COLD STORAGE DESIGN

Dr. S. V. Kota Reddy

Academic President

Manipal Academy of Higher Education Dubai Campus

Dubai International Academic City, Dubai, UAE

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 OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

• Introduction

• Factors Contributing to Food Spoilage

• Required Conditions in Cold Storage

• Design of Cold Storage

• Cold Chain Management

• Freezers

• Refrigerants and Equipment

• Conclusions
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 INTRODUCTION

• In India around 40% of Fruits and Vegetables and 15% of Grains go

as waste every year due to lack of Cold Storages – Post harvest loss -
Rs 2 lakh Crores

• India is the second largest Vegetable and third largest Fruit Producer
✓ Only 3 to 5% of produce is processed
✓ Exports of fruits is limited

• India is the largest producer of Onions

✓ Available plenty during the season and very cheap
✓ Almost every year there are fluctuations in the price
✓ Proper storage facilities are required to meet the unseasonal
demands

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 INTRODUCTION (continued)

Commodity Percentage

Potato 85.3

Fruits and Vegetables 1.1

Meat and Marine Products 1.7

Milk and Dairy 0.7

Multi purpose and Others 11.2

Total 100

Source: Mr. Ramesh Paranjpey

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 INTRODUCTION (continued)

All figures are in Million Indian Rupees

Source: Refrigeration Market Size in India (Krishna V. Jog)
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 INTRODUCTION (continued)

• The total cold store capacity in the country was for about 30.11
million tons numbering 6300

• Market size of all cold storages is about Rs 952 Billion in 20172

✓ Smaller capacity storages at Hotels, Restaurants, airports, etc.
account for about 2/3rds and 1/3rd for large cold storages
ranging from 1000 tons to 10,000 tons of product

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 FOOD SPOILAGE

• Traditional methods like Salting, Pickling, etc. alter the natural

properties of the food
✓ Taste, colour, appearance, flavour and nutritional values changes
• Destruction of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats causes the food
spoilage
✓ Bad odour, uncommon colour, bad taste, and physical appearance
• Loss of Moisture
• Respiration changes
✓ Living cells takes oxygen and give up carbon dioxide
✓ This action takes place along with enzyme action
• Spoilage agents of Food are Enzymes, Micro Organisms
✓ Bacteria, Yeast and Molds are Micro organisms

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 FOOD SPOILAGE (continued)

Enzymes

Molds Food Bacteria

Yeast

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 FOOD SPOILAGE (continued)

• Enzymes
✓ At room temperature they are active
✓ These are destroyed by boiling food or freezing the food
• Bacteria
✓ Some help to preserve the food and their presence is necessary
in food
✓ Food subjected to 120 0C temperature or preserve in the temperature range
of -17 to -24 0C
• Yeast
✓ Their action is more rapid in acidic condition
✓ They spoil jam and syrups quickly
✓ All types of yeast can be destroyed by heating to 100 0C or freezing
• Molds
✓ Larger in size than bacteria
✓ More complex in the structure
✓ Thread like structure
✓ Different colours like green, yellow, brown, pink or black
✓ Can be destroyed by heating to 60 0C or by deep freezing
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 REQUIRED CONDITIONS IN
COLD STORAGE

Commodity Storage RH Product Life Water

Temperature, % Content
0C
%
Potato 2 to 4 90-95 4 to 5 months 81
Cauliflower 0 to 1.5 95-98 3 to 4 weeks 92
Cabbage 0 to 1.5 98-100 5 to 6 months 92
Mushroom 0 95 3 to 4 days 91
Orange 7 to 8 85-90 5 to 8 weeks 86
Mosambi 6 to 8 85-90 6 to 8 weeks 86
Apples 0 to15 90-95 3 to 8 months 84
Mango 8 to 10 85-90 2 to 3 weeks 81
Frozen Food -18 to -20 90-95 24 weeks or
more
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 UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRODUCT

• Respiration
✓ Oxygen from air combines with carbohydrates in the plant tissue
and results in the release of Carbon Dioxide and heat
✓ Potatoes, Onions, Apples have low respiration and hence longer
storage life
✓ Fruits like Strawberry, Pear, Peach have moderate respiration
✓ Vegetables like Spinach, Sprouts and Mushrooms have very high
rate hence short storage life
✓ Every 100C rise in temperature approximately doubles the
respiration

