4th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, December 26-28, 2001, Dhaka, Bangladesh/pp.

III 179-184

CRYOGENIC FISH FREEZING: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY &

ECONOMICS
Tridib Kumar Goswami
Post Harvest Engineering Centre
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur - 721302, India

Abstract Application of cryogenic liquids such as liquid nitrogen has tremendous potential in
retaining the quality of the fish as fresh as the original one or near to it through ultra fast cryogenic
freezing. While freezing the fish, it is the rate of freezing which dictates the quality of the fish that
would be obtained after thawing fish. The smaller the size of the ice crystals during freezing the
lesser is the cellular deterioration resulting to minimum changes in fish's texture and appearance
and negligible drip loss upon thawing. Cryogenic freezing is capable of creating this environment
along with retaining flavour, colour and nutritive value of fish, reducing oxidative, chemical, and
microbial changes of fish. Several aspects of liquid nitrogen freezing vis-à-vis quality of the frozen
fish have been reviewed in this paper. There are several ways of freezing fish with liquid nitrogen,
viz., immersion freezing, spray freezing and high velocity gas freezing. Though immersion freezing
has not gained popularity owing to its uncontrolled cooling rate, efficient design in terms of
retention of quality of fish using liquid nitrogen can bring it in the fray. Liquid nitrogen spray
freezing has gained popularity through out the world for last several decades. Gaseous nitrogen at a
very low temperature obtained from liquid nitrogen can be circulated at a very high rate in a
freezing chamber. However, individual quick freezing (IQF) through spray freezing in tunnels with
liquid nitrogen have gained commercial acceptance among food processors. The present study aims
at narrating the factors responsible in designing the liquid nitrogen freezer along with appropriate
examples. In this paper a cost comparison has been made between the liquid nitrogen freezing and
conventional freezing systems. Though theoretically, 1.2 kg of liquid nitrogen per kg of fish frozen
dictates the operating cost of liquid nitrogen, the efficiency of the design of the freezer ultimately
governs the operating cost of liquid nitrogen freezing system. Besides, the availability and price
structure of liquid nitrogen supply also maneuvers the operating cost of the liquid nitrogen freezing
system. The fixed cost of the freezer is has been found to be much cheaper compared to any
mechanical freezing system. It can be concluded that a proper design of the freezer along with
uninterrupted supply of liquid nitrogen at a reasonable price has a tremendous potential to serve the
fish freezing industry when quality of the fish becomes the dictum for freezing fish.

INTRODUCTION front in cm/hr moving from the surface to the core of

the food product. If the rate of freezing is between 0.05
There are several ways of freezing food products. to 5 cm/hr, the freezing method is known as slow
Several freezing techniques are being commercially freezing. If the rate is between 5 to 10 cm/ hr, the
used all over the world. This paper has an objective to method is called rapid freezing or quick-freezing and if
critically analyze the different aspects of freezing food the rate is l00 cm/hr or more, the method is called ultra
products with liquid nitrogen (LN2). The word IQF, rapid freezing. Examples of slow freezing are: food
i.e., Individually Quick Freezing is self-explanatory. products frozen in pallets, cabinets and shelf in cold
IQF has several advantages over bulk, packed or storage rooms; bulk, packed or unpacked food products
unpacked freezing of foodstuffs. Though the word IQF
frozen in trays & trolleys through cold air blast; thin
relates to either conventional or cryogenic freezing, this
flat packages of food products frozen through contact
paper aims at dealing IQF with liquid nitrogen.
of two refrigerated plates etc. Examples of rapid or
quick freezing are: small solid foods of fairly uniform
FREEZING METHODS
size & shape frozen by fluidized freezer; irregular small
The freezing methods may be divided into different products frozen in agitated, sprayed and flowing brines
categories based on the achieved rate of freezing. The like CaCl2 & NaCl solutions and propylene glycol in
rate of freezing may be defined as the velocity of ice tanks through immersions. Freezing with liquefied
gases like liquid nitrogen, liquid carbon di-oxide, and
Email: [email protected] food grade refrigerant 12 constitute examples of ultra

