BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FOOD PROCESS ENGINEERING

INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE PROPERTIES

It is important to distinguish between the intensive (state) properties (functions) and the extensive
properties (functions).

Properties which do not vary with the amount of mass of a substance – for example, temperature,
pressure, density, surface tension, and mole fraction – are termed intensive properties.

On the other hand, those properties which vary in proportion to the total mass of substances – for
example, total volume, total mass, and heat capacity – are termed extensive properties.

It should be noted, however, that some extensive properties become intensive properties, in case
their specific values – that is, their values for unit mass or unit volume – are considered. For
example, specific heat (i.e., heat capacity per unit mass) and density (i.e., mass per unit volume)
are intensive properties.

DENSITY

Density is defined as mass per unit volume, with dimensions (mass)/(length)3. The SI unit for
density is kg/m3. Density is an indication of how matter is composed in a body. Materials with
more compact molecular arrangements have higher densities.

There are three types of densities for foods:

1. Solid density: If the pore spaces are overlooked, the solid density of most food particles is 1400–
1600 kg/m3

2. Particle density: Particle density accounts for the presence of internal pores in the food particles.
This density is defined as a ratio of the actual mass of a particle to its actual volume.

3. Bulk density: Bulk density is defined as the mass of particles occupied by a unit volume of bed.
This measurement accounts for the void space between the particles. The void space in food
materials can be described by determining the porosity, which is expressed as the volume not
occupied by the solid material.

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MOISTURE CONTENT

Moisture content expresses the amount of water present in a moist sample. Two bases are widely
used to express moisture content; namely, moisture content wet basis and moisture content dry
basis.

Moisture content wet basis (MCwb) is the amount of water per unit mass of moist (or wet) sample.

Moisture content dry basis (MCdb) is the amount of water per unit mass of dry solids (bone dry)
present in the sample.

A relationship between MCwb and MCdb may be developed as follows:

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The moisture content values in the preceding equations are expressed in fractions. Note that
moisture content dry basis may have values greater than 100%, since the amount of water present
in a sample may be greater than the amount of dry solids present.

Example: Convert a moisture content of 85% wet basis to moisture content dry basis.

Two very important laws which all unit operations obey are the laws of conservation of mass and
energy.

CONSERVATION OF MASS

The principle of conservation of mass states that:

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Mass can be neither created nor destroyed. However, its composition can be altered from one form
to another.

Thus in a processing plant, the total mass of material entering the plant must equal the total mass
of material leaving the plant, less any accumulation left in the plant. If there is no accumulation,
then the simple rule holds that "what goes in must come out".

For example, if milk is being fed into a centrifuge to separate it into skim milk and cream, under
the law of conservation of mass the total number of kilograms of whole milk entering the centrifuge
per minute must equal the total number of kilograms of skim milk and cream that leave the
centrifuge per minute.

Even in the case of a chemical reaction, the composition of mass of a reactant and the product
before and after the reaction may be different, but the mass of the total system remains unaltered.
When the chemical reactions are absent, the composition of a system as well as its mass remains
the same for a closed system. We can express the conservation of mass principle as an equation
written in words as

EXAMPLE 1. Materials balance in continuous centrifuging of milk

If 35,000kg of whole milk containing 4% fat is to be separated in a 6 hour period into skim milk
with 0.45% fat and cream with 45% fat, what are the flow rates of the two output streams from a
continuous centrifuge which accomplishes this separation?

Solution:
Mass in
Mass flow rate of whole milk = 35,000 /6 = 5833 kg/h
Fat fraction in whole milk = 5833 x 0.04 = 233 kg

Mass out
Let the mass flow rate of cream be x kg/h then its total fat content is 0.45x.
The mass flow rate of skim milk is (5833 - x) kg/h and its total fat content is 0.0045(5833 - x).

Materials balance on fat:

Fat in = Fat out
5833 x 0.04 = 0.0045(5833 - x) + 0.45x
and so x = 465 kg/h
So that the flow rate of cream is 465 kg/h
Flow rate of skim milk (5833-465) = 5368 kg/h

Shafi Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Agro Product Processing Technology, JUST. 4
EXAMPLE 2:

A membrane separation system is used to concentrate total solids (TS) in a liquid food from 10%
to 30%. The concentration is accomplished in two stages with the first stage resulting in release of
a low-total-solids liquid stream. The second stage separates the final concentration product from a
low-total-solids stream, which is returned to the first stage. Determine the magnitude of the recycle
stream when the recycle contains 2% TS, the waste stream contains 0.5% TS, and the stream
between stages 1 and 2 contains 25% TS. The process should produce 100 kg/min of 30% TS.

Given:

Concentration of inlet stream Xf =10%

Concentration of exit stream XP =30%
Concentration of recycle stream XR =2 %
Concentration of waste stream XW =0.5%
Concentration of stream between two stages XB =25%
Mass flow rate of exit stream P =100 kg/min
Mass flow rate of inlet stream or feed =F
Mass flow rate of waste stream =W
Mass flow rate of stream between stages 1& 2 =B

Required:
Mass flow rate of recycle stream, R=?

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ENERGY

Energy is a scalar quantity. It was first hypothesized by Newton to express kinetic and potential
energies. We cannot observe energy directly, but we can measure it using indirect methods and
analyze its value. Energy may be in different forms, such as potential, kinetic, chemical, magnetic,
or electrical.

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Potential energy of a system is by virtue of its location with respect to the gravitational field. If
an object has a mass m, located at elevation h, and acceleration due to gravity is g, then the
potential energy is

Kinetic energy of an object is due to its velocity. If an object is moving with a velocity u, and it
has mass m, then its kinetic energy is

CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

The law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. The
total energy in the materials entering the processing plant, plus the energy added in the plant, must
equal the total energy leaving the plant.

