Director and co-founder of New Lead Dynamic Technologies, Mr Akash Agarwal a few years ago aimed at designing a solution wherein local farm waste could be used locally to improve milk production for dairy farmers. This idea evolved and today they have a manufacturing facility to manufacture bio mass powered cold storages, ripening chambers and pre coolers for the agricultural industry.
They, Mr Akash Agarwal along with his father Mr Anurag Agarwal, set up this company in 2012. It took around 5 years for them to develop this technology called GreenCHILL™. They have 2 patents to their credit on it currently.
The main motive behind developing GreenCHILL™ was to use bio mass which is available at the farm site. Any regional mass that is available - paddy, husk, straw, biogas, any woody bio mass or any crop residue can be readily used for cooling 5000kgs to 20,000kg fruits, vegetables or flowers.
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has, so far, seen 30 GreenCHILL™ installations across 8 states. These installations are in the farm sites in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujrat, UP, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan and Punjab where farmers have stored various varieties of fruits and vegetables like custard apple, green chilli, tomatoes, orange, lemon, muskmelon, apple, pear, guava, capsicum, banana, mango and greens like palak etc. They have also stored various varieties of flowers like marigold and rose.
“Our aim is to build the cold chain from farm to fork,” says Mr Akash. “This is the first mile of the cold chain. Building this first mile to the wholesale market is very important because it empowers the farmer with the ability to control produce prices and be less impacted by post-harvest losses.”
Going deeper into the technology part of it, biomass is being used to heat the water. Hot water at 120 degree Celsius replaces the mechanical compressor compressing the refrigerating gas such as HFCs and CFCs, in the conventional refrigeration system. Also, HFCs and CFCs are not environmental friendly. But in this system, they have ammonia which is being compressed using hot water. This is a very noble technology and is the first of its kind in India and the world over.
We are all aware of the amount of pollution that is caused by stubble burning and that is what Mr Akash and team pitches to their customers. They don't need to burn it because burning is not just harmful for their land, it costs them money as well. Instead they encourage them to collect it all and use it to power the GreenCHILL™ cold storage free of cost. Many farmers have implemented this.
“To quote an example, starting this year, farmers in Gujrat stored lemon in GreenCHILL™ in the first week of January. In the first week of January, the price of lemon was Rs 5 per kg. Within 6-8 weeks the price increased by 20 folds. This is how we help farmers with the best post-harvest management services. We also help farmers do the fungicide treatment once the lemon is harvested. Once this fungicide treatment is done, we helped them with the waxing treatment post which the produce is stored in the cold storage and was sold in the third week of January at Rs 56 per kg.
We did the same with an orange farmer as well. The price of orange crop in the first week of April is around Rs 21-22 per kg. By May end or June, it goes up to Rs 45 per kg. Analyzing the market, we understood that there is someone in the supply chain who takes advantage of this price rise. So, why not enable the farmer to make some extra income using these available resources at his site? This technology helps farmers to store his/her produce and sell it when the market price goes up.”
Are we talking about individual farmers having a unit or a group of farmers need to set it up?
GreenCHILL™ is priced in such a way that as of now, both individual farmers and Farmer Producer Companies are buying it. We have had individual farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat buy it and we have had FPOs procuring it in UP and Rajasthan. In UP there is a place in Lucknow, where 500 farmers got together and bought a unit. They are now ripening bananas and mangoes and selling it at the best price they can fetch.
If an individual farmer needs to buy it, what is the cost and the pre requisites?
We offer a 20,000 kg GreenCHILL™ cold storage to an individual farmer within 600 km radius of our factory for Rs. 12 lakh with a loading capacity of 5,000 kg per day.
What is the main advantage of this technology, for the farmer, in comparison with conventional cold storage?
When we came into the picture and started selling GreenCHILL™ in 2015, this conventional cold storage was already available in the market. 30 years ago, farmers already had an option to use a conventional cold storage technology. But, it wasn’t being used because cold storages should be installed at a farm. It is not feasible at the farm if the electricity is being provided only 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening for irrigation purposes. The compressor must run continuously to keep the temperature optimum and using electricity for this at a farm is not a sustainable idea.
