Introduction to Food Process Engineering (Food Science Text Series) Book

This is a new book on food process engineering which treats the principles of processing in a scientifically rigorous yet concise manner, and which can be used as a lead in to more specialized texts for higher study. It is equally relevant to those in the food industry who desire a greater understanding of the principles of the food processes with which they work. This text is written from a quantitative and mathematical perspective and is not simply a descriptive treatment of food processing. The aim is to give readers the confidence to use mathematical and quantitative analyses of food processes and most importantly there are a large number of worked examples and problems with solutions. The mathematics necessary to read this book is limited to elementary differential and integral calculus and the simplest kind of differential equation. This book is the result of over fifteen years of teaching food engineering and food processing technology to students on a variety of diploma, first degree, and postgraduate courses. It is designed, inter alia, to: + Emphasize the importance of thermodynamics and heat transfer as key elements in food processing; + Stress the similarity of heat, mass, and momentum transfer and make the fundamentals of these essential concepts readily acceptable; + Develop the theory of mass transfer, which is under-used in studies of food processing, in a useful and readily applicable way; + Widen the usual list of unit operations treated in text books for undergraduates to include, for example, the use of membranes; and + Introduce a proper treatment of the characterization of food solids and of solids processing and handling. Read More