Cold Storage Energy Efficientpractices - VYadav
Cold Storage Energy Efficientpractices - VYadav
Cold Storage Energy Efficientpractices - VYadav
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Vipin Yadav
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology
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Vipin Yadav
Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT), Rae Bareli, India 229 316
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
A cold storage facility is a complex thermal system that works for the preservation and efficient utilization of perishable
food commodities. It generally comprises a specifically designed building space, one or more refrigeration unit/s, material
handling provisions, ancillary power generation unit and several other critical components. Considerable technology up-
gradation has occurred around the globe in this regard and consequently, highly energy efficient refrigeration units,
excellent performance thermal insulations, innovative techniques to further reduce the building heat loads etc. are now
available.
India is a country with above 17 percent of world population, widely spread agricultural land with mostly favorable
meteorological conditions. Country is yet striving hard for self-sustenance in terms of all kinds of food products. Time and
space non-uniformity in food production is a challenge that can be only dealt with by adopting standard technological
measures. There are nearly 5400 working cold storage units with over 23.6 million metric tons of storage capacity; and the
expansion to higher capacity is desperately needed. The paper begins with basic relevant information regarding cold
storages particularly in Indian context.
Sparsely available reliable information indicates below the mark (in fact, poor) performance of majority of these units
in terms of overall energy consumption, energy auditing and overall facility management. Gross-wastage of high grade
energy can be easily averted through little but sincere efforts. In order to reduce the overall energy consumption levels by a
cold storage unit, few critical points are discussed which need to be taken care off during design, construction and
application phases.
Incorporation of energy efficient refrigeration units can significantly improve the overall performance of any cold
storage utility. Technical information is presented regarding the more energy efficient refrigeration units. Bottlenecks in
employing other alternate sources of energy which are cheap and readily available are also explored.
The emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gasses into the atmosphere at large scales is a big issue. The paper
concludes emphasizing, firstly, the need of elevating the cold storage units to higher energy efficiency levels, and secondly,
employing renewable energy sources like solar energy for the operation of such facilities.
Keywords:cold storage, energy efficiency, alternate energy sources, clean energy
1. INTRODUCTION
Any building or section of building that achieve controlled storage conditions using refrigeration can be regarded as a cold
storage facility. Technically speaking, cold storage is a special kind of room, the temperature of, which is kept very low
with the help of machines and precision instruments. Such a facility is usually employed for the preservation of perishable
food products for extended time duration. Most countries adopt well recognized standards to be followed while designing
and operating of all kinds of cold storage facilities [1-3].
Energy efficiency in buildings employed for operating cold storages is achieved through a multipronged approach
involving adoption of bioclimatic architectural principles responsive to the climate of the particular location; use of
materials with low embodied energy; reduction of transportation energy; incorporation of efficient structural design;
implementation of energy-efficient other building system components; and effective utilization of renewable energy sources
to power the building [4]. Thus, design and development of cold storages in India has always being a big issue in this sense.
Indian climate can be easily classified into six major zones: cold and sunny, cold and cloudy, warm and humid, hot and dry,
composite, and moderate. Translation of bioclimatic architectural design in the Indian context, therefore, provides a
plethora of experiences and success stories to learn from. Several buildings have come up, fully or partially adopting the
above approach to design [5].
India is having a unique geographical position and a wide range of soil producing variety of fruits and vegetables like
apples, grapes, oranges, potatoes, chilies, ginger, etc. Marine products are also being produced in large quantities due to
large available coastal areas. The present production level of fruits and vegetables is more than 100 million MT and
keeping in view the growth rate of population and demand, the production of perishable commodities is increasing every
year [6]. Number of cold storage units and total storage capacity in some major states of the country are provided in Table 1.
The farmers usually seek for favorable combination of circumstances to produce cash crops and earn remunerative
prices. The consumers get the supply of perishable commodities with lower fluctuation of prices. Besides the role of
stabilizing market prices and evenly distributing commodities both on demand basis and time basis, the cold storages also
render several other benefits to the farmers and the consumers [4]. Expensive raw materials like dry fruits, chemicals,
essences and processed foods such as fruit juice/pulp, concentrate dairy products, frozen meat, fish and eggs are also stored
in cold storages to properly regulate marketing channels of these products [3, 7].
Cold storages are also essential for extending the shelf life, period of marketing, avoiding glut, reducing transport
bottlenecks during peak period of production and maintenance of quality of produce. The development of cold storage
industry has therefore a very important role to play in reducing the wastages of the perishable commodities and assuring
remunerative prices to the growers.
Around the world, most cold storages provide additional services for their clients which include freezing fresh products,
packing, transport, order picking, distribution, stock control etc. [8, 9]. Typical views of an Indian cold storage is given in
Fig. 2.
The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Government of India, Ministry of Rural and Employment is Regulating
Cold Storages industry under Cold Storage Order, 1980 promulgated under Essential Commodities Act 1955. Order
extends to the whole of the India except U.P., West Bengal, Punjab and Haryana. Under the order, it is obligatory on every
operator of the cold storage to obtain a license from the Licensing Officer before using the installation for storing purpose.
The Government of India also constituted a Central Cold Storage Advisory Committee consisting of official and non-
official members representing the growers, owners, machinery manufacturers, research organizations etc. This Committee
gives advice to the Government on all matters pertaining to enforcement of cold storage orders and the future development
of the industry.
Compliance with the above measures can result in improvement of energy efficiency by as much as 20% when compared
with what is achieved during normal practice [28].
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