Renergen, an emerging domestic natural gas and helium producer, has developed a ground-breaking device that keeps Covid-19 vaccines ultra-cold during transportation for up to 30 days, allowing for the vaccines to travel for longer and reach remote areas.
The Renergen Cryo-Vacc will simplify the logistics of moving vaccines at extremely cold temperatures of between -70°C and -150°C for more than four weeks and without the need for any power supply.
The Cryo-Vacc is essentially a case constructed of aluminium, which will provide durability. A reservoir built into the case will be filled with liquid helium, the coldest liquid available globally. This will be boiled and released over a 30-day period to maintain a constant temperature. The temperature is adjustable and at least 100 doses can be transported per case. Renergen has filed for the patent right to the Cryo-Vacc design.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, in particular, needs to be kept below -70°C, which is significantly colder than any vaccine now in use. While other vaccines are in development, Pfizer-BioNTech’s jab is one of the first to be administered to the public and started on Tuesday in a nationwide rollout in the UK.
Pfizer has developed a special transport box for the vaccines packed with dry ice. While it can move 5,000 doses at a time, the box is only able to keep the vaccines ultra-cold for 10 days provided that it is not opened.
Renergen’s solution simplifies the logistics significantly and means the vaccines are able to be transported using traditional logistics chains. The Renergen Cryo-Vacc will allow the vaccine to travel longer distances and ensure the integrity of the doses.
“At first, we attempted to find a solution using liquid nitrogen given it is significantly cheaper, but you only had four days to get the payload to its destination for the same weight. It became very clear that for delivery into remote areas and developing economies, helium was the only solution for the Renergen Cryo-Vacc,” said Renergen CEO Stefano Marani.
“Fortunately, given helium’s specific heat characteristics, it simplified the design substantially and will make the manufacture of the cases not only quicker but also more cost-effective,” said Marani.
They are also lighter. Liquid helium is 20% of the density of liquid nitrogen, making the case an overall weight of less than 20kg — light enough to carry and cost-effective to transport.
As an emerging helium producer, though not yet in production, Renergen is alert to the scarcity of helium globally and aware that any major new demand for the rare gas will push prices skyward.
For this reason liquid nitrogen was first considered for the Cryo-Vacc, but it limits the travel time to four days. A range of 20 days can be achieved with nitrogen, but only by increasing insulation that adds 15kg to the cases. This would significantly increase air freight costs.
Depending on where the helium is sourced, Renergen said the operating cost of the case should be under $0.07 [R1.05] per dose per day for the smallest case.
Renergen is now calling for collaboration with partners to use the design in the large-scale manufacture of these cases and to assist in the deployment of ultra-low temperature vaccines.
Though Renergen is not a technology company, “we pride ourselves on being pioneers of innovation”, said Marani. “This is an idea we had, we had the capability to do the design, and it was too important to not put it out there for the rest of the world.”
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