Additional Tips on Mini Ice Plant Business
1. If your water supply is not ideal (hardness, non-pathogen
free), it is best to have an elevated water storage/supply system
where you can manually or mechanically chlorinate the water on
a daily basis. This is still the cheapest and most effective way not
only to render the water safe for human consumption but also to
flocculate some elements that make the water "hard", particularly
calcium carbonates (which end up as gall stones) and iron oxides
(which leave brown stains on your toilet bowls and lavatories). In
this case you will also need an efficient and cheap filtration
system, i.e., with backwash system and easy regeneration of the
hardness-eliminating bio-chemical compounds.
2. The best physical layout is a "below ground" brine tank for
larger volumes of daily capacity (above 5MT). For smaller
volumes, "above ground" will do; it will also facilitate loading onto
delivery vehicles and eliminate pumping out the brine tank for
periodic maintenance.
3. Ice cans for large-scale operation are standard for about
130kg. But this is too heavy for manual loading/harvesting
operations which is the mode in small-scale production systems.
The large-scale system will require a crane system which is
additional capital and operating expense. The smaller cans of
about 15kg eliminates the need for the crane system and also
facilitates ice-cube cutting through a simple electrical device
similar to soap bar making.
4. The heart of ice-making (and refrigeration in general) is the
compressor. In our home refrigerators and freezers the
compressor is the close type and can work only with electricity.
For your ice-making operation the ideal is the open-type because
you do not actually need electricity to produce ice or to
refrigerate. Any system that can provide the mechanical drive to
run the compressor (diesel or gas engine, wind power, water
power)will do. The diesel engine is the most practical because
you are independent of the local power system which can suffer
outaqes for one reason or another. For diesel engines you can
also shift to crude coconut oil and this will generate new income
opportunities to coconut farmers and those others dependent on
coconut for their livelihood. Please check out our files on village
and home-scale coconut processing.
We do not recommend systems that are imported because you
can have problems of maintenance and repair. Overall the best is
our own local design and fabrication. This way we keep job
opportunities in our home country/community.
We wish you success in your prospective undertaking in ice
production and supply, which is not only a business for your own
income benefits but also a vital service to the community.
Very truly yours,
PROF. ROSELLO (yesnoy) C. MACANSANTOS
Executive Director
SOPREX Foundation
Website: http://soprex.wordpress.com/