K.P. Sandeep

Bio

Area(s) of Expertise

My primary research interest lies in the area of food engineering. Within food engineering, thermal/aseptic processing of particulate foods using conventional heat exchangers and microwaves is my major area of research. This includes various aspects of fluid mechanics and heat transfer. I also deal with mathematical modeling of velocity and temperature profiles during thermal processing. Developing and using sensors (electronic, enzymatic, thermomagnetic, and microbial) to monitor various aspects of the process is another area that I deal with. All these efforts are geared towards assuring commercial sterility of a product by microbiological validation. Identifying the optimum processing conditions that yield a safe and high-quality product is another aspect of food processing that comes under the realm of my research interests. Some of my other areas of research include the development of biodegradable packaging material (with the use of extrusion and nanotechnology) and the scale-up of mixing and heating operations.

Teaching Activities

• Principles of Food and Bioprocess Engineering (FS 231) (undergraduate)
• Thermal Processing of Foods (FS 741) (graduate)
• Food Packaging (FS 522) (undergraduate and graduate)

Extension and Outreach Activities

I offer the following workshops and short courses for the food industry:

• HTST Equipment, Control and Tests: A Basic Workshop for Dairy Processors
• Thermal Process Design & Calculations
• Conventional and Advanced Thermal Processing Technologies
• Heat Exchangers and their Design
• Continuous Flow Microwave Processing

Service Activities

I serve as the site director for the Center for Advanced Processing and Packaging Studies (CAPPS), an NSF-funded Industry-University Cooperative Research Center. Our Thermal Analysis Service Center has the capability to determine various thermal and dielectric properties of foods for the food industry. For more information on this, please contact me.

Achievements

Our microwave research group’s work has received recognition from IFT (Industrial Achievement Award in 2009), USDA (Superior Efforts in Technology Transfer Award, 2009), and NSF (Compendium of Industry Nominated Technology Breakthroughs). It has also resulted in two commercializations (Yamco, LLC: ~80 jobs; Wright Foods: ~150 jobs).