Increasing the “POP” in Popcorn Team Members Mrinalini Basu, Steven Chen, Jeffery Conti, Varun...

Increasing the “POP” in PopcornIncreasing the “POP” in Popcorn

Team MembersMrinalini Basu, Steven Chen, Jeffery Conti, Varun Ganesan,

Giselle Hsu, Tracie Kong, Mark Massaro, William Talbot, Nikhil Yegya-Raman, Darvin Yi, Kaicen Zhu

Advisor - Dr. Paul V. Quinn Sr. T.A. - AJ Pyle

Introduction

Primary Goal: Increase size of popcorn flakes by reducing pressure Desirable for consumers Profitable for producers

Added benefits Decrease popping time Decrease kernel waste

Popcorn: Past and Present

Scientific Name: Zea Mays Averta

Originates in Americas Popping was main

way Natives cooked corn

Used by Aztecs in 16th century as food and religious decoration

1893: Charles Cretor’s steam-powered popcorn machine

Popcorn boom during Great Depression 5-10 cents per bag, was

relatively cheap Invention of microwave

and television moved popcorn from theaters to home


1990s: microwavable popcorn sales average $240 million annually 70% of popcorn eaten

at home 2005: Annual sale of

popcorn = $1,007,680,708

17 billion quarts consumed per year


Theory

Inside kernel: mixture of starch and moisture surrounded by pericarp

Starch and Moisture

Pericarp

The Popping Process

Pi

PY

Pf

Pf

Heat added => trapped moisture vaporizes and expands

Pi increases until Pi = PY

Pericarp breaks => water vapor and starch expand

When Pvapor = Pf expansion stops

Adiabatic Expansion

0CVPVP ffii 1

f

iif P

PVV

No heat transfer

Accepted value for water vapor: γ = 1.33

Our goal: maximize Vf

Pf decreases => Vf increases

Industry Values

Apparatus- Diagram

Procedure

Expansion Volume vs. Pressure below Atmosphere

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Pressure below Atmosphere (in. Hg)

σ (m

L fl

akes

/g k

erne

ls)

Flake Volume vs. Pressure below Atmosphere

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 5 10 15 20 25 30


π (m

L fl

akes

/num

ber

of k

erne

ls)

Percent Waste vs. Pressure Below Atmosphere

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30


ω (%

was

ted

kern

els)

Apparatus- Diagram

Procedure

Procedure continued


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20


σ (m

L fl

akes

/g k

erne

ls)


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20


π (m

L fl

akes

/num

ber

of k

erne

ls)

Percent Waste vs. Pressure below Atmosphere

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20


ω (%

was

ted

kern

els)

Apparatus- Diagram


0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0 5 10 15 20 25 30


σ (m

L fl

akes

/g k

erne

ls)


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 5 10 15 20 25 30


π (m

L fl

akes

/num

ber

of k

erne

ls)

Percent Waste vs. Pressure below Atmosphere

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 5 10 15 20 25 30


ω (%

was

ted

kern

els)

SUCCESS!

Experimental Uncertainties

General Kernel variation Estimated Volume

Measurement Microwave

Bag expansion Microwave Power

Movie Popper Unpopped kernels Unsteady pressure

Stove Popper Thermometer inaccuracy “Hot Spots” on mesh

Conclusion

Original Goal: Increase size of popcorn

π for microwave popper surpassed industry 9.83 cc/flake vs. 8.00 cc/flake

σ for microwave popper surpassed industry 45.5 cc/g vs. 45.0 cc/g

ω for stove and movie poppers surpassed industry 2.8% and 2.1% vs. 6.8% waste

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank NJGSS Dr. M John and Laura

Overdeck

Questions?

Derivation

WQdU

0 WdU

dVPdsPAW

PdVW

nRTU

nRdTdU

PdVdPVdU

PdVdPVPdV

dPP

dVV

P

P

V

V

00

1

1

00

1

VPPV

00VPPV

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