The Food Engineering Laboratory is part of a senior level course (BE/FSC 477) offered each fall. The venue for the lab is the MSU Dairy Plant, a "state-of-the-art" dairy/fluid foods processing facility that produces a variety of dairy products sold at the MSU Dairy Store. Most of the plant equipment (valued at over $2,000,000) is used in the class. Course exercises are integrated into the daily operation of the plant. Students learn the engineering principles that govern process and equipment design, as well as equipment operation. A variety of student activities are illustrated below.

Close examination of the plate heat exchanger

Inspecting a 300 gallon batching tank

Falling film evaporator for concentrating fluid products. (Dr. Marks on far right)

Spray dryer for making powder products.

Scraped surface heat exchanger for making ice cream.

Disassembly of the two-stage homogenizer.

High temperature short time pasteurization system.

CIP system (Clean-In-Place) used to clean and sanitize processing equipment.

Checking level in the MSU Tanker Truck

Links:

MSU Dairy Plant Equipment
MSU Dairy Store
BE/FSC 477

Agricultural Engineering
Michigan State University
A.W. Farrall Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1323
(517) 355-4720

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