heating using paired
Student's t-test

Heating treatment Color parameters

a b L

30 V 7.72* 0.04ns 3.02ns

35 V 1.31ns 0.13ns 3.96ns

Ohmic Heating
40 V 1.24ns 0.18ns 0.36ns

45 V 37.7** 4.19ns 1.44ns

50 V 2.13ns 1.08ns 0.97ns

Conventional heating 5.62* 6.3* 7.31*

** and * significant at 1% and 5% probability level, respectively, ns: not significant

592

593

594

595

596

597

598
599
600

29
601

602 Figure captions

603

604 Fig 1. Details of the experimental station.

605 Fig 2. Temperature profile of samples during concentration processes.

606 Fig 3. Temperature difference of two thermocouples near the electrodes versus time thought

607 the process at voltage 40

608 Fig 4. Variation of current intensity of sour cherry during concentration for different voltage

609 versus a) heating time, B) temperature, C) moisture content.

610 Fig 5. Variation of electrical conductivity of sour cherry during concentration for different

611 voltage versus a) heating time, B) temperature, C) moisture content

612 Fig 6. The means comparison analysis for acidity, pH, and turbidity of sour cherry juice in

613 different voltages of ohmic heating and conventional heating using LSD test at 1%

614 probability level (Means followed by the same letters above columns are not

615 significantly different at the 1% level).

616 Fig 7. The means comparison analysis of sour cherry juice ΔE under different voltages of

617 ohmic heating along with conventional heating using LSD test (Mean values followed

618 by the same letters within a column are not significantly different at 1% probability

619 level).

620

621

622

623

624

625

30
626

627

628
629 Fig 1. Details of the experimental station.
630

631

632

633

634

635

636

637

638

639

640

641

31
642

120

100
Temperature ( ̊C)
̊

80
30 V
60
40 V
40 50 V
Con.
20

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Heating time (s)

Fig 2. Temperature profile of samples during concentration processes.

643

644

645

646

100

80
Temperature ( Co)

60 Thermocouple 1
Thermocouple 3
40

20

0
0 500 1000 1500
Time ( s )

Fig 3. Temperature difference of two thermocouples near the electrodes versus time
thought the process at voltage 40

647

32
 1.6
A 50 V
1.4

Current intensity (A)

40 V
1.2
30 V
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Time (s)

1.6
30 V B
1.4
Current intensity (A)

40 V
1.2
50 V
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Temperature (oC)

1.6
30 V
1.4
40 V
Current intensity (A)

1.2 50 V
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
4 5 6 7 8
Moisture content (kg water/kg dry matter)

Fig 4. Variation of current intensity of sour cherry during

concentration for different voltage versus a) heating time, B)
temperature, C) moisture content

648

649

33
 3.00

Electrical conductivity (S/m)

A
2.50

2.00

1.50
50 V
1.00 40 V
0.50 30 V

0.00
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Heating time (s)

3.0
Electrical conductivity (S/m)

50 V
B
2.5 40 V
30 V
2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Temperature ( ̊C)

3.0
C 50 V
Electrical conductivity (S/m)

2.5 40 V
30 V
2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
4 5 6 7 8
Moisture content (kg water/kg dry matter)

Fig 5. Variation of electrical conductivity of sour cherry during

concentration for different voltage versus a) heating time, B)
temperature, C) moisture content

650

651

34
 Acidity pH Turbidity

7 a
ab
pH, Acidity(g/L) , and Turbidity×102(NTU) ab
6
bc
b
5

4
cd d bc a b bc
c
3

2
a a a a
b b
1

0
30 V 35 V 40 V 45 V 50 V C.V.

Treatment

Fig 6. The means comparison analysis for acidity, pH, and turbidity of sour cherry juice in
different voltages of ohmic heating and conventional heating using LSD test at 1%
probability level (Means followed by the same letters above columns are not significantly
different at the 1% level).

652

653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

661

35
 60 a
50

40
b
30
ΔE

b
20 b b b
10

0
30V 35V 40V 45V 50V C.V

Treatment

Fig 7. The means comparison analysis of sour cherry juice ΔE under different
voltages of ohmic heating along with conventional heating using LSD
test (Mean values followed by the same letters within a column are not
significantly different at 1% probability level).

662

663

664
665

666
667

36
• In sour cherry concentration by ohmic heating, a different temperature

profile was detected near two electrodes.

• The electrical conductivity had an increasing trend with moisture content

at low applied voltage, while at high applied voltage, it fell down near

boiling point.

• In terms of processing time and color changes (ΔE), higher voltages of

ohmic heating can be recommended as a suitable alternative to

conventional sour cherry concentration.

• There were no significant differences among applied voltages of ohmic

heating in terms of color parameters of “b” and “L”, and color changes

(ΔE).
 Conflict of interest

The ohmic and conventional heating methods in concentration of sour

cherry juice:

quality and engineering factors

Shokoofeh Norouzi , Ali Fadavi *, Hosain Darvishi

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.