Recent publications in food engineering concern mainly food process
engi- neering, which is related to chemical engineering, and deals
primarily with unit operations and unit processes, as applied to the
wide variety of food processing operations. Relatively less attention is
paid to the design and operation of food processing equipment, which is
necessary to carry out all of the food processes in the food plant.
Significant technical advances on processing equipment have been made by
the manufacturers, as evidenced by the efficient modem food pro- cessing
plants. There is a need to relate advances in process engineering to
proc- ess equipment, and vice versa. This book is an attempt to apply
the established principles of transport phe- nomena and unit operations
to the design, selection, and operation of food pro- cessing equipment.
Since food processing equipment is still designed empiri- cally, due to
the complexity of the processes and the uncertainty of food properties,
description of some typical industrial units is necessary to understand
the operating characteristics. Approximate values and data are used for
illustra- tive purposes, since there is an understandable lack of
published industrial data.