Agriculture
May 29, 2020
Updated on August 7, 2020
·Created on July 5, 2016
The Biogas Milk Chiller provides off-grid biogas-powered milk cooling to smallholder dairy farmers without access to electricity.
The Biogas Milk Chiller provides off-grid biogas-powered milk cooling on-farm, allowing smallholder dairy farmers without access to electricity to store, deliver, and sell the highest possible quality of raw milk and increase their income. The Biogas Milk Chiller is capable of cooling between 2.5 and 10 Liters from 35ºC to 4ºC within 3 hours, meeting international standards.
Distributors / Implementing Organizations
SimGas has partnered with BoPInc, Mueller and SNV on the Biogas Milk Chiller project. Organizations such as EEP, OFID, Powering agriculture, USAID, BMZ, Sida, OPIC, Duke Energy, Ideo.org and ASME are supporting the project.
Manufacturing/Building Method
This product is currently in the prototyping phase and not yet manufactured at scale.
Intellectural Property Type
Patent Protected
User Provision Model
The prototype can be acquired directly from the designer. SimGas Kenya plans to use crowdfunding, via the Lend-a-Hand crowdfunding platform, to give out loans to 170 farmers to buy biogas systems.
Distributions to Date Status
Storage capacity (L)
Time to cool (hr)
Cooling retention (hr)
Temperature control
Minimum internal temperature (°C)
Materials of construction
Protection from insect entry
Refrigeration cycle catalyst
Design Specifications
The milk chiller is powered by biogas and has a cooling capacity between 2.5 and 10 L of milk. The chiller can cool milk from 35ºC to 7ºC within 4 hours. The chiller can receive biogas from any domestic anaerobic digester. The chiller uses absorption cooling technology, where heat from the biogas combustion is used to charge the system.
Technical Support
SimGas representative. Interview with representative.
Replacement Components
Unknown
Lifecycle
Unknown. However, this product comes with a 2 year warranty.
Manufacturer Specified Performance Parameters
Vetted Performance Status
SimGas’ R&D team tested 4 prototypes at 4 dairy farmers in Tanzania which demonstrated that the BMC complies with the international milk cooling standard: cooling raw milk down from 35 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees Celsius within 3 hours’ time.
Safety
Biogas is primarily composed of methane and carbon dioxide, which pose safety concerns if inhaled. Other safety concerns include explosion, asphyxiation, disease, and hydrogen sulfide poisoning.
Complementary Technical Systems
Simgas provides a variety of biogas systems that are fully integrated into farm solutions for rural households in developing countries.
Academic Research and References
Seybolt, E., Zhong, C., 2017. Design report on SimGas’ Biogas Milk Chiller: Challenges with applying sustainability and usability when developing for the East-African market from a small company in Europe. Kth Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Edwin, M., Sekhar, S.J., 2015. Thermal performance of milk chilling units in remote villages working with the combination of biomass, biogas and solar energies. Energy, 91, pp. 842-851.
Edwin, M., Sekhar, S.J., 2014. Techno-economic studies on hybrid energy based cooling system for milk preservation in isolated regions. Energy conversion and management, 86, pp. 1023-1030.
Dijkink, B., Esveld, E., Broeze, J., Axmann, H., Vollebregt, M., 2019. Effects of milk cooling: A case study on milk supply chain for a factory in Ethiopia. CCAFS Working Paper No. 288, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Compliance with regulations
Unknown
Other Information
YouTube videos on the BMC Biogas reduces carbon emissions by 5-10 metric tons (CO2-equivalent) per user per year.
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