• Shelf Life
✓ Depending upon the chosen storage temperature and rate of
respiration
✓ For different temperature and humidity conditions the shelf life is
also different

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 UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRODUCT
(continued)

• Optimum Conditions
✓ Ideal temperature and RH ensures the optimum shelf life
✓ Ideal temperature is the lowest temperature at which the product
can be stored without causing chilling and freezing injury
✓ Ideal RH which can be maintained without causing weight loss

• Sensitivity
✓ Bananas, Mangoes, Cucumber are sensitive to storage at low
temperature
✓ Resulting damage is called Chilling Injury
✓ Bananas it occurs at if they are stored below 12 0C
✓ Surface pitting, tissue break down are the symptoms

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 CLASSIFICATION COLD STORAGES
Cold Storage

Long term store Long term store Short term

CA Storage
for fresh produce for frozen products storage

Medium Low temperature/ frozen food

Temperature Stores, 0 to -40oC
0 to 8 oC

1. Fruits and vegetables 1. Green peas

2. Dry fruits 2. Mango pulp
3. Pulses 3. Tomato puree
4. Milk products 4. Ice cream
5. Fish and Meat
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 CLASSIFICATION COLD STORAGES (Continued)
Cold Storage

Small clod store Medium sized cold Large sized cold

store store

Walk-in
Food malls 50 to 500 MT
Super markets Farms 1000 to 25000 MT
Hotels Market places Close to Big Markets
Process and Various chambers for
Pre-cooling plants Variety of products
Air ports

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WALK-IN COOLER

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LARGE COLD STORAGE PLANT

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE

• Building Location and its Orientation

✓ Longer walls should be in South/North direction if possible to
reduce solar heat gain effect
✓ Minimum surface to volume ratio
✓ Cubical shape gives maximum storage space

• Layout
✓ Refrigeration plant, Cooling towers, Boilers etc. should be as close
to as possible to reduce thermal losses

• Loading , Unloading and Stacking

✓ All operations should complete in minimum possible time
✓ Shipping and receiving docks are recommended to be maintained at
5 to 10 oC

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Cooling Load Calculations

• Wall Gain Load

• Air Change Load
✓ Infiltration load
✓ Ventilation load
• Product Load
✓ Above freezing, at freezing and below freezing
• Respiration Heat
• Miscellaneous Load
✓ Lights, electric motors, people working etc.

• Use a Safety Factor of 5 to 10%

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Insulation

• Insulation
✓ Low thermal conductivity
✓ Low moisture permeability and retention
✓ Fire resistant
✓ Light weight
✓ Sufficient strength
✓ Durability
✓ Ease of applications

• In old units Rice Husk was used

✓ Very large thickness

• New materials are Expanded Polystyrene, Fiberglass or Polyurethane

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Insulation

• Insulation on walls and ceilings is finished with Cement Sand Plaster

in conventional cold stores

• Latest trend is to use Sheet Metal Cladding

✓ Aluminium sheet
✓ Pre-coated galvanized steel sheet

• Prefab Insulated Panel Structure (Sandwich Panels)

✓ EPS panels with expanded polystyrene insulation bonded to sheet
metal skins by using a special adhesive
✓ PUF panels using polyurethane as insulation material foamed
between two metal skins
✓ PUF panels are structurally strong and have a better insulation
value as compared to EPS panels for a given thickness

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DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Insulation

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DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Insulation

Source: Hiru M. Jhangiani, 2002 22 of 45

DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Insulation details for walls, ceiling and floor

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Vapour Barrier

• To prevent vapour transmission through Insulation

✓ Cold storage operating at -10 to -20 0C and Blast Freezer operating
at -30 to -40 0C with out side ambient temperature at 35 to 45 0C ,
there is big difference in vapour pressures
• The metal outer skin on pre-fabricated wall and ceiling panels of a
cold store is an effective vapour barrier
• All the Joints should be sealed properly
✓ Joints between panels, between wall and ceiling panels, between
wall and floor panels
✓ All the openings made in the panels for passage of pipes, conduits,
and suspension rods, if not properly sealed permanently, will cause
water and ice to form

