Industrial visit to Mazoon Dairy Company

A team of 12 staff members from Ibri College of Technology visited the Mazoon Dairy Company on Thursday, 27 February 2020. Mazoon Dairy Company in the Sultanate of Oman is one of the largest companies in the country with a capital of OMR 100 million, founded on 18 October 2017. It is located in the Al Buraimi Governate and is spread over 15 square kilometres. The dairy farm has a capacity of approximately 7000 cows and the central processing plant is capable of producing million litres of milk each day.  The farm began with 3500 milking cows.  It is predicated that the plant will increase the milking cows’ number to 25,000 by 2026. Currently, 15 sheds maintain a temperature of 25 0 C through a cooling system.

The faculty members who visited the plant were Mr Arthur Davis (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering), Dr Rehna V. Jameela (Lecturer, Electronics Engineering), Ms Subha Bharathi (Lecturer Electrical Engineering), Dr Sharmila Deve (Lecturer Electrical Engineering), Mr Ganesh Reddy(Lecturer, Electrical Engineering), Mr Veera Sivakumar (Lecturer, Electrical Engineering), Mr Rajesh Goud (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering), Mr Krishnakumar (Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering),  Mr Mangesh Ramdasji (Lecturer Information Technology),  Mr Ali Al Alawi (Head of OJT), Mr Shafi Al Shukri (Technician) and Mr Reynaldo Franco (Technician).

The main purpose of the visit was to:

• establish industrial relationships between Mazoon Dairy Company and Ibri College of Technology
• do collaborative work in finding solutions related to plant process problems
• get opportunities for OJT and industrial visits for students
• find Research and Consultancy Opportunities.

Insights from the visit

After reaching the power plant, the plant manager welcomed the visitors and gave an introductory presentation. The team visited the HVAC System in the plant which uses compressed ammonia for cooling the water and maintaining the required temperature, elaborately demonstrated by Mr Charles Rahjasekaran, the process manager. All the system-processing operations are controlled through SCADA. 

The water treatment plant in the facility uses RO technology to reduce TDS levels in the water and uses more than eight levels to reduce TDS levels. Plant uses 4-5 litres of water in order to produce one litre of milk. The company is expecting the water recycling plant with TDS levels below 100 in order to reduce water requirements. 

All automatically required hydraulic operations in the plant are carried with three compressors which maintain a pressure of 7.5 -8 bar. 400V Delta connected three-phase squirrel cage induction motors are used to drive the compressors.

A fire tube boiler heats the water to a temperature of 1800 C for bottle packing, cleaning operations, etc. 

Our team found serval opportunities like RO plant for reducing TDS, bio-gas plant and assistance in maintaining the automated systems.

Another visit is planned for the near future to establish an industry to institutional relationship.