Also, with respect to the conventional unit, since it runs on electricity, owing to power cuts, you will have to install a generator - a digiset. A digiset adds on another Rs 500-600 to your list of expenses. So, there is a bare minimum cost of Rs 1000 -1500 for running a 20,000 kg cold storage in a day.
One can install the GreenCHILL™ cold storage we have developed at the farm site where there is no electricity supply as well because it is powered by bio mass. The running cost of this cold storage, that is the bio mass requirement for a 20,000 kg cold storage is only 70 kg per day. 70kg is when the farmer is filling the cold room. While the cold room is filled and the desired temp has been maintained, which is for instance, 2 degree Celsius, the bio mass consumption goes down by at least 50%. Taking the cost of bio mass even at Rs 2 per kg, the cost of running this system is not more than Rs 150-200 per day. Whereas, if you go with the conventional compressor system, for storing a 20,000 kg produce, the running cost of the unit will be around Rs 500-600. That is the subsidized rate that the farmer pays.
If it is a smaller capacity cold room of say 15 metric tonnes, then the bio mass requirement goes down to about 60kgs.
Is there a particular kind of bio mass that needs to be used?
Any kind of bio mass using which water can be heated will do. You can even use dried cow dung cakes.
This system also has a provision for getting powered through bio gas too. If you have a small bio gas plant ranging from 5 cubic meters to 60 cubic meters that can be directly connected to this system to power the cold storage.
How does this system run?
Biomass is used for heating the water. There are 150 litres of water in the system, which is heated to 120 degree Celsius and this hot water is used to compress the refrigerant gas. Instead of a mechanical compressor, the hot water acts as the compressor. Like any normal refrigeration cycle, this water gets condensed evaporated and then reused. The refrigeration cycle is like a normal air conditioner novel compressor. The mechanical compressor gets replaced by hot water – that is the basic difference.
How many people are required to run a small unit?
These units can be run by a single individual. You need to feed bio mass typically once or twice a day. There is an alarm inbuilt into the system for notifying people. This is the sole human intervention required. Everything thereafter feeding the bio mass is an automated process.
Are there any government subsidies available to set up a cold storage by an individual farmer?
Yes. The government is subsidizing our GreenCHILL™ cold storage under the National Horticulture Mission Scheme. There is a 35% subsidy from the Center and add on 15% subsidy given by the State. The latter part duly depends on the State government.
Specifically speaking the Gujarat government has offered this additional 15% subsidy. That makes it 50% subsidy for people opting to for this system in Gujarat. If a farmer wants to procure it with/without subsidy it is up to them. For us, there is no price difference. If a farmer wants to procure it through a subsidy then he has to take a term loan and fulfil all the formalities. If he thinks walking around for a subsidy is too much, he can simply take any kind of loan that is available and avail this service.
What is the lifespan of these units?
Wherever we are operational, we have our service engineer within 100 km of the installation site. That site is 24X7 under the surveillance of a service engineer. This is a commercial cold storage installed at the site with a lifespan of 25 years. This has been certified by IIT Patna.
We have a Government approved lab at IIT Patna where further research and development is going on. This lab is funded by the Government.
In 2016, we were funded, and the MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Pranab Mukherjee. A second transfer of funding came in this year. They have necessary funds to further develop this technology and to further increase the unit’s lifespan.
The life of the cooling part is 25 years and the cold room part which is manufactured by a bio commercial entity, is 20 years. All these are dependent on how well the farmer uses it.
Who is the technology person behind this?
My background is sales and marketing and I am a graduate from the University of Utah, USA.
My father is a mechanical engineer from IIT Kanpur with his Masters from Tennessee Tech University. He is the Math, Physics and Chemistry behind this and it is my sweat.
