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  A faster way to freeze ice creamIf you’ve ever cranked out some homemade ice cream, you know it doesn’t take a chemical engineer to make a tasty treat. Or does it? T. J. Paskach and Will Schroeder, both in the Ph.D. program in ChE, have some news for you. They have designed and built a machine that uses liquid nitrogen to produce a creamy, flavorful, and very popular ice cream. They worked 15-hour days at the Iowa State Fair this summer, selling nearly 900 gallons of ice cream in $2 and $3 increments and fielding queries from venture capitalists. Yet this pursuit is little more than a hobby for the two students, whose serious research is in catalysis. “We’re students first and foremost,” Paskach said. “We’ve tried to play it down.” The idea of using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream is not a new one. What they have done is to refine a process and make a machine that produces great tasting ice cream. The secret is superior texture. “Flash freezing denies ice crystals a chance to form and grow,” Paskach explained. “The people in food science tell us that an even texture coats the tongue better and gives you better flavor.” Paskach and Schroeder first ventured into the realm of flash-frozen ice cream as part of a ChE VEISHEA display. The device they used then was primitive compared with the high-tech machine employed at the fair. The new machine, which meets USDA regulations, involved a series of tasks that would challenge even a full-time entrepreneur. Yet, while full-time students, Paskach and Schroeder had to accomplish the following: • obtain a license agreement (a provisional patent application had already been filed) • design and fabricate custom parts, with help from the Ames Laboratory • recruit financial assistance from the Center for Advanced Technology Development and from the Iowa Companies Assistance Program • arrange for in-kind assistance from the Center for Industrial Research and Service They worked nights and weekends, spent large sums of their own money, and relied on their families for support. “Our motto that last month before the fair was, ‘We must succeed’,” Schroeder said with emphasis. “It was a sacrifice.” There may be a payoff someday. In the meantime, Paskach and Schroeder are finishing their degrees and sending out resumes for when they graduate. But they’re also looking ahead to next year’s fair, to which they’ve already been invited, and maybe the Minnesota State Fair. They’ll also consider franchise options once they get their ChE careers started. Whatever happens, as Schroeder so aptly pointed out, “It’s not just a trivial VEISHEA display any more.” |
