Unit Operations in Food Grain Processing

Unit Operations in Food Grain Processing covers theory and principles as well as best practices in cleaning, grading, drying, storage, milling, handling, transportation, and packaging of grains. The book begins with an overview of grain types, grain structure and composition, and engineering properties of different grains. It then moves into the aspects of processing. It reviews best practices in processing rice, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, millets, and pseudocereals. The book discusses value addition methods, products of grains, and waste and by-product utilization from grains. These discussions outline equipment and machinery needed, different methods of operations for various grains, and advances in grain processing as well as grain waste and by-product utilization.

The book has 18 chapters in total. Each chapter discusses principles, design, illustrations, advances, and challenges to aid in understanding. Therefore this book is a valuable reference material for academicians, researchers, consultants, manufacturers, and practitioners in the field of food processing.

Dr. C. K. Sunil is currently working in the Department of Food Process Engineering and Centre of Excellence for Grain Sciences at the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management-Thanjavur (NIFTEM-T), Tamil Nadu, India (An institute of National Importance). He has over two decades of experience in teaching, research, and industry. He has published scientific papers, book chapters and books in peer-reviewed journals, books and international publishers. His area of research includes processing of millet, design and development of processing machinery, non-destructive technologies, application of novel thermal and nonthermal technologies, macromolecules processing (starch and protein) and valorisation of processing waste. He teaches in different areas of food processing/food engineering, such as unit operations, introduction to food processing, advances in food processing, processing of cereals, pulses and oilseeds, thermal and non-thermal processing of foods. He serves as editorial board member for few international journals. He also serves as a peer reviewer for several international food research journals.

Dr. K. A. Athmaselvi has 20 years of teaching and research experience at Avinashilingam Deemed University, Coimbatore, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur and IIFPT, Thanjavur a reputed food research institution in the country. She worked as Associate Professor and Head, in the department of Food Process Engineering, at SRM Institute of Science and Technology before joining as Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology. She pursued her B.Tech (Ag. Engg) from MPKV, Rahuri, M.E in (Agricultural Process Engineering) from TNAU, Coimbatore, and PhD in Food Process Engineering from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur. She has published several research papers in reputed journals. She has organized various national and international conference/workshop, and has filed 3 patents. Her area of research includes preservation of tropical fruit pulp using advanced food preservation technique, edible coating of fruits and vegetables, extruded food products, parboiling of millets.

Dr N. Venkatachalapathy is a Professor in the Department of Food Engineering and Chairman of the Working Group on Grain Sciences at the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur, India. He received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Agricultural Engineering and Master of Engineering in Post-Harvest Technology from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore and PhD from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram, Tamil Nadu. He is a Life Member of many professional bodies and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India). His recent research work has been directed towards addressing farmers and primary processors' problems. This includes developing gadgets for value addition and increasing farmers' and processors' income. He has published more than 45 papers in international and national journals. He has also published a Book on Brown Rice in Springer. He is a reviewer for many international journals.

Dr. C. Anandharamakrishnan is the Director of CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. Before this, he served as Director of the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, Thanjavur (an Institute of National Importance under MoFPI, Govt. of India).

He obtained B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from A.C.Tech, Anna University, Chennai, and completed M.Tech at Anna University, Chennai. He has done his doctoral research in Chemical Engineering at the Loughborough University, United Kingdom.

Dr. C. Anandharamakrishnan is a renowned scientist and academician with vast expertise in the field of Food and Agro Processing. He is an active researcher with more than two decades of experience in research and administration. His research endeavors are well documented in the form of 216 impact factor publications with an average impact factor of 5.310 and an h-index of 64, three international patents, twelve Indian patents, and one commercialized patent. He is also the author and editor of 18 books and 125 book chapters published by coveted publishers. He has supervised 17 Ph.D. theses and more than 50 bachelor’s and master’s theses. He has been an invited speaker for 210 talks at national and international conferences, convocation addresses and panel discussions. He has transferred 17 technologies to various industries and has provided handholding support to more than 150 food processing start-ups and enterprises to facilitate product innovation and revenue growth.

He is an elected Fellow of several national and international professional bodies, serves on the editorial boards of reputed peer-reviewed journals and was honored by the Hon'ble President of India with the highest recognition award in the field of science, technology and innovation, 'Rashtriya Vigyan Shri’ 2024 Puraskar, for the distinguished contributions to the Agricultural Science sector. Earlier, was awarded the prestigious ‘ICAR – Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Sciences – 2019’, Tata Innovation Fellowship 2019-20 by DBT, Government of India and the prestigious NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award 2018.

V.M. (Bala) Balasubramaniam is a Professor of Food Engineering at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. He is an internationally recognized food engineer for spearheading research and industrial outreach efforts on various novel nonthermal and thermal based manufacturing technologies that satisfies consumer demand for minimally processed foods. He received B.Eng in Agricultural Engineering at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, M.Eng in Post-harvest Technology from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and PhD in Food Engineering from The Ohio State University. Prior joining OSU, Dr. Bala was working as a post-doctoral associate at University of Georgia Center for Food Safety and Quality Enhancement, Griffin, GA and Associate Research Professor at IIT National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Chicago, IL. He is recipient of 2021 IFT Research and Development Award, 2017 IFT Calvert L Willey Distinguished Service Award, 2016 AITAA distinguished alumni award for academic and research excellence.