Preface
This book grew from the professional experience of the authors and recommendations
from industrial colleagues. Our examination of the trade literature revealed scant
information on non-Newtonian fluids, as well as inaccurate descriptions of rheological
behavior pertaining to pipeline design calculations. In addition, there is a great deal of
published research (some with our names on it) dealing with the rheology of biological
fluids and the analysis of pipeline processes; however, this information has not been
distilled and synthesized into a form that is useful for attacking practical bioprocessing
problems. We hope our work shines new light on the area, and provides valuable tools
for every day practice.
The intended audience for this book is students, technologists, and practicing
engineers interested in processing biological fluids, primarily food and pharmaceutical
fluids. These materials are subjected to a variety of mechanical forces and thermal
treatments during processing. Our work is designed for self-study; and, after sufficient
effort, we hope readers will be able to: 1) Explain the basic principles of fluid rheology
needed to examine bioprocessing pipeline design problems; 2) Determine (using an
appropriate instrument) the rheological properties of biological fluids needed to
calculate pipeline design parameters; 3) Solve pumping problems (for Newtonian and
non-Newtonian fluids) using the mechanical energy balance equation as the framework
for the analysis; 4) Characterize the shear and thermal treatments given to biological
materials in fluid processing systems.
In the 14th century, William of Occam said “Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessita”
which, in modern terms could be interpreted as “keep things simple.” We have
embraced this principle. Rheology is a complex topic, but we have simplified it using
Occam’s razor to cut away assumptions, theories and models that are not needed to
characterize fluids for the purpose of pipeline analysis. Also, we have eliminated
derivations of equations to just present the useful results. Hopefully, this approach will
quickly allow our readers to find meaningful solutions to practical pipeline design
problems. More detailed information on rheological techniques and data interpretation
may be found in Rheological Methods in Food Process Engineering, Second Edition
(1996, Freeman Press), by J.F. Steffe. This work is available at no charge: www.egr.
msu.edu/~steffe/freebook/offer.html
We – in our multiple roles as authors, engineers, and professors – are committed to
protecting the environment and to the responsible use of natural resources. Since our
work is produced on paper, we are concerned about the future of the world’s remaining
endangered forests and the environmental impacts of paper production; and we are
committed to furthering policies that will support the preservation of endangered forests
globally and advance best practices within the book and paper industries. Furthermore,
we encourage publishers, printers, and our fellow authors to endorse the paper use
recommendations of the Green Press Initiative (www.greenpressinitiative.org). The
paper used in this book meets those recommendations.
C. R. Daubert
