Bigelow's General Method Revisited: Development of a New Calculation Technique

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article describes the development of a comprehensive procedure for broader application of the General Method in calculating thermal processes. In addition to the capability of calculating lethality (or process time to achieve a specified lethality) for a given set of heat‐penetration data, the procedure can also calculate process time or lethality for process conditions different from those of the original heat‐penetration tests. The new procedure was experimentally tested against the Ball Formula Method and numerical finite difference methods. It often safely predicted shorter process times than the Ball Formula Method by accurately accounting for slow come‐up and cool‐down phases of the retort process.