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Microwave power is seen as a promising alternative to conventional methods for drying freshly harvested grains to safe storage moisture levels. In an attempt to elaborate a continuous flow microwave dryer, the optimum operating characteristics of a prototype microwave antenna were investigated during a low power microwave drying simulation with corn at three different moisture content levels (15%, 23% and 30% w.b.). The antenna consisted of a slotted waveguide with the orientation and width of the slots being the main points of investigation. / The optimum angle of the slots with respect to the direction of propagation of the travelling wave was found to be in the neighbourhood of 55° at all moisture contents. Slots 13 mm wide gave better results than the 6 mm ones which are often suggested in literature.

Microwave drying of corn was investigated at selected levels of initial moisture content, absorbed power by grain, and temperature and superficial velocity of air at inlet. A surface-wave applicator was used to couple microwaves with the corn. / The drying rate curves indicated that the microwave drying of corn took place in the falling rate period. It was hypothesized that diffusion is the controlling mechanism for moisture transfer from within the kernel in microwave drying of corn. / A mathematical model was developed to describe the change in moisture content at the surface as a function of the free moisture content of corn. The diffusion model employing varying surface conditions was used to describe the microwave drying process. An Arrhenius type equation was developed to describe the relationship between the diffusion coefficient and the outlet air temperature. The diffusion coefficient values varied from 0.0008 to 0.0082 cm$ sp2$/h when constant levels of microwave power were applied continuously for drying corn. Equilibrium moisture content was determined and regression equations were developed to describe the EMC with microwave power and air velocity. / The diffusion coefficient increased with the levels of absorbed power, decreased with increasing air velocity but remained insensitive to the inlet air temperature when microwaves were applied continuously for drying corn. The increased drying rates at higher power levels reduced the drying time considerably but at the cost of energy loss through the passing air and reduced germination and bulk density of dried corn. Application of absorbed microwave power at 0.25 W/g resulted in greater than 92% germination of dried corn. Deleterious effects on product quality was observed when the applied power exceeded 0.75 W/g. / Pulsed and variable microwave power effects were investigated in order to optimize the drying process. Time for drying corn increased but the effective duration for which microwaves were applied and the energy requirement in the pulsed mode was lower compared to both continuous and variable microwave operation.

This dissertation outlines work taken towards the understanding, implementation, and improvements to the process of creating of quantitative images of the bulk-electrical parameters of the interior of unknown objects via the use of electromagnetic scattering data. Improvements are considered to both theory and experiments using low-power radiation in the microwave frequency range, known as Microwave Tomography (MWT). A detailed derivation of the Multiplicative-Regularized Contrast-Source Inversion (MR-CSI) method is given, and we compare the performance of MR-CSI with the other leading inversion technique used in MWT: the Gauss Newton/Distorted Born Iterative Method. The inversion results of the two algorithms are very similar, and thus most of the differences between them are in the relative ease of implementation and computational resource use. We further introduce a new version of the CSI algorithm, based on the Finite-Difference method. Using this algorithm, we show that when accurate information about a scatterer is known before the inversion process, this information is best utilized as an artificial computational background, as opposed to an initial guess of the scatterer. The MWT problem is also formulated inside of a conductive enclosure, which significantly changes the physics, and resultant Green's function, of the MWT problem. The implications and possible advantages of this type of MWT are discussed, and synthetic inversion results for a circular enclosed system are presented. These results show that the enclosure is capable of improving the inversion in some regions, although more research is required to realize the full potential of conductive-enclosure MWT. In the final section, experimental results from both open-region and conductor-enclosed type MWT systems developed at the University of Manitoba are shown. For the open-region system, we show that antenna coupling is a major factor affecting the data collection, and provide a simple method for avoiding the frequencies where this coupling is too strong to prevent effective imaging. For the conductor-enclosed type system, we have found the system to be extremely sensitive to presence of antennas in the chamber, and show that effective MWT imaging is possible in this type of system by taking the antenna elements into account in the inverse solver.

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Conventional thermal kinetics of enzyme inactivation and microbial destruction in fruit juices were studied in the pasteurization temperature range (50 to 90°C). Pectin methylesterase (PME), as the most heat resistant enzyme, in orange juice and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus plantarum, as the most common spoilage yeast and bacteria, respectively, in apple juice used as indicators were subjected to heat treatment in a well-agitated water bath. Based on gathered time-temperature profiles, effective portions of the come-up (CUT) and come-down (CDT) times (lags) were determined for inclusion in kinetic data handling. The inactivation/destruction kinetics followed typical first-order rate of reactions. / A continuous-flow microwave heating system was set up and evaluated for obtaining kinetic parameters under microwave heating conditions. The outlet temperature was characterized as a function of fluid flow rate, heating volume and initial temperature. / Kinetics of enzyme inactivation and microbial destruction at various temperatures under continuous-flow microwave heating conditions were then evaluated using the technique established above. The rates of inactivation/destruction varied depending on temperature. Taking into consideration the effectiveness of the CUT and contributory thermal inactivation during the CDT, the D-values were found to vary from 38.5 s at 55°C to 1.32 s at 70°C (pH 3.7) for PME, 4.75 s at 52.5°C to 0.378 s at 60°C (pH 3.4) for S. cerevisiae (ATCC 16664) and 14.1 s at 57.5°C to 0.327 s at 65°C (pH 3.4) for L. plantarum (ATCC 14917). / Some non-thermal microwave effects were hypothesized to exist and responsible for such differences between the two heating modes. Enzyme inactivation and microbial destruction were then studied further to evaluate the non-thermal effects. A continuous-flow microwave heating system was developed operating at full power while maintaining sample temperatures below 40°C by circulating a microwave-transparent liquid (kerosene) for immediate removal of heat produced in the juice during microwave exposure. / In order to explain and better characterize the faster rate of inactivation/destruction associated with microwave heating conditions observed in kinetic studies, additional tests were carried out using the second set-up described above, but without the cooling heat exchanger. The temperature of samples of different sizes were allowed to progressively increase under carefully controlled conditions. Inactivation of PME in orange juice (pH 3.7) and destruction of S. cerevisiae in apple juice (pH 3.4) were again used as parameters. The results once again clearly demonstrated superior inactivation/destruction effects under microwave heating which increased with temperature and decreased with sample size. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)