Lettinga Award 2015
The objective is to develop the first off-grid, biogas-powered milk chiller for smallholder dairy farmers. The milk chiller can double East African smallholder dairy farmers’ milk income and prevent 30-50% of milk going to waste. Together with a bio digester, the milk chiller creates a sustainable integrated farm solution that contributes to closing both the nutrient and carbon cycle at the farm.
Biogas from anaerobic digestion is being used by small farmers in East Africa since decades. SimGas’ ongoing Research and Development effort aims to provide mass-produced biogas digesters and appliances, creating an integrated farm solution that increases food-security, closes the on-farm nutrient and carbon cycles, generates income and improves livelihoods in a sustainable way for millions of households.
Part of the total farm solution is the biogas powered milk chiller (“BMC”). The BMC creates a solution for the lack of milk cooling possibilities at small farms, making use of available and reliable energy (biogas). The BMC is essential to meet increasing demand in the formal milk chain as 30-50% of the milk is wasted due to lack of cooling (IFC, 2014). This affects more than 2 million smallholder farmers.