Therefore, when a system is undergoing any process, the energy entering the system minus that
leaving the system must equal any change in the energy of the system, or

For a steady state system, there is no change in the energy of the system with time. Using this
condition, we can modify the rate form of the energy balance as follows:

Energy can take various forms such as kinetic energy, potential energy, heat energy, chemical
energy, electrical energy and so on.

During processing, some of these forms of energy can be converted from one to another.
Mechanical energy in a fluid can be converted through friction into heat energy. Chemical energy
in food is converted by the human body into mechanical energy.

For example, consider the pasteurizing process for milk, in which milk is pumped through a heat
exchanger and is first heated and then cooled. For total plant energy, the balance must include: the
conversion in the pump of electrical energy to kinetic and heat energy, the kinetic and potential

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energies of the milk entering and leaving the plant and the various kinds of energy in the heating
and cooling sections, as well as the exiting heat, kinetic and potential energies.

To the food technologist, the energies affecting the product are the most important. In the case of
the pasteurizer, the energy affecting the product is the heat energy in the milk. Heat energy is added
to the milk by the pump and by the hot water passing through the heat exchanger. Cooling water
then removes part of the heat energy and some of the heat energy is also lost to the surroundings.

The heat energy leaving in the milk must equal the heat energy in the milk entering the pasteurizer
plus or minus any heat added or taken away in the plant.

Heat energy leaving in milk = initial heat energy

+ heat energy added by pump
+ heat energy added in heating section
- heat energy taken out in cooling section
- heat energy lost to surroundings.

The law of conservation of energy can also apply to part of a process. For example, considering
the heating section of the heat exchanger in the pasteurizer, the heat lost by the hot water must be
equal to the sum of the heat gained by the milk and the heat lost from the heat exchanger to its
surroundings.

EXAMPLE. 3: A tubular water blancher is being used to process lima beams. The product mass
flow rate is 860 kg/h. It is found that the theoretical energy consumed for the blanching process
amounts to 1.19 GJ/h. The energy lost due to lack of insulation around the blancher is estimated
to be 0.24 GJ/h. If the total energy input to the blancher is 2.71 GJ/h,

a. Calculate the energy required to reheat water.

b. Determine the percent energy associated with each stream.

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Latent heat: Latent heat is the heat required to change the physical state of materials from solid
to liquid, liquid to gas, or solid to gas without changing the temperature.

Sensible heat: Sensible heat is the heat which when added or subtracted from food materials
changes their temperature.

Specific heat: specific heat is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of a unit
mass by 1o C or 1oF. This is denoted by Cp

Q = M Cp ∆T

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Factors that influence the specific Heat

 Moisture content
 Temperature
 Pressure

Thermal conductivity: thermal conductivity of a product gives in quantitatives terms the rate of
heat that will be conducted through a unit thickness of the materials if a unit temperature gradient
exists across that thickness.

Q = KA dT/dx

Where
K= thermal conductivity
A = area through which heat flows
X = length
T = Temperature

Applications of thermal conductivity

 Prediction of processing time
 Heat calculation
 thermophysical properties –predictions

Sensible heating at constant pressure:

If the heating process involves an increase in temperature from T1 to T2, then

Where cp is heat capacity (J/[kg oC]), m is mass, T is temperature, and 1 and 2 are initial and final
values.

EXAMPLE 4: Steam is used for peeling potatoes in a semi continuous operation. Steam is
supplied at the rate of 4 kg per 100 kg of unpeeled potatoes. The unpeeled potatoes enter the system
with a temperature of 17oC, and the peeled potatoes leave at 35oC. A waste stream from the system
leaves at 60oC. The specific heats of unpeeled potatoes, waste stream, and peeled potatoes are 3.7,
4.2, and 3.5 kJ/(kg K), respectively. If the heat content (assuming 0oC reference temperature) of
the steam is 2750 kJ/kg, determine the quantities of the waste stream and the peeled potatoes from
the process.

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Given:
Mass flow of steam, S= 4 kg
Mass flow of unpeeled potatoes F= 100 kg
Temperature of unpeeled potatoes TF = 17oC
Temperature of peeled potatoes TP = 35oC
Temperature of waste stream TW = 60oC
Specific heat of unpeeled potatoes CPf =3.7 kJ/(kg K)
Specific heat of peeled potatoes CPp = 3.5 kJ/(kg K)
Specific heat of waste stream CPw =4.2 kJ/(kg K)
Heat content of steam HS =2750 kJ/kg

Required:
Mass flow rate of waste stream, W=?
Mass flow rate of peeled potatoes, P=?

Shafi Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Department of Agro Product Processing Technology, JUST. 11
LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

First Law of Thermodynamics

The first law of thermodynamics is a statement of the conservation of energy. The law states:
The energy of an isolated system remains constant.
Stated in other words,
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed but can be transformed from one form to another.

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics is useful in examining the direction of energy transfer or
conversion. The following two statements of the second law are by Rudolf Clausius and Lord
Kelvin, respectively.

No process is possible whose sole result is the removal of heat from a reservoir (system) at one
temperature and the absorption of an equal quantity of heat by a reservoir at a higher temperature.

No process is possible whose sole result is the abstraction of heat from a single reservoir and the
performance of an equivalent amount of work.

The second law of thermodynamics helps explain why heat always flows from a hot object to a
cold object; why two gases placed in a chamber will mix throughout the chamber, but will not
spontaneously separate once mixed; and why it is impossible to construct a machine that will
operate continuously while receiving heat from a single reservoir and producing an equivalent
amount of work.

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