Facilities
The Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University has unique pilot plants and laboratories. Modern teaching and research facilities include a pilot flour mill, feed mill, bakery, extrusion laboratory, and grain storage and handling facility. In addition, more than 10 cereal chemistry laboratories are equipped with visible and ultraviolet spectrophotometers near infrared analyzers, an infrared microspectrometer, gas chromatographs, liquid chromatographs, ultra centrifuge, freeze drying apparatus, balances, rapid viscosity analyzer, differential scanning calorimeters, thermo-mechanical analyzers, classical rheometer (Instron), dynamic rheometers, gel electrophoresis apparatus, a full array of glassware, rapid analyzers for nitrogen, fiber, and glucose, as well as recording mixers and starch viscometers.
The department has a 97-year history of academic interest in the milling industry with particular emphasis on milling and baking properties of wheat cultivars. The wheat milling facilities range from a bench-scale mill (batch of 0.5 kg of grain) to a pilot mill with a capacity of 6 MT/8h. Specialty dry mills also are available to purify, fractionate, and grind any seed-like material, including all cereals, legumes, pulses, spices, and gums. Lab-scale facilities are available for cleaning, conditioning, and milling small samples on a Miag Multomat, Buhler Mill, Brabender Quadrumat, and bench top mills with variable flows. Plans for a wet-milling laboratory for grain are progressing.
Another unique feature of the department is its fully functional pilot feed mill for research and development studies by university, industry, and government organizations. The feed mill at Kansas State University is a modern concrete and steel structure on campus which houses the latest in equipment in the feed milling industry. Its capabilities include cleaning and receiving raw materials, classification of raw materials, grinding and pelleting, flaking, or extruding. A premix room for micro-ingredients and a large-scale batching system facilitate accurate proportioning and weighing of feed ingredients. The feed mill is capable of producing nearly all physical forms of formulated animal feeds. Plans for construction of new facilities are in progress.
A food-grade extrusion processing facility is housed in a 2,900 sq ft pilot area with state-of-the-art support facilities, an experienced staff, a Wenger X-20 single screw extruder, a Wenger TX-52 twin screw extruder, a Wenger Series 4800 gas-fired dryer, a commercial scale microwave dryer, mixers, and appropriate analytical equipment. The Center has produced a range of products including pet foods, pet snack products, aquatic feed, human snack foods, breakfast cereal products, and short stock pasta. New monitoring equipment is designed to capture all the operating parameters in a data base to help understand factors that control rheological properties during processing and physical properties of the final products. The Center is available for basic research on materials, product formulation, process development, and pilot scale refinement prior to commercial scale production. A second comparable space is available in a separate 2,500 sq ft pilot plant. It is equipped with the same support facilities, an injection molder, a blown film extruder, table saw, grinder and fume hood. While both pilot areas are designed for food grade operation, the second space is segregated and equipped for industrial product research. Industrial films, mulch, and adhesives have been produced in this facility.
Departmental facilities for research include well-equipped laboratories for all areas of research in cereal chemistry. This includes laboratories equipped for chemical research and special laboratories equipped for studies of the physical properties of flour, doughs and food systems. Pilot bakery facilities provide an excellent environment for teaching and research. A fully-equipped computer laboratory is available to all students.
The Department of Grain Science and Industry at Kansas State University has established the Grain Quality Research Program (GQRP), a comprehensive grain testing and analytical facility for evaluation of wheat, corn, grain sorghum, soybeans, and other grains in whole or processed form. The mission of the Grain Quality Research Program is to provide an unbiased assessment of grain quality and end-use value to all sectors of the grain industry.
The GQRP is composed of three divisions of grain testing: the Wheat Quality Laboratory that performs wheat and flour analysis, milling, physical dough testing, baking, and oriental food testing; the Cereal Grain, Oilseeds, and Products Laboratory that evaluates the processing value of corn, sorghum, soybeans, other crops, and feed; and the Analytical Laboratory that provides biochemical support testing for a range of whole grains and grain products. Each laboratory is staffed with experienced professionals who use approved methods and common methodologies to evaluate submitted grain samples in a timely manner.
Other facilities in the K-State Grain Science and Industry Complex, located on the north side of Manhattan, are the recently completed Bioprocessing and Industrial Value-Added Program and the International Grains Program Conference Center buildings and 525-hundred weight-per-day Hal Ross flour mill. Still to be built on the site are a grain science teaching and research building, which will house the Bakery Science and Management Program and a feed mill. Moreover, Grain science faculty collaborates with the scientists at the USDA Grain Marketing Research Laboratories and the American Institute of Baking and there are graduate programs that are co.
