NDRI student develops milk-chilling unit

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 18

A student of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) has developed an affordable indigenous milk-chilling unit for smaller and marginal rural dairy farmers.

Ravi Prakash, a PhD scholar in dairy engineering at the regional station of NDRI-Karnal in Bengaluru, used nano-fluid based phase change materials to design this unit.

It cools the milk at the field level from its ambient temperature (37°C) to 7°C, essential temperature for the shelf life of milk, in just 30 minutes in comparison to around 3 hours in a refrigerator.

He claims it is of great socio-economic importance to small and marginal rural dairy farmers as it will preserve the quality of milk after production.

“Around 80 per cent dairy farmers are still in the unorganised sector and this unit can help them save time and money. I designed this unit, having capacity of 5-6 litres, for Rs 5,000,” he said.

“It is an advanced type container in which we can do milking directly and its special technology cools the milk immediately after it enters the container,” said Prakash. He refused to divulge more information about the project as its patent was yet to be filed.

He claims the direct chilling of milk will reduce the chances of the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which ultimately reduce the shelf life of milk. Just-milked milk does not contain lactic acid but it increases after some time.

Prakash, a permanent resident of Harsari village in West Champar in Bihar, is now carrying out research under the guidance of Dr Menon Rekha Ravindra, Principal Scientist (Engineering).

He had won $25,000 for this project during the fourth BRICS-Young Scientist Forum (YSF) -2019 held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

One hundred young scientists from five countries –India, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa — participated in it.

Scientists at NDRI also welcomed him. “It is a proud moment for the NDRI as our young researcher has brought laurels to the country as well as the institute by winning a prestigious award. It will definitely help small and marginal farmers of rural areas,” said Dr RRB Singh, Director, NDRI.

Prakash, who did his B.Tech in dairy technology from NDRI, Karnal, and presently doing PhD final year from NDRI Regional Institute in Bengaluru, aims to continue research for farmers.