New technology for improved food security and food safety to meet the increasing demand from consumers

Project Information

TriQ

Grant agreement ID: 855545

DOI

10.3030/855545

Project closed

EC signature date 28 January 2019

Start date 1 February 2019

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BOMILL AB
Sweden

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TriQ (New technology for improved food security and food safety to meet the increasing demand from consumers)

Reporting period: 2019-02-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project has developed a business plan for the international expansion of BoMill’s technology – a revolutionary single kernel grain sorting technology based on near-infrared (NIR) analysis in transmittance mode. In the modern agriculture economy, the availability and quality of grain, and the knowledge of their different quality fractions are recognized as determinants of the sustained food security and food safety. Any changes in the numbers, size, or quality of grains are important because they influence the yield. Grain sorting equipment is used to remove the offending material (e.g. fusarium infested kernels) from the batch to boost the economic value of the remaining grain fraction. However, the grain industry is still lacking an efficient method of achieving this goal. Today, the main technology used is optical sorter (sorting by visible surface properties). The low accuracy of this method results in unmotivated downgrading of a large part of the grain produced, lower yield from the harvested area and lost revenue for the producer. The TriQ system is the first technology enabling sorting beyond visible surface properties. With TriQ, every single kernel of an entire batch is analysed and sorted according to its internal quality. This means that high quality fractions can be segregated out of batches that have an inferior average quality, allowing the user to maximize yields and capture the hidden value. TriQ fulfils thus a clear unmet market need and has the potential to revolutionize the grain sorting industry. With its unique sorting capabilities, the TriQ system contributes to food security and food safety in different places in the value chain from “farm to fork”. BoMill’s strategy is to establish the company on an international level as the “first of choice” provider of grain sorting technologies. The project is the key step towards realising this vision.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Through the market feasibility assessment performed in this project, we have further confirmed market potential of our technology and identified strategic development targets that will allow us to scale the business internationally.
The feasibility assessment has shown that the long-term commercial success of the company is dependent on the development and launch of the high capacity grain sorter. The current technology has the sorting capacity of 3t/h. In order to be able to compete on the market, we need to introduce the product with the capacity of at least 15t/h. The results from the feasibility assessment can be summarized as follows:
• The biggest challenge/hurdle when marketing the BoMill technology is the limited capacity of 3 ton/hour (even if we do single kernel sorting)
• To position the kernels in the cylinder (3 dimensions) the customer needs special designed cylinder-pockets for each type of grain and there are also seasonal variations of the physical properties of the grain kernel e.g. length and thickness
• A big variation in kernel size needs to be addressed by either additional TriQ machines or additional cylinders and additional storage.
• The 15 ton/h sorter creates more flexibility in regards to size and form, as well as at-taining even better ROI, which makes a more favourable business case
• In order to meet a capacity of 30 ton/hour with our existing technology, the customer needs to procure 10 TriQ machines instead of 2 machines of the high capacity sorter
• The new solution that BoMill will invest in will enable a whole new scalability when it comes to capacity and raw material

In order to communicate our activities, the following dissemination and communication plan has been developed:
• Internet and Social media: Our website is live and already attracting hits from all over the world. We have increased our activity on social media specifically on professional sites, i.e. LinkedIn and ResearchGate.
• Press releases and publications: Press releases made at key milestones of the project to alert interested parties of our progress. Articles target relevant magazines and industrial news channels.
• Trade fairs and conferences: Trade fairs are perhaps the most influential physical channels that we can exploit. Here we intend to have a presence in the most relevant trade fairs with our customer information pack ready to distribution. There is a possibility to have a physical demonstration at these events if the opportunity arises.
• Existing networks: BoMill already has existing installations that continue to return on the investment for our clients. We intend to utilise our previous success to push further success through the satisfaction of our clients.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The Phase 1 investigations have revealed that this new high capacity technology has the power not only to bring the new, strongly desired, high margin products to the grain industry but also to open up for:
- Less toxins in grains for food and feed
- Less use of additives in the food processing industry
- Less energy consumption in handling and less transportation
- Less wastes in terms of downgraded and salvage qualities
and therefore have a positive impact to offer the end consumer i.e. a more sustainable grain industry and a reduced emission of carbon dioxide.
To respond to those clear end-user demands, BoMill has invested in the development of the first prototype of a high-capacity sorter where we are able to upgrade the capacity by a factor of 5. The key technological modification compared to the existing BoMill technology is the change of singulator from 3D cylinder singulator to 2D singulator. In the new singulator, the kernels are positioned in accordance to two dimensions instead of three as used in the present TriQ Sorter.

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