29404 - Applications Of Unit Operations

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course of "Applications of Unit Operations" the student will have a practical knowledge of food technology principles. The program does not cover all the unit operations used in the food industry, but intend to give a representative view of the field. Furthermore, the student, at the end, will be able to find sources for practice in the application of unit operations.

Course contents

Prof. Tullia Gallina Toschi is the teacher of these modules; Dr. Enrico Valli (PhD) is member of the examing Commission. Moreover, other technicians and researchers will be involved in some specific lessons. In particular, Dr. Chiara Cevoli will held a seminar about thermal properties of food, Dr. Luca Ferrari will about conceptual maps and story-telling instruments, and Dr. Daniela Sangiorgi will held a seminar about gender equality.

Introduction of the course: presentation of the teacher; presentation of the results of the evaluation questions of the last academic year students; instructions for subscribing to the mailing list; dividing students into three groups for practice lessons.

The filtration.

Filtration: theory and definitions, characteristic parameters of the filter media, filtration with deposit. Insight: solving the equation of filtration with storage disk. Insight: filtration at constant pressure, constant flow filtration, resolution of the equation of filtration with compressible deposit. Exercise excel on filtration: Darcy equation.

Heat transfer and thermal properties of foods.

Heat exchange by conduction, convection and radiation. Definition, examples, methods of calculation and measurement of the thermal properties of foods: conductivity, diffusivity, specific heat, etc.

The gender equality: issues, competences and soft-skill.

Technology of production of ice-cream.

Gelato and ice cream: comparison between two production technologies. Technological problems and innovative methods of measurement (insight).

Theory and applications of centrifugation and malaxation. Unit operations in the production of virgin olive oils.

Sedimentation and centrifugation. Features of centrifuges. Main types of centrifuges. Theory of unit operations in the mill: crushing, malaxation and centrifugation. Exercise at the small pilot plant used to produce olive oil at the Food Science Campus. Exercise excel on cylindrical centrifuges.

The spray drying. Theory of the thermal drying and of the spray drying. Microencapsulation and practical applications, advantages and disadvantages of the processes. Practise in lab: the spray-dryer. Bibliographic search of a scientific article.

Exercise on SDG 12 Sustainable Consumption and Production and SDG 2 Zero hunger: collection of keywords, useful for the preparation of own students’ presentation.

The freeze drying.

Theory of freeze drying, food applications, characteristics of lyophilized products. Exercise in the laboratory: the freeze dryer.

Heat exchangers.

Solving the equation of the stationary heat transport by convection, evaluation of the amount of heat exchanged per unit of time and evaluation of the global coefficient of heat exchange. Heat transport by radiation: black body and calculation of the heat exchanged. Exercise excel: the heat exchange in a tubular heat exchanger and application of an energetic balance to a case study.

How to sum up a written or oral issue: conceptual maps and story-telling instruments. The gender equality: issues, competence and soft-skills. Depth study of a subject covered in lessons (application of a single unit operation or of a specific equipment or an original food preparation) by using a conceptual map and story-telling instruments. The gender equality: issues, competence and soft-skills.

Readings/Bibliography

Suggested sources (only some chapters or sections will be evaluated during the exam; sources in bold are more relevant. It is posible to request the teacher - by mail - which pages of each source you need to study)

Carlo Pompei, Operazioni Unitarie della Tecnologia Alimentare, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana (Milano), Ed. 2009, ristampa 2012.

Giovanni Quaglia, Scienze e Tecnologie degli Alimenti, Chiriotti Editori.

Bruno Zanoni, Tecnologia Alimentare. Contenuti e metodologie di studio, Libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni.

Patrizia Cappelli, Vanna Vannucchi, Chimica degli alimenti. Conservazione e trasformazioni, Zanichelli, terza edizione.

AA. VV., Dalle olive all'olio: un viaggio alla scoperta del più nobile dei condimenti, L’Altra Romagna.

Ottavio Salvadori Del Prado, Tecnologie del Latte. Burro, yogurt, gelato, latte alimentare. Edagricole.

P.J. Fellows, Food processing Technology - Principles and Practice, Woodehead Publishing Limited, England (English book, useful especially for Erasmus students; please ask more to the professor about the sections to study).

- Frank Kreith Boca Raton, Mechanical Engineering Handbook, CRC Press LLC, 1999:

Capitolo 4 Heat and Mass Transfer.

- M. Shafiur Rahman, Food Properties Handbook, Second Edition, CRC Press 2009:

Capitolo 17 Thermal Conductivity Measurement of Foods

Capitolo 18 Thermal Conductivity Data of Foods

Capitolo 19 Thermal Conductivity Prediction of Foods

- Gustavo, V . Barbosa-Canovas and Albert Ibarz, Unit Operations in Food Engineering, CRC Press 2002:

Capitolo 11 Thermal Properties of Food

Capitolo 12 Heat Transfer by Conduction

Capitolo 13 Heat Transfer by Convection

Capitolo 14 Heat Transfer by Radiation

Capitolo 15 Thermal Processing of Foods

Friso, Ingegneria dell’industria alimentare, COOP Libraria Editrice, Università di Padova.

Singh, Heldman, Principi di tecnologia alimentare, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana (Milano), prima edizione 2015

 

Teaching methods

Theorethical lectures, seminars and practical exercises in the computer lab (using Excel), in teaching laboratory (instruments and equipment for the application of unit operations) and in the olive oil mill at the Campus. All the practical exercises will be carried out by dividing the students into groups, so as to facilitate the interaction and involvement of students in the activities themselves. Whenever possible, there will be a final resume(in the last 10 minutes of class) of the main topics discussed during the lessons. Educational visits will be organized to food industries in the Emila Romagna region.

Assessment methods

The knowledge and skills taught in this course are evaluated as follows: written exam (six multiple-choice questions and two open-ended questions with a total score of thirty reported) and possible presentation of a conceptual map\story telling. In exceptional cases, such as limited number of students enrolled and evaluation of students from other European countries or outside Europe, the written exam can be replaced by an oral examination.

Teaching tools

To support the teaching: blackboard, PC, projector, students labs, computers lab will be used.
The course material consists of suggested books and materials made available to students (presentations of lessons in pdf format)

Links to further information

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/ http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/

Office hours

See the website of Tullia Gallina Toschi