Assessment of methods to reduce the energy consumption of food cold stores

Abstract

Energy is a major cost in the operation of food cold stores. Work has shown that considerable energy savings can be achieved in cold stores. Results from 38 cold store audits carried out across Europe are presented.\ud \ud Substantial savings could be achieved if operation of cold storage facilities were optimised in terms of heat loads on the rooms and the operation of the refrigeration system. Many improvements identified were low in cost (improved door protection, defrost optimisation, control settings and repairs). In large stores (> 100 m3) most improvements identified were cost effective and had short pay back times, whereas in small stores there were fewer energy saving options that had realistic payback times. The potential for large energy savings of at minimum 8% and at maximum 72% were identified by optimising usage of stores, repairing current equipment and by retrofitting of energy efficient equipment. Often these improvements had short payback times of less than 1 year.\ud \ud In each facility the options to reduce energy consumption varied. This indicated that to fully identify the maximum energy savings, recommendations need to be specific to a particular plant. General recommendations cannot fully exploit the energy savings available and therefore to maximise energy savings it is essential to monitor and analyse data from each facility

Assessment of Frozen Seafood Good Storage Practices in the 21st Supply Deposit of the Brazilian Army

“…Another piece of relevant information was the number of workers going through cold stores. The insulation and the number of workers are the important variables in the balance of energy and the thermal load calculation (Evans et al, 2014;He et al, 2014;Johnston, 1994). Failure to observe these characteristics compromises the proper functioning of the equipment, causes excessive consumption of energy and compromises the quality of seafood (Johnston, 1994).…”

“…The weak correlation observed at the C3 cold store demonstrates that the lower door opening (this cold store is less accessed) does not cause a linear relationship between the period of cold store activities and temperature rise. According to Evans et al, (2014), normal temperature rise occurs because of air flow resulting from doors opening, but several amplitudes are characteristic of food safety errors or equipment malfunction. The temperature increase of frozen and chilled products reduces their shelf life, compromises the original desirable characteristics and encourages spoilage and multiplication of pathogenic microorganisms, thereby increasing the risk of food loss and the occurrence of FBDs (Germano & Germano, 2003).…”

Effects of injection pressure on diesel sprays in constant injection mass condition

“…Firstly, there is a large difference between the energy use degrees of different cold stores. The specific energy consumptions ranges from 26 to 379 kWh m -3 year -1 are found by literatures [2,3]. Secondly, researches on the energy assessment and energy audit lag behind in the increasing construction of the cold store.…”

Improving Performance of Cold-Chain Insulated Container with Phase Change Material: An Experimental Investigation

“…They run on a vapor compressor that is driven by electric or fuel energy, and release amounts of greenhouse gas. It was reported that the cold chain is responsible for approximately 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions when considering both direct and indirect effects [2].…”