Research Projects

Milk is a composite food that provides a variety of nutrients needed for daily human nutrition . Milk leaves the udder at about 35°C, which is ideal for the growth of bacteria and other pathogens when kept at room temperature. Bacterial growth is quick after milking due to the high nutritional content and nearly neutral pH value of milk. After 2–5 hours in warm weather, the bacteria content in raw milk can surpass the maximum allowed by food safety rules. For dispersed or remotely located families, the collection of raw milk takes place less frequently or transportation to the nearest center is not feasible. Milk is frequently rejected at collection sites due to poor quality, resulting in large revenue losses for milk producers, especially during the summer. Because raw milk is perishable, it should be chilled. It requires chilling of collected milk from udder temperature (~35°C) to storage temperature (~4°C) and maintaining it throughout thus it demands running chilling at the discrete locations. As a present practice, bulk milk chillers (BMCs) are used at the village level for storage and maintenance of raw milk under required temperature conditions at centralized locations. These BMCs are operated with grid power or solar power with DG set backup. There are several shortcomings with the existing practices: 1. In case of dispersed or remotely located families, the collection of the raw milk takes place less frequently and these farmers have to remain at the mercy of milk purchasers due to deteriorated/contaminated milk and hence face financial loss. 2. The contaminated milk and derived product hence poses danger to consumer's health specifically it is used in infant milk powder. 3. The cooling requirement of BMCs is completely fulfilled with grid power or solar power which demands its supply throughout milk storage. In absence of PCM based coolness storage, the investment and running cost is more. The present proposal aims to address above shortcomings and provides cost effective technology for empowering equal opportunities all farmers with dedicated standalone portable milk chiller PCM based coolness storage. In addition, developed product is intended for multiple applications with variety of perishable food items etc. Based on the aforementioned need, the following objectives are proposed: (1) Design of a milk chiller for coolness storage of 12/24 hours based on phase change material (2) Development of an integrated portable mobile milk chilling system that can move between solar PV plants and the nearest electric grid during non-sunny days. (3) Field testing and System performance demonstration following the milk collection practice and loading /unloading of milk pattern. Expected output and outcome of proposal:(1).Demonstration and usage of S&T for stopping milk spoilage and maintaining milk nutrients. (2).Project will lead to novel patentable product (3).Scaling of the prototype for different cold storage applications