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 ICME 2001, Dhaka, December 26-28

fast or rapid freezing. Freezing rates of 0.54 cm/h, 1.08 conventionally frozen materials as per the
cm/h, and 1.8 cm/h can be obtained with forced international trade dealings.
convection of air at -30 oC, at -50 oC, and forced (4) The simplicity of the equipment removes
convection of liquid nitrogen vapours at -80 oC involvement of more number of trained
respectively. The effectiveness of these methods of personnel. This may encourage small
freezing have been studied by several researchers. The entrepreneurs to go for IQF with LN2.
physical and chemical changes occurring in the food (5) The capital investment being low, small and
product during freezing and subsequent storage are medium size entrepreneurs may get funding
indices of the performance of the freezing methods. from banks easily.
The physical property such as weight losses of the food
product, which is expressed as a percentage of the The disadvantages associated with LN2 freezer are:
initial unfrozen food product's weight, and chemical
properties such as colour, texture, odour, flavour, • Inefficient cooling process arising out of lack of
tenderness etc. are of importance. Researchers have design concepts which causes more consumption
observed that the faster the method of freezing better is of liquid nitrogen than necessary resulting in high
the retention of quality. Hence, it is desirable that operational cost.
depending on the food product, its size, shape, the
method of freezing should be selected. • High temperature differential may cause blisters
on some of the product owing to the poor
LIQUID NITROGEN AS A REFRIGERANT conductivity of the food product. The
optimization of the cooldown process of the
Some of the salient properties of liquid nitrogen has freezer as well as the product may eliminate this
been summarized below: problem.

1. It is colourless, odourless, light (sp. gr. = 0.8) and These disadvantages can be eliminated or reduced to a
very mobile liquid. great extent with proper considerations in design.

2. It is chemically inert, sterile, and does not impart Quick Frozen Foods
A group of experts on quick frozen foods described it
any taste, colour and flavour.
as the product subjected to a freezing process in
appropriate equipment and complying with certain
3. It is extremely less soluble in all liquids. conditions during the freezing process, storage,
transport and distribution. In this definition
4. One volume of it produces about 700 volume of temperature plays a major role.
gaseous nitrogen.
There is general acceptance of the regulation that the
The above features of liquid nitrogen show that liquid temperature of a frozen food at the end of the freezing
nitrogen has high potentiality to serve as a refrigerant process and during storage must be -18 oC or below. In
for food products. practice storage temperatures are even much lower for
many products, for technologic and economical reasons
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ADVANTAGES and because of these lower temperatures, there will be
OF INDUSTRIAL INTEREST more temperature reserve in the handling, transport and
distribution stage.
By analyzing the advantages and with the help of
frozen shrimp export data (MPEDA, 1992) it can be Liquid Nitrogen Food Freezers
revealed that There are three types of liquid nitrogen freezers
available other than liquid nitrogen immersion freezers,
(1) A 10% saving in dehydration loss amounts to viz.;
about Rs. 10,000 lakhs or more equivalent
foreign exchange earning annually from 1. Total evaporation spray freezer or tunnel
export of shrimp only. freezer

(2) A 10% saving in freezing time amounts to 2. Cascade freezer with liquid recirculation.
about 7600 tonnes of more prawn freezing
with the same capacity of LN2 freezer over the 3. High velocity gas freezer using liquid
year. nitrogen.

(3) A better retention of quality in IQF bags about Among these three LN2 freezers, tunnel freezers have
Rs. 501/- per kg more than that in gained commercial application widely in many food
industries.

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 ICME 2001, Dhaka, December 26-28

In the first case liquid nitrogen is sprayed directly onto

the food and evaporates completely and the resultant
cold gas is recirculated to effect further cooling. The
second system is similar to the first one having a
difference in the fact that an excess of liquid nitrogen is
sprayed over the food and is recirculated. In the third
method liquid nitrogen does not come directly in
contact with the food material, but is used to cool down
one or more chambers in which the temperature is
thermostatically controlled.

