Estimating the high heating value of a high-calorie food using a rigorous thermodynamical approach

This work aims to provide a thermodynamic modeling to determine the high heating value (HHV) of food samples, particularly high-calorie food. The HHV is measured experimentally, and a rigorous model is constructed from these data. A bomb calorimeter under controlled conditions is used to experimentally determine the HHV of four commercial snacks (Twix, Snickers, Peanut Planters, and KitKat). The samples are characterized by ultimate analysis. The rigorous modeling is developed using a modified Peng-Robinson (PR) Equation of State (EoS) developed by Forero-Velásquez (FV). Also, mass and energy balances, vapor-liquid equilibria equations, and the reaction speed rate are stated. The results indicate that the average absolute deviation between the nutritional information label and rigorous modeling is 6.54%. Also, an equation is suggested for rapid estimation of HHV using data from rigorous modeling. The results show that the developed linear equation is simpler and provides an absolute relative deviation of 11.04% compared to other sophisticated or multiparametric reported literature models with deviations of 16.62%.