Fundamentals of Unit Operations
Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher:
ALDO TODARO
Expected Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding.
Knowledge of and ability to use the specific language of their machines,
systems and processes of agro-industries. Acquisition of technical and scientific
knowledge on fundamental unit operations applied to processes of production of
agro-industrial products, as well as the chemical and physical characteristics
and composition of the food.
Applying knowledge and understanding.
Ability to apply the acquired knowledge to the identification of optimal solutions
for safe and efficient interventions in the agro-food industry. Ability to
independently conduct the choice of technological solutions related to the
production process with special attention to the sizing and operation of
machines and plants for the production sectors of food.
Making judgments.
Acquiring the ability to retrieve data and to identify the methods of detection to
define solutions to the technical problems that arise in the context of the
agrofood industry. Acquiring the ability to critically evaluate the implications and
results of the planned interventions. Identify the problems and solutions to
improve efficiency in the agro-food industries. Being able to evaluate the
problems of choice, the cost of plant and operating costs, reliability, safety of
operation and the layout of machines and plants of agricultural and food
industries.
Communication skills.
Ability to translate its scientific-technical language in a popular and led,
therefore, to communicate with technical peers and different backgrounds, to
illustrate the technical and functional characteristics of the machines and their
methods of use, in order to improve the efficiency and the ability to work.
Effectively communicating their thesis and choices to a non-specialist audience,
conveying the importance of the choices of planning proposals. Ability to
translate their own choices in the design documents. Ability to expose the types,
characteristics, key components, operation, performance and management of
machines and plants of agricultural and food industries, as well as the basic
principles of analysis and selection of the same, even to a non-specialist public.
Learning skills.
Upgrade capabilities through participation in technical workshops and scientific
and / or consultation of their scientific publications of these specialized
disciplines. Ability to follow, using the knowledge acquired in the two forms,
indepth courses and specialized seminars. Ability
Course Structure
The teaching (6 CFU) comprises 28 hours of lectures and 28 hours of other activities, mainly guided numerical exercises for solving problems related to the food technologist profession. Lectures and exercises are mainly based on PowerPoint presentations available on the UNICT portal.
Information for students with disabilities and/or DSA
In order to guarantee equal opportunities and in compliance with current legislation, interested students may request a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on the educational objectives and specific needs. It is also possible to contact the contact person of the CInAP (Centre for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or DSA) of our Department, Prof. Anna De Angelis.
Required Prerequisites
In order to understand the unit operations, you must have passed the exams of
Mathematics and Physics. Some of the topics covered require the ability to
solve logarithms and integrals.
Attendance of Lessons
Not mandatory
Detailed Course Content
Introduction to unit operations: fundamental concepts
Unit operations: classification
Mass balance
Energy balance
Reaction kinetics of model solutions and food
Shelf-life: prediction tests
Heat exchanger
Textbook Information
Lesson's notes;
Todaro, A., Palmeri, R., Spagna, G. 2020, Tecnologie alimentari; problemi svolti di operazioni unitarie. Palermo University Press (ePub disponibile)
R. Paul Singh, Dennis R. Heldman, 2014, Principi di tecnologia alimentare, a cura di Gabriella Giovanelli, Riccardo Guidetti, Mara Lucisano, Bruno Zanoni, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana. Distribuzione esclusiva Zanichelli.
Carlo Pompei, 2009 Operazioni unitarie della tecnologia alimentare, Casa Editrice Ambrosiana.
Claudio Peri Bruno Zanoni, 1998, Manuale di tecnologie alimentari, CUSL editore
A Ibarz, G. Barbosa-Canovas, 2002, Unit operations in food engineneering, CRC Press.
Fellows 2000, Food Processing Technology Principles and Practice, CRC Press.
https://nzifst.org.nz/resources/unitoperations/index.htm
Course Planning
| | Subjects | Text References |
|---|
| 1 | Introduction to unit operations: fundamental concepts | |
| 2 | Unit operations: classification | |
| 3 | Mass balance | |
| 4 | Energy balance | |
| 5 | Reaction kinetics of model solutions and food | |
| 6 | Shelf-life: prediction tests | |
| 7 | Design of plate exchangers | |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
WRITTEN AND ORAL EXAM.
Exam results:
Excellent 30/30 cum laude: excellence in the topics covered;
Very good 26-29: good command of the subject matter;
Good 24-25: good knowledge of the topics;
Satisfactory;
21-23 satisfactory knowledge of the topics;
Sufficient 18-20 minimal knowledge of the topics;
Unsatisfactory: lacking an acceptable level of knowledge of the subject matter.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
A food
containing 85 % water is to be dried at 100 °C down to moisture content of 15 %.
If the initial temperature of the food is 14 °C, calculate the quantity of heat
energy required per unit weight of the original material, for drying under
atmospheric pressure. The latent heat of vaporization of water at 100°C
and at standard atmospheric pressure is 2257kJkg-1.
The specific heat capacity of the food is 3.8 kJ kg-1 °C-1 and
of water is 4.186 kJ kg-1 °C-1.
