Food Process Engineering Operations

Book excerpt: A unique and interdisciplinary field, food processing must meet basic process engineering considerations such as material and energy balances, as well as the more specialized requirements of food acceptance, human nutrition, and food safety. Food engineering, therefore, is a field of major concern to university departments of food science, and chemical and biological engineering as well as engineers and scientists working in various food processing industries. Part of the notable CRC Press Contemporary Food Engineering series, Food Process Engineering Operations focuses on the application of chemical engineering unit operations to the handling, processing, packaging, and distribution of food products. Chapters 1 through 5 open the text with a review of the fundamentals of process engineering and food processing technology, with typical examples of food process applications. The body of the book then covers food process engineering operations in detail, including theory, process equipment, engineering operations, and application examples and problems. Based on the authors’ long teaching and research experience both in the US and Greece, this highly accessible textbook employs simple diagrams to illustrate the mechanism of each operation and the main components of the process equipment. It uses simplified calculations requiring only elementary calculus and offers realistic values of food engineering properties taken from the published literature and the authors’ experience. The appendix contains useful engineering data for process calculations, such as steam tables, engineering properties, engineering diagrams, and suppliers of process equipment. Designed as a one or two semester textbook for food science students, Food Process Engineering Operations examines the applications of process engineering fundamentals to food processing technology making it an important reference for students of chemical and biological engineering interested in food engineering, and for scientists, engineers, and technologists working in food processing industries.