FOOD REFRIGERATION

History of Food Refrigeration

• Harrison - ice making (1860), frozen meat export (1873)
• China 1000BC - ice harvesting
• Ancient Egypt - (evaporative cooling, ice making)
• Prehistory - use of caves and ice
 Food refrigeration is BIG
• Annual investment in refrigerating equipment: US$170
• Annual refrigerated foodstuffs: US$1200 billion
(3.5 times USA military budget)
• 700-1000 million household refrigerators
• 300 000 000 m3 of cold-storage facilities

and causes big problems!

• Ozone-depleting effects - Montreal protocol
• Global-warming effects - Kyoto agreement
 Plan of talk
Part I: Common industrial problems
- Chillers and freezers
- Cold stores
- Refrigerated transport
- Retail display

Part II: Simulation of food refrigeration

- Temperature and moisture changes
- Quality and microbial growth
Part III: Optimisation of food refrigeration
Typical refrigeration system
 Chillers and Freezers

Chillers and freezers can be classified into

• air-cooled
• immersion
• spray
• cryogenic
• surface contact chillers.
Air Chillers/Freezers
 Immersion and Spray Chillers/Freezers

• faster than air chilling, especially for small

products
• absorption of liquid or solutes by the product,
leading to undesirable appearance or other quality
losses
• cross-contamination between products
• leaching of food components such as fat
• effluent disposal problem
 Surface contact chillers/freezers
• Include plate chillers/freezers, mould freezers,
belt chillers, scraped surface freezers
• High heat transfer rate (similar to immersion
freezers) - only metal bw refrigerant & product
• No absorption of liquid
• No liquid effluent.
• Need products with flat surfaces, such as cartons
Preferably thin or small products such as fish and
peas.
• Labor intensive or need sophisticated automation.
How to have efficient cooling/freezing
R 1 R
tf    
(T f  Ta )  h k 
Freezing time
Surface resistance Internal resistance
For faster cooling/freezing and higher throughput:
• Reduce temperature Ta
• Increase h (high air velocity, use spray/ immersion/
contact, less packaging)
• Decrease product size R

Biot Number hR/k (= external/internal resistance) should be

not too far from 1
Cold store
Cooling coil
Air Infiltration through Doors
Effectiveness of door protective devices

• Vertical air curtain: 79%

• Horizontal air curtain: 76%
• Plastic strip curtain: 93%
• Air + plastic strip: 91%
Vapour barrier breach

•Heat bridge
•Delamination
•Collapse
Frost heave
Problems with transport vehicles & containers are
same as in cold rooms, but multiplied several-fold
(because of high A/V ratio and fluctuating ambient
conditions)
Retail display
Retail display
 Selection and Operation of
Refrigeration Components
• Reliability
Food remains safe and wholesome according to
specifications.
• Flexibility
Ability to handle different products or production
rates
• Capital and Operating costs
 Selection and Operation of
Refrigeration Components
Freezers and chillers:
• Extract heat within a certain time from product
and other sources
• Cool product uniformly
• Avoid surface drying, contamination, microbial
growth and other quality problems
• Avoid condensation
 Selection and Operation of
Refrigeration Components
• System must be well balanced to give
optimal performance for given price.

An undersized cooling coil or freezer will require

oversized compressors, condensers etc.
 CONCLUSIONS

• Attention to details needed in design and operation

of refrigeration facilities.
• Growing computer power allows more precise
simulation of processes and prediction of product
quality.
• CFD is not yet the answer to the maiden’s prayers.
• In near, computer control and optimisation of
refrigeration processes will become more
widespread.