Contact –
Akash Agarwal
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies (P) LTD
Office: B-1/B-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate | Mathura Road | New Delhi -110044
Factory: Plot A-150 – Sector 80 | NOIDA 201301, India
www.newleafdynamic.com
Email: akash.agarwal@newleafdynamic.com
Mobile: 9810816292
They, Mr Akash Agarwal along with his father Mr Anurag Agarwal, set up this company in 2012. It took around 5 years for them to develop this technology called GreenCHILL™. They have 2 patents to their credit on it currently.
The main motive behind developing GreenCHILL™ was to use bio mass which is available at the farm site. Any regional mass that is available - paddy, husk, straw, biogas, any woody bio mass or any crop residue can be readily used for cooling 5000kgs to 20,000kg fruits, vegetables or flowers.
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has, so far, seen 30 GreenCHILL™ installations across 8 states. These installations are in the farm sites in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujrat, UP, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan and Punjab where farmers have stored various varieties of fruits and vegetables like custard apple, green chilli, tomatoes, orange, lemon, muskmelon, apple, pear, guava, capsicum, banana, mango and greens like palak etc. They have also stored various varieties of flowers like marigold and rose.
“Our aim is to build the cold chain from farm to fork,” says Mr Akash. “This is the first mile of the cold chain. Building this first mile to the wholesale market is very important because it empowers the farmer with the ability to control produce prices and be less impacted by post-harvest losses.”
Going deeper into the technology part of it, biomass is being used to heat the water. Hot water at 120 degree Celsius replaces the mechanical compressor compressing the refrigerating gas such as HFCs and CFCs, in the conventional refrigeration system. Also, HFCs and CFCs are not environmental friendly. But in this system, they have ammonia which is being compressed using hot water. This is a very noble technology and is the first of its kind in India and the world over.
We are all aware of the amount of pollution that is caused by stubble burning and that is what Mr Akash and team pitches to their customers. They don't need to burn it because burning is not just harmful for their land, it costs them money as well. Instead they encourage them to collect it all and use it to power the GreenCHILL™ cold storage free of cost. Many farmers have implemented this.
“To quote an example, starting this year, farmers in Gujrat stored lemon in GreenCHILL™ in the first week of January. In the first week of January, the price of lemon was Rs 5 per kg. Within 6-8 weeks the price increased by 20 folds. This is how we help farmers with the best post-harvest management services. We also help farmers do the fungicide treatment once the lemon is harvested. Once this fungicide treatment is done, we helped them with the waxing treatment post which the produce is stored in the cold storage and was sold in the third week of January at Rs 56 per kg.
We did the same with an orange farmer as well. The price of orange crop in the first week of April is around Rs 21-22 per kg. By May end or June, it goes up to Rs 45 per kg. Analyzing the market, we understood that there is someone in the supply chain who takes advantage of this price rise. So, why not enable the farmer to make some extra income using these available resources at his site? This technology helps farmers to store his/her produce and sell it when the market price goes up.”
Are we talking about individual farmers having a unit or a group of farmers need to set it up?
GreenCHILL™ is priced in such a way that as of now, both individual farmers and Farmer Producer Companies are buying it. We have had individual farmers from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat buy it and we have had FPOs procuring it in UP and Rajasthan. In UP there is a place in Lucknow, where 500 farmers got together and bought a unit. They are now ripening bananas and mangoes and selling it at the best price they can fetch.
If an individual farmer needs to buy it, what is the cost and the pre requisites?
We offer a 20,000 kg GreenCHILL™ cold storage to an individual farmer within 600 km radius of our factory for Rs. 12 lakh with a loading capacity of 5,000 kg per day.
What is the main advantage of this technology, for the farmer, in comparison with conventional cold storage?
When we came into the picture and started selling GreenCHILL™ in 2015, this conventional cold storage was already available in the market. 30 years ago, farmers already had an option to use a conventional cold storage technology. But, it wasn’t being used because cold storages should be installed at a farm. It is not feasible at the farm if the electricity is being provided only 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening for irrigation purposes. The compressor must run continuously to keep the temperature optimum and using electricity for this at a farm is not a sustainable idea.
