This model refrigeration units operate with solid adsorption-based refrigeration system powered by farm waste and biomass
With the generation of huge agricultural biomass and being the energy starving nation, New Leaf (off-grid refrigeration), came out with the novel and innovative refrigeration technology for Indian agri supply chain and established one such unit in the premises of Thottiyam Banana Growers’ Association with the financial assistance of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (GEE-BEE-UNIDO). The unit was inaugurated by Dr S. Uma, Director, ICAR- NRCB and commissioned to the federation from 4th Dec, 2020.
Ravichandran Purushotaman, President, Danfoss, India and Anurag Agarwal, New leaf Dynamics, New Delhi also attended the function.A.P. Karuppaiah, President, TNBGF, Mr. G. Ajeethan, Director, TNBGF and other directors and functionaries and farmers also attended the function. Dr. V. Kumar, Dr. C. Karpagam and Dr. P. Suresh Kumar, experts from ICAR- NRC Banana also participated in the programme.
Generally, cooling stations in India are usually powered by an electrical energy or run using diesel engine. At least 2 litres of diesel or 5-6 units of electricity are required to operate 4 tons refrigerated room for one hour. With the shortage of petroleum energy, high fuel cost and the high energy requirement to bring down the temperature in the cold room, the use of those conventional technologies often fail to sustain the business. This model refrigeration units operate with solid adsorption-based refrigeration system powered by farm waste and biomass. This will establish end-to-end cold chain infrastructure for enhancing the shelf life of the commodities like banana. It emits no smoke due to its efficient blower-based combustion using gasification principles and thus emit no carbon into the environment, the company claims. The team also visited the integrated pack house facility established at Thottiyam after the function.
