Update on emerging technologies including novel applications: radio frequency

Radio frequency (RF) heating is known as capacitive dielectric heating and has been recognized as an innovative emerging technology for food processing. The lower power generation within the product due to the lower frequency and the larger penetration depth of the RF energy due to the longer wavelength make it suitable for bulk size product processing, especially for the industrial scale. With the increased use of RF processing and literature studies, the objectives of this chapter were: -to introduce a review on the industrial systems (self-oscillator RF generators and 50 Ω RF amplifiers) with various electrode configurations (through field electrodes, fringe field or stray field electrodes and staggered through field electrodes); -to review the literature for RF applications on the disinfestation of agricultural products, pasteurization of food products and food powders, and tempering and thawing applications of frozen food commodities; and -to present a computational background on the mathematical modeling approaches for process innovation, design and optimization. For the given objectives, a detailed analysis of the literature was presented.