1st Edition

Postharvest Technology and Food Process Engineering

By Amalendu Chakraverty Copyright 2014
    584 Pages 174 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    584 Pages 174 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Cereals, legumes, oilseeds, fruits, and vegetables are the most important food crops in the world, with cereal grains contributing the bulk of food calories and proteins worldwide. Generally, the supply of grains and other food can be enhanced by increasing production and by reducing postharvest losses. While food production has increased significantly over the last few decades, minimizing huge postharvest losses as well as utilizing their by-products/wastes is the optimal way for a country to become self-sufficient in food. Postharvest Technology and Food Process Engineering combines these two subject areas as it covers both the primary processing of cereals, pulses, fruits, and vegetables and utilization of by-products/biomass.

    This book covers postharvest food preservation and processing methods, with an emphasis on grains. It is divided into five parts:

    • Grain-Properties, Drying and Dryers
    • Grain Storage
    • Parboiling and Milling
    • By-Products/Biomass Utilization
    • Food Process Engineering

    The text covers grain structure and composition, psychrometry, the theory and methods of grain drying, and design, testing, specification and selection of grain dryers. It describes processes such as parboiling of grain, hydrothermal treatment of grain, and milling of rice and other grains and pulses. The text also addresses biomass utilization and conversion technologies for energy, chemicals, food, and feed. The final section on food process engineering examines postharvest management including cooling, and packaging, and discusses preservation and processing, factors that affect deterioration, and various industrial preservation methods of fruits and vegetables. It also provides an overview of food chemistry and covers food engineering operations, including fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

    Section I Grain-Properties, Drying and Dryers
    Properties of Grains
    Psychrometry
    Theory of Grain Drying
    Methods of Grain Drying
    Grain Dryers
    Selection, Design, Specifications and Testing of Grain Dryers

    Section II Grain Storage
    Food Grain Storage

    Section III Parboiling and Milling
    Parboiling of Grain
    Parboiling of Wheat
    General Grain Milling Operations
    Hydrothermal Treatment/Conditioning of Cereal Grains
    Rice Milling
    Milling of Corn, Wheat, Barley, Rye, Oats, Sorghum and Pulses

    Section IV By-Products/Biomass Utilization
    Rice Bran
    Utilization of Rice Bran
    Biomass Conversion Technologies

    Section V Food Process Engineering
    Post-harvest Management of Fruits and Vegetables
    Food Preservation and Processing of Fruits and Vegetables
    Food Chemistry for Technologists
    Food Engineering Operations

    Appendix
    Bibliography
    Index

    Biography

    Amalendu Chakraverty, a former professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, was engaged in teaching and research in postharvest technology and food engineering for nearly 30 years. He had the opportunity to be associated with the rice/grain, fruit, and vegetable processing industries for a long period and visited various rice milling/processing machinery manufacturing industries in Japan and India. Dr. Chakraverty has completed a number of national research projects and published about 100 papers on grain drying, parboiling, and milling and their by-products in reputed national and international research journals and proceedings. He has also contributed chapters in books and has authored several books on various aspects of postharvest technology and biomass utilization technologies.