Academic Year/course:
2023/24
583 - Degree in Rural and Agri-Food Engineering
28936 - Unit operations I
Syllabus Information
Academic year:
2023/24
Subject:
28936 - Unit operations I
Faculty / School:
201 - Escuela Politécnica Superior
Degree:
583 - Degree in Rural and Agri-Food Engineering
ECTS:
6.0
Year:
3 and 4
Semester:
First semester
Subject type:
Optional
Module:
---
1. General information
The general objective of this subject is to know, understand and learn to use the principles of food engineering and technology, to apply them in the design of basic operations that constitute the processes in the food industries.
This objective will involve:
1. Solve material and energy balances to calculate flow rates, compositions, temperatures and energy requirements of food industry processes.
2. To know the mechanisms of heat transmission and material transfer in the equipment used in the food industries.
These objectives are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/), specifically, the learning activities planned in this course will contribute to the achievement of target 7.3 and target 9.4.
2. Learning results
1. To list and describe the forms of operation of the food industry, as well as their advantages and disadvantages.
2. To pose and solve matter and energy balances (without chemical reaction).
3. Estimate the numerical value of the overall heat transfer coefficient and quantify the heat transfer area required to carry out a given heat exchange operation.
4. Determine the capacity and economy of a single acting evaporator.
5. Estimate the time required, and the average heat removed, to refrigerate or freeze a given food.
6. Estimate the number of stages and the amount of solvent required to achieve a given degree of extraction.
7. To obtain the vapor-liquid equilibrium curve of a binary mixture. Calculate the number of plates of a column of distillation. Calculate the efficiency of each stage.
8. Use the EES program for problem solving with ease.
9. Handle with a certain degree of dexterity, and in a responsible manner, the equipment and instruments used during the practical laboratory sessions.
10. Interpret experimental results in the context of the subject and relate them to the theoretical contents.
11. Analyze the most important unit operations in the food industry by using simple physical models that reproduce the action of the operation.
12. Choose the most appropriate basic operation(s) for the preparation, obtaining, preservation and transformation of the following food.
3. Syllabus
Thematic block 1: INTRODUCTION
Topic 1: INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Topic 2: TRANSPORT PHENOMENA
Topic 3: BALANCES OF MATTER IN STEADY STATE
Topic 4: ENERGY BALANCES IN STEADY STATE WITHOUT CHEMICAL REACTION
Thematic block 2: BASIC OPERATIONS BASED ON HEAT TRANSFER
Topic 5: HEAT TRANSFER
Topic 6: HEAT EXCHANGERS
Topic 7: EVAPORATION
Topic 8: REFRIGERATION AND FREEZING
Thematic block 3: BASIC OPERATIONS BASED ON THE TRANSFER OF MATTER
Topic 9: FUNDAMENTALS OF DIFFUSION AND INTER-PHASE MATTER TRANSFER
Topic 10: EXTRACTION
Topic 11: DESTILLATION
Practice program
Practice 1: HANDLING OF THE EES SOFTWARE
Practice 2: HEAT EXCHANGERS
Practice 3: DISCONTINUOUS DISTILLATION. Determination of the liquid-vapor equilibrium curve of the mixture Practice 4: SOLID-LIQUID EXTRACTION.
Practice 5: HEAT TRANSMISSION BY CONDUCTION
4. Academic activities
Theory and Problems: Attendance to theory classes and problem solving. 50h
Teaching and other activities: Individual resolution of a problem (homework) of each thematic block.
Group analysis of a basic operation. Tutorials, which may be face-to-face or virtual. 24h
Laboratory Practices: 5 face-to-face sessions of 2 hours. 10h
Study and independent work: During this non-attendance mode, students will dedicate themselves to personal study. 60h.
Assessment: 6h.
5. Assessment system
The assessment system will be global, considering:
1 Theory exam and problems
1st and 2nd call
Written test according to the EPS exam schedule. It will consist of two parts: theory and problems. Only minimum grades of 3.5 will be compensated . The grade of the test will be weighted between the two parts: theory (40%) and problems (60%) and cannot be lower than 4 to compensate with the rest of the activities. This grade will account for 50% of the final grade.
2 Tasks and works
1st call
Several tasks will be delivered. The grade obtained, which in order to compensate with the rest of the activities cannot be lower than 3.5, will represent 30% of the overall grade.
Students who have not completed or passed this activity, must submit the resolution of a new set of assignments individually before the start time of the written exam of the 1st call and a minimum grade of 3.5 will be required to compensate with the rest of the activities.
Second call:
Students who have not passed in the 1st round and cannot compensate or have not completed this activity for the 1st call, must submit the resolution of a new collection of tasks individually before the start time of the written test of the 2nd call and a minimum grade of 3.5 will be required to compensate with the rest of activities. The grade obtained will account for 30% of the overall grade.
3 Laboratory practical exam
1st and 2nd call
If the student has completed all the internships, the evaluation will be carried out by submitting a report. The students who have not previously taken the laboratory practicals will be summoned to take the practicals exam on the same day but at a different time from the written tests. In this exam you will have to perform some of the practices contemplated in the program and answer a questionnaire. For this purpose, the student will only be able to consult the scripts of the practices. The grade obtained, which cannot be lower than 3.5 to compensate with the rest of the activities, will represent a 20% of the final grade.
The success rates for the subject in the last three years are: 2019/20: 100%; 2020/21: No students; 2021/22: 0%* (* 1 student enrolled)