LIQUID NITROGEN TUNNEL FREEZERS

Fig. 1 shows a typical liquid nitrogen tunnel freezer.

The freezer of this type is divided into three zones, viz.;
Fig. 2 shows a schematic liquid nitrogen immersion
precooling or chilling zone, freezing or spraying zone,
freezer. It is essentially an efficient insulated box.
and equilibration zone. The food to be frozen is bedded
on a variable speed conveyor belt, which traverses the
length of an insulated open-ended tunnel. The belt is
made of stainless steel. The belt is loaded upto 70% of
its capacity. Speed of the belt depends on the product
thickness, desired temperature and throughput. The
major portion of the tunnel consists of a precooling or
chilling zone. In this zone, cold gaseous nitrogen,
vaporized by contact of the food at the far end of the
tunnel, is made to pass countercurrently with the food.
This zone reduces possible thermal stress, if any.
Approximately about one half of the total load is met
by the nitrogen gas in the precooling zone. In freezing
zone, the vaporization of liquid nitrogen is done by Fig. 2 Schematic view of LN2 immersion freezer
spraying LN2 directly onto the food materials. The
surface temperature of the food approaches the liquid Food products are conveyed through a bath of liquid
nitrogen temperature, i.e., -196 oC. The food then nitrogen at -196 oC, maintained at a constant level. A
passes into an equilibration zone in which the outer conveyer lifts the individually crust frozen products
surface of the food material equilibrates thermally from the liquid nitrogen. Irregular and complex shapes
against the warmer interior, permitting the food to exit of food products can be dealt with as the liquid nitrogen
the freezer at the desired temperature. In equilibration accesses all the surfaces of the product. Control of
zone, about 1 percent of the vapour obtained from the residence time is important to prevent over-freezing
freezing zone is circulated to prevent infiltration of and, with some food products, cracking from thermal
ambient air into the exit of the tunnel. Otherwise, moist shock. (Bald, 1991).
air would cause a serious internal frost buildup. The
food product is in the precooling zone for about 5/7th Goswami et. al. (2001) have shown the experimental
and in the freezing zone for about 1/7th of the total time temperature relationships of shrimp while dipping
time. With the increase of the thickness of the product in a bath of liquid nitrogen and reported the retention
for a given initial and final temperature, the length of of its quality in terms of chemical and biochemical
the precooling zone should decrease, increasing the properties of the frozen shrimp.
length of the freezing zone. This indicates that for an
efficient LN2 freezing tunnel there should be some ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE
provision for adjusting or selecting the length of the DESIGN OF TUNNEL FREEZER
precooling and freezing zones.
Main engineering considerations, which are required in
the design and development of tunnel freezer, are:
IMMERSION FREEZERS
* The exposure time of the food product in the
The freezing of products such as fish, by simply gaseous and LN2 zone should be accurately
immersing them in liquid nitrogen has been widely proportioned such that optimum utilization of the total
used for many years. Equipment such as "CRYODIP" available refrigeration occurs. Power requirement to
manufactured by Air Products PLC has found wide attain maximum heat transfer between the liquid and
acceptance in the freezing of sea foods and fruits and gaseous nitrogen and the food product should be
has replaced the CFC immersion process in Europe. minimum.

