MODELING OF A SERIES OF CONTINUOUSLY STIRRED TANK REACTORS FOR THERMAL-PROCESSING OF LIQUID FOODS

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 1991

Authors

F. Xavier Malcata (Author) Other

Journal

Title: International Journal of Food Science and Technology

Vol. 26

Pages: 535-546

ISSN: 0950-5423

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-001-QEN

Abstract (EN): A series of stirred tanks for the thermal treatment of liquid foods is easy to model and operate. Good modelling leads to accurate predictions and small uncertainties in the lethality, giving a safe food product because of a small chance of underprocessing. Mathematical proof is presented that the minimum overall reactor volume for a given degree of thermal destruction of cells or spores is obtained when the stirred tanks are of equal size. Analytical techniques based on theoretical residence time distributions are employed to find the optimum number of tanks in the series using capital and operation costs in the definition of the objective function. If typical scaling factors are used, these optima depend only on the degree of reduction of viable cells/spores sought and a dimensionless economic parameter relating operating and capital costs if a single stirred tank were employed.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12