Utilization of biomass for energy conservation in agricultural usage

Ensuring food security is a crucial sustainable development goal in developing countries such as India. One of the major challenges is affordable storage infrastructure for food preservation. The high cost of storage facilities is due to expensive insulating materials. In this study, we explored the potential of agricultural biomass, which is often burned, as a low-cost sustainable insulating material for energy conservation in cold storage technologies. We investigated the efficacy of biomass as a heat insulating medium and compared its transmission losses with conventional polyurethane foam (PUF). The biomass characterization results showed that the thermal conductivity of paddy straw biomass was 0.0670 W/m°C, with the lowest conductivity observed for 1–2 mm sized biomass particles. By demonstrating the potential of agricultural biomass as an affordable and sustainable insulating material, this study contributes to the development of cost-effective storage solutions, ultimately benefiting farmers and supporting food security efforts in developing countries.