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* Cooldown losses should be minimum by keeping

machine size and structural masses minimum. In general heat transfer coefficient available in LN2
freezing is very high compared to that available in
* Appropriate insulation should be used such that conventional freezing systems.
losses to the ambient are minimum. Structural
components should be arranged for quick disassembly FREEZING TIME
and ease of cleaning.
The time required for freezing with liquid nitrogen
HEAT TRANSFER IN LN2 TUNNEL depends upon several thermophysical and geometrical
factorsof the food product, initial and final temperatures
For an efficient LN2 freezing tunnel it is essential that of the product, heat transfer coefficients between the
as much heat as possible should be removed from the cooling medium and the surface of the food product etc.
food material by the cold gaseous nitrogen. In order to The time required for freezing of food product with
obtain high freezing rate it is necessary that the LN2 LN2 can be calculated based on modification of PLank's
evaporates on the food material to be frozen, because a basic formula for calculating freezing time as:
very high heat transfer coefficient will be obtained
when heat transfer takes place from the surface to  5C (T − TF )  ρ s q d  1 Bd
liquid boiling on the same surface. For the best t f = 1 + 1 1   + 
utilization of the cold being at disposal in the nitrogen,  8LF  TF − T g  hc k 
it is necessary that LN2 evaporates on the food to be where,
frozen and the cold nitrogen gas be heated up as much q = heat transferred from food per unit mass
as possible at the expense of the cooling of the food. = C1 ( T1 - TF ) + Lf + C2 ( TF - T2 )
The attainable heat transfer coefficients between food C1= specific heat of food product above
and gas, or rather between food and gasified liquid freezing temperature
determine the ratio of the length of the freezing zone to C2= specific heat of food product below
that of the chilling zone. freezing temperature
Lf = latent heat of fusion of food product
Heat transfer coefficients in the gas cooling zones are Tl= initial temperature of food product
very much dependent upon the gas velocity, i.e., the T2= final temperature of food product
energy input into the system in relation to the capacity TF= freezing temperature of food product
of the fans. The gaseous heat transfer coefficient can be Tg= refrigerant temperature
calculated as: ρs = density of ice
h = 0.176(2.05 + (0.3048v) 0.75 ) d= product half thickness ( or radius for
where, h = film heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K cylindrical or spherical products)
v = velocity, m/sec hc = covectional heat transfer coefficient
k= thermal conductivity of the food
Generally, gaseous heat transfer coefficient is of the material
order of 40 - 60 W/m2 0C. For direct LN2 spray heat B= constants that depends on the geometry
transfer coefficient is about 100 - 150 W/m2 oC (Bald, of the food product.
1991). Table 1 shows a comparison of freezing time vis-a-vis
weight loss of four different food products using four
The low heat transfer coefficient in the gaseous zone different freezing equipment. Depending on food
can be somewhat compensated by the high temperature product a reduction of 1/3rd to 1/10th in freezing time
differential available from the nitrogen gas. However, and 1/2 to 1/6th in weight loss have been observed in
Liquid nitrogen spray system has the highest heat liquid nitrogen spraying compared to conventional
transfer coefficient amongst the available freezing freezing methods. There are many other models and
media. charts by which freezing time can be predicted. Some
of these are: Neumann model, Tao's chart, Cleland and
It is not quite so easy to determine the exact heat Earle model etc. Goswami et al (1985) have showed
transfer coefficient between gas and food surface. that for freezing a 3 cm cube of shrimp, the theoretical
However, relating to a medium temperature differential freezing time using modified Plank's equation in the
for the whole tunnel, there is a medium heat transfer case of LN2 freezing came to be 1/10th of that in the
coefficient of about 58 W/m2 oC, whereby in the case of air blast freezing. The lowering of temperature
precooling zone heat transfer coefficient varies between from a certain limit does not lead to any essential
17 to 23 W/m2 oC and in the spraying zone heat transfer reduction in the freezing time, meaning that the
coefficient is about 174 W/m2 oC. Nevertheless, heat freezing process at -140 OC and at -180 OC can be
transfer is considerably higher directly below the spray carried out at practically the same rate. This means that
nozzle than between the two nozzles. The ratio between if the tunnel is properly designed, the consumption of
the precooling zone and the freezing zone can be liquid nitrogen can be reduced to some extent.
approximated to 7: 1.

