Cambridge start-up Triple Line Know-how has created what’s seemingly the world’s first eco-friendly compressed fuel siphon for duties comparable to whipping cream and foaming milk.
Not like the nitrous oxide (N2O) historically used as a propellant and foaming agent in foods and drinks single-use aerosol cans and refillable siphons, Triple Line Know-how’s patented TLT-Foamer expertise creates zero greenhouse fuel emissions throughout use, because it replaces N20 with sustainable compressed air or nitrogen, explains the agency.
N20 is a potent greenhouse fuel, with a world warming potential practically 300 occasions that of carbon dioxide (CO2) – and it usually stays within the environment for greater than 100 years earlier than disintegrating. The fuel in every 8g can or canister of N2O has a carbon footprint equal to 2.4kg of CO2 – roughly the identical because the emissions from driving an SUV for 10 miles. N2O can be supplies and power intensive to fabricate.
“Elimination of the N2O propellant can be massively helpful to attaining net-zero targets,” mentioned Mark Nicmanis, co-founder of Triple Line Know-how. “Nonetheless, merely swapping N2O for an additional propellant fuel for foods and drinks merchandise will not be that easy. Toxicity, flammability, value and poor product outcomes restrict or prohibit the usage of many propellant gases extensively utilized in non-food aerosol purposes.
“That’s why we now have developed our proprietary compressed fuel siphon. It may be charged with compressed air or nitrogen, that are each meals protected, not greenhouse gases – and don’t contribute to different environmental or well being points, comparable to poor air high quality. Air and nitrogen usually are not manufactured gases or primarily based on petrochemical feedstocks. They’re round in use – taken from and returned to the environment.”
The progressive method of the TLT-Foamer expertise includes exploiting a novel bubble break-up mechanism by passing a combination of compressed air (or nitrogen) and a foamable liquid (e.g. cream or milk) by way of a sequence of alternating shear fields. It generates microfoams with tiny bubbles lower than 100 microns in diameter – significantly appropriate for the whipped cream and foamed milk utilized in many espresso drinks.
The contribution of N2O propellant to meals business greenhouse fuel emissions was highlighted by Starbucks in its 2018 Baseline Environmental Report. The espresso large mentioned the N2O utilized in its whipped cream accounted for half its international scope 1 emissions that 12 months. The report declared an N2O emissions worth for the corporate equal to just about 160 million kilotons of CO2 – representing the usage of 67 million metal N2O charger bulbs in a 12 months.
The TLT compressed fuel siphon might be charged utilizing small charger bulbs containing compressed air or nitrogen. However there are additional value financial savings and environmental advantages from charging by way of a compressor or compressor base unit, a fuel cylinder or a nitrogen generator – which does away with the necessity to manufacture, fill, ship and eliminate the charger bulbs.
Though the TLT-Foamer expertise has been developed to satisfy the wants of the foods and drinks business, it might additionally provide an alternative choice to single-use foam aerosols in different retail and industrial sectors, comparable to hair and wonder purposes or cleansing merchandise – serving to to interchange propellants primarily based on risky natural compounds (VOCs), in addition to N20, with sustainable compressed gases.
