Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Thermal Parameters Influencing the Freezing Process of Ice Cream

Freezing time stands out as the most critical parameter in ice cream production, significantly influencing the final product’s quality and production efficiency. Therefore, it is essential to accurately estimate the freezing time based on ice cream recipes. This research paper focuses on determining the thermal properties of ice cream samples by leveraging insights from previous studies. Moreover, a new specific heat correlation is proposed to account for the latent heat effect of water during the freezing process. The results demonstrated that the new specific heat correlation aligns well with established formulas from previous research as well as experimental results with maximum 2.5% deviation. To validate the accuracy of the proposed numerical model, experimental studies were compared with numerical results for the first time in the context of ice cream freezing inside a mold. Additionally, a parametric analysis was conducted using numerical modelling to discern the relative importance of various production process parameters. Notably, the glycol–water mixture temperature emerged as the most influential parameter affecting freezing time, while the amount of air inside the ice cream was identified as the least significant factor.