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Quality of food product frozen with ln2 dehydration losses and by other advantages. It is now
One very important factor in the consumer's selection high time that LN2 freezing techniques should be
of a frozen food item is the quality of the product. The explored vigorously in developing countries like India,
quality of the product is directly related to the amount Bangladesh, to capitalize the advantages available out
of cell damage incurred in the freezing process. Out of of it.
the two theories in vogue for cellular break down, one
proposes that the concentration of acids in the cellular Pioneer organizations of LN2 freezer manufacturers
solution increases as the ice crystals form within the in all over the world
cell. The resulting higher acid concentration either There are several manufacturers of LN2 freezers all
damages or decomposes the cell walls. The other over the world. New and New manufacturers are
theory proposes that the cellular walls are ruptured by coming up day by day. Selling protocol of these
the penetration of long, thin needles of ice. Upon freezers are different for different manufacturers. Some
thawing of the food products, the contents of the cells of the leading manufacturers of LN2 freezers are: Air
are lost owing to the rupture of the cellular walls. The Products and Chemicals, Inc., USA; British Oxygen
quality of the food product in terms of flavour, aroma, Limited (B.O.C.); Integral Process Systems, Inc. USA;
texture, nutritive value, and appearance are directly American Cryo- Chem. Division, USA; AIRCO
related to the amount of cell damage incurred in the Cryogenics, USA; National Rnterprise FEROX in
freezing process. The smaller the freezing time, Decin, CSSR, Czechoslovakia etc.
smaller is the crystal & LN2 freezing produces a high
freezing rate thereby produces very small ice crystals Consumption of LN2
causing negligible damage to the cells. Consumption of liquid nitrogen depends on several
factors such as moisture content, inlet and outlet
The extent of dehydration of a food product caused temperatures, thermophysical properties of the food
during freezing can be attributed to two principal product; freezing equipment, belt loading ratio,
factors, viz., (1) differences in vapour pressure between residence (or freezing) time, cool down losses, exhaust
the food product and the freezing medium, & (2) the gas temperature, production rate, length of production
length of time that the food product is subjected to the etc. Table 2 indicates representative consumption ratios
freezing medium. The differential vapour pressure of LN2 consumption. Depending on the food product,
between the food product, fish in particular, and the theoretical consumption of liquid nitrogen varies in the
freezing medium is such that dehydration loss is less ratio of LN2 to food product between 0.5 to 1.3. Factors
than 0.01%. causing high cryogen consumption due to faulty tunnels
are: low belt coverage, drawing of too much air into the
It has been found that for the case of fresh lean and tunnel, blocked spray header nozzles, loss of insulation
fatty fish LN2 freezing system extended the storage life due to water penetration etc.
considerably compared to conventional method of
freezing. COST OF FREEZING WITH LN2

CURRENT STATUS OF CRYOGENIC The operating cost of freezing tunnel is generally

FREEZING SYSTEMS high. This primarily depends on the cost of liquid
nitrogen. It should be kept in mind that the high
The introduction of quick freezing methods was in operating cost of liquid nitrogen freezing can easily be
the late 1930's and 1940's. The first liquid nitrogen compensated by the saving in dehydration loss and
tunnel freezer came into existence in as early as 1950. improved quality of the frozen food. When in the
At present, in U.K. there are over 200 cryogenic international market of frozen marine products, the
freezers, mainly using LN2. In U.S.A. several hundreds position of developing countries like India, Bangladesh
of cryogenic food freezers are in vogue of which LN2 is not satisfactory, medium end big entrepreneurs of
freezers dominate the cryogenic freezing systems. In frozen foods should come forward to explore the
Eurpoe, Australia, Canada, Japan, China, LN2 freezing freezing technique with liquid nitrogen. It is also true
has gained formidable popularity among the food that unless there is a uniform pricing and availability of
processors and the consumers. It has been reported LN2 in all over the country, the implementation of LN2
that in India, there are about 80 IQF system available freezing systems in countries like India, Bangladesh is
presently. Surprisingly, out of these 80 odd IQF difficult. Only some odd individual entrepreneurs may
system, there is only one LN2 freezing system working come forward to utilize LN2 freezing systems.
in India. When rest of the world is using liquid
nitrogen freezers commercially in large numbers and Since there is no available data on the cost of LN2
obtaining one of the best quality frozen foods out of it, freezing in our currency, it is not possible to analyze
in India, use of liquid nitrogen freezers has not gained cost in our currency. However, a number of
its popularity till now. The reason may be the high researchers have analyzed LN2 system of freezing.
operating cost of LN2. For high valued products the Owing to cost factor, almost all the food processors in
high operating cost is offset by the saving in our country being inclined presently in conventional