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Vapour Barrier

• This reduces the insulation properties, increases operating cost,

delaminates the panels and may even cause collapse of some panels
• The vapour barrier commonly used is polyethylene sheet
✓ Adequate thickness to prevent tearing and puncturing during
installation
✓ The minimum thickness specified should be 0.3 mm
• Placing a ‘slip sheet’ of polyethylene between the finished concrete
floor and insulation is advisable
✓ This ‘slip sheet’ (not a vapour barrier), which during construction is
placed on the insulation before pouring the concrete
✓ It permits differential expansion between the insulation and
concrete, and it keeps the moisture of the concrete from contacting
the insulation until the concrete dries

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 DESIGN OF COLD STORAGE (continued)
Vapour Barrier

Position of Vapour Barrier (Hiru M. Jhangiani, 2002)

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 COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Farm

Bulk Packing

Transport

Cold Pre- CA Frozen A/C

Freezing
Storage Cooling Storage Food Ventilated

Cold FFC
Storage Storage

Refrigerated Transport

Distribution Centre/ Retailer/Super Market 27 of 45

 COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT (continued)

• Conventional Cold Storage

✓ After initial sorting, grading and packing are transported to cold
storage at the producing centre or consuming centre
✓ Potatoes, Apples, Oranges, Tamarind, Red Chilies etc.

• Pre-Cooling and Cold Storage

✓ Many fruits are sensitive to heat susceptible to moisture loss after
harvesting
✓ Such fruits have to pre-cooled within a short time after harvesting
✓ Grapes, Straw-berries and Flowers requires faster cooling within
short time after harvesting
✓ Mangoes, Pomegranates etc. can be pre cooled within 24 hours
after harvesting

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 COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT (continued)

• Controlled Atmosphere Storage

✓ Some fruits and vegetables can be stored for long periods by
delaying the natural ripening process
✓ Reducing the Oxygen level and by allowing higher percentage of
CO2
✓ Temperature, Oxygen and CO2 required varies from product to
product
✓ Apples, Pears and plums can be stored up to 10 months
Ex. Apple
Temperature : 0 to 1 0C
RH : 85 to 95
O2 : 1 to 2%
CO2 : 2 to 4%

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 COLD CHAIN MANAGEMENT (continued)

• Frozen Foods
✓ Frozen and stored for long time
✓ Green peas, Corn, Okra, Mixed vegetables, Tomato Puree, Mango
Pulp, Mango Slices and Dices, Pine Apple Slices etc.
✓ Compact quick Freezers, Air Blast Freezers, Individual Quick
Freezers (IQF) and Cryogenic Freezers
• Storage Pre-Frozen Foods
✓ Ice creams, Butter, Fisheries, Meat Products and Poultry undergo
processing and freezing at the main production/processing plants
✓ Transported through Reefer Vans
• A/C Ventilated Storage
✓ Chocolates, Confectionery Products, Tobacco need air conditioned
stores
✓ Onions need ventilated storage houses
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 FREEZERS

Freezers

Metal Gas Liquid

Cryogenic
Contact Contact Contact

Vertical Rotary N2 CO2 Freon

Horizontal
Plate Drum
Plate
Freezer Freezer
Freezer

Fluidized
Tunnel Belt Immersion
Bed
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 REFRIGERANTS

• Cold Storages attached to Five Star Hotels

✓ Old units R-12 and R-22
✓ New units HFCs’ R-134a, R-404A, R-407c

• Large Cold Storage Plants

✓ In India 95% are Ammonia based vapour compression systems
✓ Advantages:
➢ 0 ODP and 0 GWP
➢ High latent heat of evaporation
➢ Cheap
➢ Lower power consumption (kW/TR)

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 REFRIGERANTS (continued)

