Book Review: Chemical engineering for the food industry. P. J. Fryer, D. L. Pyle, and C. D. Rielly, Blackie Academic & Professional, London, 1997, 462 pp., price UK£85.00. ISBN 0 412 49500 7
✍ Scribed by R. H. Wijffels
- Publisher
- Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 33 KB
- Volume
- 73
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0268-2575
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The book is based on a course given at the Chemical Engineering Department in Cambridge and was designed to provide an introduction to chemical engineering principles for people working in the food industry without a degree in chemical engineering. The key physical and physico-chemical principles of importance in food processes are described and simpliÐed models are used for this. The reason for using simpliÐed models was that these provide a good Ðrst basis for assessing processes and their efficiency.
With this approach, mass and energy balances, Ñuid mechanics, heat and mass transfer and rheology are described, followed by chapters on process design and control. The book continues with some groups of unit operations frequently used in food processing such as reactors and reactions in food processing, thermal treatment and mixing. In this part I think the inclusion of unit operations such as drying would have been appropriate. The book concludes with simulation examples on process design for a cheese production plant. These simulations are also provided on computer disk.
The book is very clearly written and, indeed, is perfect for providing insight into chemical engineering in the food industry for people without a degree in chemical engineering. The material described in the chapters on mass and energy balances, Ñuid mechanics, etc. is also covered in a similar way in several other books. These "otherÏ books are listed at the end of each chapter in the "references and further readingÏ section. This means, however, that it is not necessary for people working in the food industry to make use of this book ; they could use the "otherÏ books instead ; the subjects are described there in a similar way.
It would have been very interesting if realistic examples from the food industry were used instead of examples like "a Ñuid with a viscosity . . .Ï. Not only would insight into the modelling principles have been given but also a sense of the standard values in the food industry. This was done in the last chapter which is very good. The book would have been much better if more simulation examples had been given.