Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Unit operations in food processing are used to separate mixtures into individual chemical components based on physical properties such as boiling point, solubility, volatility, or molecular size.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us match the separation processes with their industrial applications:
- A. Distillation: Separates liquid mixtures based on differences in their volatile boiling points.
A classic application is the separation of a mixture of alcohol and water (A-I).
- B. Gas absorption: Absorbs a soluble gaseous component into a liquid solvent.
A classic application is the washing of ammonia gas out of a gas stream using water as solvent (B-III).
- C. Dehumidification: Removes condensable vapor from a non-condensable carrier gas stream.
An example is the condensation of carbon tetrachloride out of a stream of nitrogen (C-IV).
- D. Membrane separation: Employs a semi-permeable membrane barrier to separate solutes based on size.
A classic example is Ultrafiltration (D-II).
Therefore, the correct match is: A-I, B-III, C-IV, D-II.
Step 3: Final Answer:
This sequence of matches corresponds to option (C).