• Absorption refrigeration systems based on Aqua Ammonia offers an

alternative to VCC
✓ Direct thermal heat from burring of fuel oil, Agricultural waste like
rice husk, ground nut shell etc.
✓ Heat from any waste heat source like engine exhaust, Generator
exhaust etc.
✓ M/S Transparent Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd., Pune built a cold
storage
✓ They imported machinery from Germany
✓ Initial cost is high but the pay back period is in the rage of 3 to 4
years compared with conventional VCC cold storages
✓ Absorption systems will play a vital role in near future as the
electricity cost is increasing day by day

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 COMPRESSORS

• Almost 90% of the Compressors are Reciprocating

✓ Kirloskar Pneumatics has been manufacturing KC open type
reciprocating compressors since 40 years
✓ Single stage and two stage versions and have minimum two
cylinders to 12 cylinders

• Screw Compressors are used only for very large cold storages and
frozen foods
✓ Very few moving parts compared with reciprocating compressors
✓ Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), Nashik used Howden (UK)
Screws on Ammonia for Ice cream hardening, Frozen storage etc.
✓ Walls Ice cream, Pune

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 COMPRESSORS (continued)

Single Stage Kirloskar Compressor (Courtesy of Kirloskar Pneumatics)

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 COMPRESSORS (continued)

Two Stage Kirloskar Compressor (Courtesy of Kirloskar Pneumatics)

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 CONDENSERS

• Selection of Condenser depends on DBT/WBT of ambient conditions,

availability of Water and location

• Small Cold Rooms which use HFC/HCFC uses Air Cooled Type and
for large Shell and Tube type

• For Ammonia Cold Storage Plants Evaporative Condensers are used

✓ Consumes less quantity of water
✓ Preferred for large cold storages

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WATER-COOLED CONDENSER

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 BLOW-THROUGH
EVAPORATIVE CONDENSER

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 DRAW-THROUGH
EVAPORATIVE CONDENSER

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 EVAPORATORS

• Old plants uses Bunker type Coils installed on the top floor with
conventional ceiling fans
✓ Occupies large volume
✓ Carrying large quantity of Ammonia
✓ Poor cooling performance
• Later floor mounted air circulating units with air distribution ducting
have come into picture
• Recent trend is to use ceiling mounted units with finned coils and
axial flow fans with Aluminum or Stainless Steel Impellers
• NH3 systems mostly uses Gravity fed systems with Flooded Coil
Evaporators
• Large cold storage units use Liquid Circulation Pumps for
circulating low temperature and low pressure refrigerant
✓ Effective performance of Evaporator Coils
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 SAVLA FOOD AND COLD STORAGE

• Savla Food and Cold Storage , Navi Mumbai

✓ Cold storage facility - for storing 22,000 Metric Tons of goods at
temperatures between 0 oC and 5 oC
✓ Ideal for storage of pulses, dry fruits, spices, horticultural products,
fresh fruits, confectioneries and all other vegetarian products
✓ Deep freeze facility- for storing 1,500 Metric Tons of goods
between 0 oC and - 30 oC ideal for storage of frozen foods, milk
products, ice-creams, pulps and other vegetarian products
✓ Warehousing facilities admeasuring more than 20,000 sq. ft.
within R.C.C. constructed building ideal for dry storage, sorting,
repacking, etc.
• Ammonia gas-based plant operating on Kirloskar make KC-3,
KC-4 and KC-6 reciprocating compressors and motors with
adequate stand-by arrangements
• Evaporative condensing systems using imported air coil condensers
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 SAVLA FOOD AND COLD STORAGE

• Refrigerant pump recirculation system (overfeed system) for

Multipurpose Cold Storage Project designed for multi-level
temperature operation. This is India's largest cold store project with
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56 cold chambers
 CONCLUSIONS

• In the Design of Cold Storage clear understanding of the Product

behavior is essential
• Transportation plays a vital role in product preservation
• Quick and efficient transportation from farm to sorting, grading, pre-
cooling and cold stores increases the shelf life
• Proper sealing of vapour barriers is essential
• Ammonia based vapour absorption systems should be developed such
that the Agricultural waste, and any waste heat sources can be used to
operate the system instead of depending on the Electric Power
• The non conventional source of energy should be used for cold
storage applications
• Proper waste heat management should be adopted for existing and
new cold storage plants
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Thank you

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