THE SCRAPED SURFACE FREEZER (SSF) IS THE KEY UNIT OPERATION FOR MANUFACTURING FROZEN DESSERTS, YET IT HAS RECEIVED VERY LITTLE ATTENTION IN TERMS OF ENGINEERING DESIGN OF THE ELEMENTS TO SUCCESSFULLY REMOVE HEAT AND CREATE THE COMPLEX MICROSTRUCTURES (ICE, AIR, FAT) DESIRED. THE INDUSTRY STILL LARGELY DESIGNS EQUIPMENT BASED ON EXPERIENCE AND TRIAL/ERROR. OBJECTIVE 1, THE EXPERIMENTAL COMPONENT OF THIS WORK, INVOLVES CHARACTERIZING OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS (E.G., RESIDENCE TIME DISTRIBUTION, RADIAL AND AXIAL THERMAL PROFILE) AND PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS (E.G., ICE CRYSTAL AND AIR CELL SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS, FAT GLOBULE DISTRIBUTION) OF A STATE-OF-THE-ART SSF WITH DIFFERENT DASHER DESIGNS. THIS DATA PROVIDED THE BASIS FOR VERIFYING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS (CFD) MODELING (OBJECTIVE 2) OF THE SSF FOR THE DIFFERENT GEOMETRIES TO YIELD SHEAR AND VELOCITY PROFILES. THESE OUTCOMES WILL THEN BE COUPLED WITH POPULATION BALANCE MODELING FOR PREDICTION OF ICE CRYSTALS AND AIR CELLS. THE EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING RESULTS PROVIDE A SOUND BASIS FOR TRIALS INTENDED TO IMPROVE SSF DESIGN (OBJECTIVE 3). TO ACHIEVE THESE OBJECTIVES, AN INTERNATIONAL, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM OF RESEARCHERS HAS BEEN BROUGHT TOGETHER WHO CAN EXECUTE THE COMBINATION OF EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING ACTIVITIES NEEDED TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN SSF DESIGN. INCLUDED ON THIS TEAM IS ONE OF THE LEADING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS FOR THE FROZEN DESSERT INDUSTRY. THE OVERALL AIM OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP NEW DESIGNS THAT SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE SSF OPERATION BASED ON ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES AND ENABLE FROZEN DESSERT MANUFACTURERS TO MORE EFFICIENTLY DEVELOP A RANGE OF HEALTHIER FROZEN DESSERTS AND THEREBY MEET CHANGING CONSUMER REQUIREMENTS.