Today (December 26, 2022) Dr. Pongwipha Lorsomboon, chairman of the Circular Economy Subcommittee, PMUC, led a team of experts to follow up on the project: “Development of household kitchen waste disposal suitable for Thai market”, with Mr. Pattarapol Tularak as the project leader, who presented the progress of the operation at the food disposer prototype factory, Thai Recycle West Hub Co., Ltd., Muang District, Pathum Thani Province.
The project aims to build a knowledge base in the area of food waste disposal and odor control while keeping aware of cost profiles that are close to reality to assist in the development of commercially ready machines with an affordable price so that food waste disposers can be accessible to more Thai people. This would effectively provide the environmentally conscious consumers with more options to reduce the amount of waste. It would also help reduce the amount of waste that will be disposed of by landfill and incineration, as well as reducing the weight of waste that will be transported to the disposal site, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions in another way.
The research team has developed a chipboard and developed a program to control the operation of the machine itself. The machine was designed to be easy to use and have a compact size for convenient utility in the household. For example, the machine must operate with a noise level no higher than 50 decibels, without any disturbing odors, and must consume less energy. Currently, the research team can keep the power consumption for the machine at 1.5 KW-h, and plans to achieve even less energy consumption in the future. In addition, the research team has also improved the inoculant to be suitable for use with the machine, including increasing heat and humidity profile of the machine to better suit the usage characteristics of Thai people.
Incidentally, a team of experts took a tour and looked at a prototype food waste disposer, and discussed the progress and obstacles in the operation. The team then provided suggestions for improving the product to be marketable in the Thai market, such as setting the price so that the general public can easily make a purchase decision, and developing a more esthetically pleasing design to be more like a piece of furniture in a home. On the technical side, the team recommended improving the motor to be quieter while consume less energy, and designing the machine components to be easily replaced with parts available within the country. These would serve to strengthen the brand to be more competitive in the Thai market.
In addition, the expert team also provided advice on developing a clear and easy-to-understand manual to facilitate better understanding of the proper use of the machine, as well as promoting the use of the byproducts in soil improvement applications. At current time, the company has provided 100 prototype machines in order to collect user feedback to further improve the machine functionality to better address consumers’ needs. It is expected that it will be ready for mass production and marketing by next year.
