Honey–Water Content Analysis by Mixing Models Using a Self-Calibrating Microwave Method

Abstract

Microwave techniques, as an indirect approach, can be applied for analyzing water content in honey by way of permittivity measurements. However, these techniques require proper calibration to accurately perform such indirect evaluation. Improper calibration standards used in this calibration process could naturally result in a reduction in the accuracy and thus the performance of dielectric characterization using microwaves. Self-calibrating microwave techniques can reduce the effects of imprecise standards and thus improve the performance of microwave measurements by bypassing the requirement of calibration standards. In this study, we develop a self-calibrating microwave measurement technique to determine the relative permittivity of honey samples and implement binary mixing models to predict adulteration levels of water-adulterated honey. From this implementation, it is observed that the parallel-capacitance mixing model could efficiently be applied to determine the concentration of water adulteration by examining the differences between absolute values of the real parts of the measured and predicted complex permittivities of adulterated honey.