Also, with respect to the conventional unit, since it runs on electricity, owing to power cuts, you will have to install a generator - a digiset. A digiset adds on another Rs 500-600 to your list of expenses. So, there is a bare minimum cost of Rs 1000 -1500 for running a 20,000 kg cold storage in a day.
One can install the GreenCHILL™ cold storage we have developed at the farm site where there is no electricity supply as well because it is powered by bio mass. The running cost of this cold storage, that is the bio mass requirement for a 20,000 kg cold storage is only 70 kg per day. 70kg is when the farmer is filling the cold room. While the cold room is filled and the desired temp has been maintained, which is for instance, 2 degree Celsius, the bio mass consumption goes down by at least 50%. Taking the cost of bio mass even at Rs 2 per kg, the cost of running this system is not more than Rs 150-200 per day. Whereas, if you go with the conventional compressor system, for storing a 20,000 kg produce, the running cost of the unit will be around Rs 500-600. That is the subsidized rate that the farmer pays.
If it is a smaller capacity cold room of say 15 metric tonnes, then the bio mass requirement goes down to about 60kgs.
Is there a particular kind of bio mass that needs to be used?
Any kind of bio mass using which water can be heated will do. You can even use dried cow dung cakes.
This system also has a provision for getting powered through bio gas too. If you have a small bio gas plant ranging from 5 cubic meters to 60 cubic meters that can be directly connected to this system to power the cold storage.
How does this system run?
Biomass is used for heating the water. There are 150 litres of water in the system, which is heated to 120 degree Celsius and this hot water is used to compress the refrigerant gas. Instead of a mechanical compressor, the hot water acts as the compressor. Like any normal refrigeration cycle, this water gets condensed evaporated and then reused. The refrigeration cycle is like a normal air conditioner novel compressor. The mechanical compressor gets replaced by hot water – that is the basic difference.
How many people are required to run a small unit?
These units can be run by a single individual. You need to feed bio mass typically once or twice a day. There is an alarm inbuilt into the system for notifying people. This is the sole human intervention required. Everything thereafter feeding the bio mass is an automated process.
Are there any government subsidies available to set up a cold storage by an individual farmer?
Yes. The government is subsidizing our GreenCHILL™ cold storage under the National Horticulture Mission Scheme. There is a 35% subsidy from the Center and add on 15% subsidy given by the State. The latter part duly depends on the State government.
Specifically speaking the Gujarat government has offered this additional 15% subsidy. That makes it 50% subsidy for people opting to for this system in Gujarat. If a farmer wants to procure it with/without subsidy it is up to them. For us, there is no price difference. If a farmer wants to procure it through a subsidy then he has to take a term loan and fulfil all the formalities. If he thinks walking around for a subsidy is too much, he can simply take any kind of loan that is available and avail this service.
What is the lifespan of these units?
Wherever we are operational, we have our service engineer within 100 km of the installation site. That site is 24X7 under the surveillance of a service engineer. This is a commercial cold storage installed at the site with a lifespan of 25 years. This has been certified by IIT Patna.
We have a Government approved lab at IIT Patna where further research and development is going on. This lab is funded by the Government.
In 2016, we were funded, and the MoU was signed in the presence of Shri Pranab Mukherjee. A second transfer of funding came in this year. They have necessary funds to further develop this technology and to further increase the unit’s lifespan.
The life of the cooling part is 25 years and the cold room part which is manufactured by a bio commercial entity, is 20 years. All these are dependent on how well the farmer uses it.
Who is the technology person behind this?
My background is sales and marketing and I am a graduate from the University of Utah, USA.
My father is a mechanical engineer from IIT Kanpur with his Masters from Tennessee Tech University. He is the Math, Physics and Chemistry behind this and it is my sweat.
Contact –
Akash Agarwal
New Leaf Dynamic Technologies (P) LTD
Office: B-1/B-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Estate | Mathura Road | New Delhi -110044
Factory: Plot A-150 – Sector 80 | NOIDA 201301, India
www.newleafdynamic.com
Email: akash.agarwal@newleafdynamic.com
Mobile: 9810816292