Dairy

The dairy industry uses the pasteurisation process to eliminate pathogens and improve shelf-life. The temperature required for this and other dairy processes is around 90-150 degree Celsius. Conventional fuel-fired boilers or heaters are used for these purposes, resulting in increased operating costs and emission of a significant amount of GHGs.

Solar Thermal-based collectors and concentrators can be used to produce the required heat in the form of water, thermic fluid, steam for the dairy industry processes.

By using Oorja Solar thermal collectors:

1. The system can be integrated with existing conventional heater or boiler for all the processes.

2.60-80 % reduction in fossil energy consumption, offsetting tonnes of GHGs.

3. Reduction in operating costs of the pasteurization.

4. Less than 3 years payback and after that, the system works for free.

5. The installations can be done on the ground, RCC roofs and industrial sheds.

6. The heat can be stored in heat storage tanks and non-solar ones.

Figure 1 Oorja Compound Parabolic Collector

Oorja compound parabolic collector (CPC) is a solar concentrator technology which can utilise both diffused and direct radiation for producing temperatures up to 120°C with thermic fluid. It consists of a CPC with a parabolic reflector on the bottom. The system consists of an evacuated tube with a heat pipe inside it. The working fluid gets heated up each time it passes through the manifold and subsequently through the heat pipes.

For temperatures above 120-degree Celsius, XCPC is used to heat the thermic fluid. The heat can later be exchanged through a heat exchanger.

Dairy is one of the fundamental products for millions of people in the country. It is important these industries run efficiently and reduce their carbon footprint by avoiding fossil-fuel based heating systems.