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 ICME 2001, Dhaka, December 26-28

freezing systems, a comparative cost has been shown in -ion (Rs.) Bldg. 17184 36000
Table 3. The values have been converted with a 9. Total (Rs.) 3038368 3130752
multiplication factor of 70 for Pound to Rupee 10. Dehydration (Rs.) 140192 822496
conversion and of .4536 for lb to kg conversion. It is 11. Final Total (Rs.) 3178560 3953248
clear that apart from the operating cost of LN2, the LN2 Cost per kg Rs. 5.62 Rs. 6.36
freezing system is much cheaper compared to the
conventional freezing systems. REFERENCES

CONCLUSION Bald, W.B. "Food Freezing : Today and Tomorrow",

Sprenger-Verlag , London, 154 - 170 (1991).
LN2 freezing systems have definite advantages in its
use. Of course every system has its own merits and Goswami, T.K., Das, H., and Bose, A.N. Comparative
demerits. One has to choose system depending on performance of air-blast and liquid nitrogen freezing
one's requirement. In general, considering the high cost of foods. Indian Journal of Cryogenics. Vol. 10, No.
of liquid nitrogen in our country, LN2 freezing systems 4, pp. 287 - 292 (1985).
can be effectively used for high valued food products,
mainly for export purpose. This freezing being Goswami, T.K., Ravindra, M.R. Time-temperature
efficiently operating in all the developed countries can relationships and assessment of product quality
also be implemented in our country. The big and for immersion freezing of shrimp in liquid
medium frozen food industries should take up the nitrogen Journal of Food Process Engineering,
challenge of implementation of freezing with liquid Vol 24, No. 2, pp. 71 - 85 (2001).
nitrogen in our country.
MPEDA. Marine Products Export Development
Table-1: Freezing time and weight loss for four Authority (India) Annual Report (1992).
types of Food freezing equipment
I.O.L. Indian Oxygen limited. Manual for liquid
Food Fr. System Fr. Time, m
Wt. loss, nitrogen tunnel freezer (1990).
%
SBF 35 0.7
Beef LFF 4 0.1
LNF 8 0.5
CBT 180 1.3
SBF-Spiral belt freezer, LFF-Liquid freon freezer,
LNF- Liquid nitrogen freezer, CBT- Cold air-blast
Freezer

Table-2: Representative consumption of LN2

Food product's initial temperature = 15.5 oC, Final
temperature = -17.7 oC
Frozen item Ratio, kg LN2 / kg Food
Fish and sea food 1.0 - 1.3
Meat and Meat Products 0.7 - 0.8
Poultry 1.1 - 1.3
Pizza 0.4 - 0.5

Table-3: Comparison of cost between air-blast and

LN2 freezing

Sl. Item LN2 fr. Air-blast

No. fr.
1. Prod./Annum (kg) 576108 621831
2. Cap. Plant 134400 287360
Cost BLdg. 48160 100800
(Rs.)
3. Electricity (Rs.) 5184 206432
4. LN2 (Rs.) 1307040 -
5. Maintenance (Rs.) - 208000
6. Tank Rental (Rs.) 291200 -
7. Labour (Rs.) 1043200 1881600
8. Depriciat Plant 192000 410560

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