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Pilot Plant

The Dairy Products Technology Center at Cal Poly houses a fully equipped pilot plant featuring scaled-down versions of equipment commonly used in commercial dairy processing. Available for industry collaboration, the facility supports research and development efforts across a wide range of dairy applications.

Pilot plant capabilities include: UHT and HTST processing, Spray drying and evaporation, Membrane filtration, dairy production (cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream).

Please note: The pilot plant is intended for research and development purposes only and is not licensed for commercial manufacturing.

 

 

Product Development


We work side by side with your team to turn ideas into reality—adapting every step of the process to fit your goals, equipment, and operational needs. No two projects are alike, and our development style is personalized, collaborative, and highly practical.

Our services span a wide range of food and beverage categories, and we can help you:

  • Conceptualize and create new, market-ready products

  • Customize formulations to suit your processing lines and facility capabilities

  • Resolve technical challenges in formulation or scale-up

  • Incorporate functional ingredients (e.g., organic, low-sugar, high-protein)

  • Enhance processing efficiencies and product performance

  • Evaluate shelf life with an emphasis on quality and food safety

Pilot Plant Equipment  

  • PMS 30-gallons/hr HTST with two-stage homogenizer  

  • Technogel 100 L/hr continuous ice cream freezer  

  • Marriott Walker rising film evaporator (100 lbs/hr evaporative capacity)  

  • Universal 50-gallon round specialty cheese vats  

  • Universal 100-gallon square specialty cheese vats  

  • 4 Groen process steam kettles (40 to 60 gallons)  

  • Spiral-wound DDS UF and RO system (50 to 100 L/hr)  

  • 2-50 L cheese vats  

  • 2-50 L electric batch butter churn  

  • Egli continuous pilot scale butter churn (1 to 2 lbs/min) 

  • Niro Filterlab spray dryer FLG-60 (60 lb/hr. water evaporation rate, capable of drying milk, whey and agglomeration) 

  • Yogurt/ Batch Pasteurizer 50 L  

  • DA 7250 NIR Analyzer 

Commercial Creamery Equipment  

  • HTST — 270 to 600 gallons per hour for ice cream mix, milk, etc., and associated cold milk, separator, batch tanks (1×80 gallons, 2×100 gallons, 1×200 & 1×300 gallons with heating and cooling, 1×400 gallons with heating, 2×500 gallons), pasteurized surge tanks, CIP systems, etc. (HTST is a legally sealed unit by the state of California) 

  • Scholle filler for 3- to 6-gallon bags  

  • Continuous ice cream freezer (Hoyer Frigus SF 600) (50 to 150 gallons/hr)  

  • Ingredient feeder (Hoyer Addus FF 2000 C2) (10 to 200 L/hr)  

  • Open-water jacketed cheese vats (Stoelting 500 gallons, Kusel 2 to 100 gallons)  

  • 150-gallon Damrow Double-O enclosed cheese vat  

  • Koch vacuum packaging system (1- to 40-lb. block)  

  • Miscellaneous tanks and pumps – Highshear Silverson mixer  

  • Cold storage (-15° to -40° F) (approx. 200 sq. ft.)  

 

Need more information? Please review our FAQ sheet

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