International Journal of Energy Applications and Technologies 6(2) [2019] 39-43 e-ISSN: 2548-060X International Journal of Energy Applications and Technologies journal homepage: www.dergipark.gov.tr/ijeat Original Research Article Induction assisted pasteurization of honey Tuncay Yılmaz 1* , Anıl Başaran 2 , Can Çivi 2 1 Food Engineering Department, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Engineering Faculty, TURKEY 2 Mechanical Engineering Department, Manisa Celal Bayar University, Engineering Faculty, TURKEY ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT * Corresponding author tuncay.yilmaz@cbu.edu.tr Received October 4, 2018 Accepted June 20, 2019 Published by Editorial Board Members of IJEAT © This article is distributed by Turk Journal Park System under the CC 4.0 terms and conditions. doi: 10.31593/ijeat.467186 Honey pasteurization is one of the important steps of honey processing which requires thermal energy to elevate temperature of the honey to inactivate enzymes and to inhibit bacteria. Common technique used for thermal treatment of honey is batch jacketed pasteurizer driven by electrical resistance to heat water, oil or steam. Each heating approach requires high amount of energy which is transferred directly or indirectly to the honey. Furthermore, heat generation is expensive and there are several steps which cause energy and exergy loses such as boiler, heater, pipe, heating medium, wall thickness of the vessel etc. Alternatively, induction is a technology using electromagnetic heating with unique advantages as heating metal surfaces directly and effectively. Inductive heating has been used for some industries as metallurgy, however, possible food applications such as batch pasteurization was not studied in detail. The objective of this research is comparing energy and exergy efficiencies of conventional jacketed vessel heater and inductive heater for honey pasteurization. Consequently, inductive method was found more beneficial compared to commercial method in terms of energy and exergy efficiency. Keywords: honey pasteurization; induction assisted heating; energy efficiency 1. Introduction As a definition in dictionary, honey is a sweet viscid material elaborated out of the nectar of flowers in the honey sac of various bees. It is a healthy product composing of 17-20% moisture, 80-85% carbohydrate and 0.5-1% proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Industry of honey is a complex process comprising sequential chain of processing such as initial extraction, dehumidification, liquefaction, heating, pasteurization, crystallization and packaging. Each step has unique impact on physicochemical and microbiological properties of the product. After harvesting, honey is centrifuged during the initial extraction step to eliminate impurities and waxes. Then honey is treated below 38 o C for removing excess moisture to make it lower than 18%. Heating is applied to control particle aggregation (pollen grains etc.), crystallization and viscosity, but it may lead some changes as increase in the amount complex sugars, augment of total acidity, partial activation of enzymes and increase in hydroxymethylurfural (HMF) therefore it is suggested that maximum heating should not exceed 40 o C. On the other hand, in terms of pasteurization, applied thermal treatment to honey is 72 o C at 120 s. Traditionally, hot water circulated jacketed vessels are used with central stirrer to make this step fast and effective. Unlike common usage of pasteurization in food industry as controlling microbiological quality, pasteurization is applied to honey to control structure of honey for commercial needs. By the way, honey can keep its typical liquid state on shelves. Other important step for commercial honey is crystallization, in which glucose monohydrate crystals can be formed as desired shape and size [1-2]. Pasteurization is a thermal treatment which is carried out on almost all food products for food safety purposes, including