Higher electricity costs and preparations for F Gas Day are two ongoing challenges faced by the cold storage industry. However, it is not all doom and gloom as many refrigeration suppliers are expanding their sphere of influence and have enjoyed notable successes.
Indeed, IMA Cooling Systems says interest has recently gathered pace in its unique cooling system.
The system uses less than 25 per cent of the cooling fan power associated with normal, long-term cooling systems. However, according to IMA’s md John Dye, energy savings are really just a bonus as it is the ability to store produce for longer and to better quality levels that is its unique feature.
“We were anxious not to make too much noise about the technique until we had secured exclusive UK design rights,” explains Dye. “Now this is in place, we are keen to push this unique cooling method, which has been used so successfully across Europe and North America for more than two decades.”
Allan Fearn is one of IMA’s customers and the system is in place at its 6,000 tonne capacity facility near Aberdeen. “To be able to store carrot and swede which is fit for retail markets from October through to July is a massive advantage to our clients,” Dye says.
With the arrival of F Gas next July, this new technique has another benefit as it uses secondary refrigerant as the main coolant and therefore very small amounts of primary F Gas charge.
“Hopefully, next year will see the completion of our first F Gas-free plant as we undertake the installation of a secondary coolant system using packaged chillers which run on hydrocarbon primary refrigerant,” Dye tells FPJ. “This technique could also be applied to our long-term crop storage system and we will be looking to encourage all our customers to consider this green solution to their cooling needs.”
The fresh produce industry often calls on cold storage suppliers to deliver solutions to meet its perishable needs. Marden-based company Farm Refrigeration recently supplied and installed refrigeration at Winterwood Farms’ new packhouse facility. The £6 million investment, which was completed last April, consists of a modern building spread over two levels.
There are 18 controlled atmosphere stores in the facility and one is devoted specifically to organic produce. The facility also consists of packing areas, four loading bays and a blast chiller area.
Farm Refrigeration installed compressor packs using Copeland equipment. These installations include liquid pressure amplification (LPA) pumps and substantially reduce operating costs by some 30 to 35 per cent due to lower energy consumption.
Soft-fruit producer Winterwood Farms claims to be the largest grower of blueberries in both Europe and Africa. Some 44 acres of land is devoted to soft-fruit production at East Sutton and this is backed up by large farms in South Africa, France and Poland.
As well as blueberries, a wide variety of other soft fruit is supplied including raspberries, black, red and white currants, blackberries, loganberries and strawberries.
Similarly to other suppliers, John Haffenden, md of Farm Refrigeration, says that the fresh produce sector understands and recognises the importance of cold storage, especially when it comes to the efficient operation of its systems.
However, Haffenden says co-operation could further be improved if the sector continued to update storage and refrigeration equipment. This would reduce energy consumption and cut operating costs.
Like many other suppliers, Farm Refrigeration is looking hard at its import and distribution sectors. “We are making sure potential customers know that we operate nationally, not just in the South East of England,” says Haffenden.
Those in the cold storage sector concede that escalating running costs are likely to be key priorities in coming months. Furthermore, the Kyoto Protocol will have a significant impact on the cold storage and fresh produce sectors next year when F Gas Day makes its mark on July 4.
F gases - hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) - replaced the ozone-depleting CFCs and HCFCs in the 1990s and are new industrial gases used in several applications.
F gases are non-ozone depleting, have low toxicity levelsand low flammability. However, due to their high global warming potential, many EU member statesare putting in place legislation to monitor, control or phase out some of them.
With the arrival of F Gas Day, fresh produce handlers have been told to get their refrigeration in order. The application of EC Regulation No.842/2006 on July 4, 2007 means that responsibility for legally compliant auditing of all refrigeration of a certain size will switch to the end user.
The EC regulation covers the containment and recovery of F gases, used by anyone who has refrigeration equipment for storage systems. Operators of this equipment have a range of obligations including prompt leakage repair, leakage checking and record keeping and ensuring that appropriately qualified personnel are used.
Qualifications are unlikely to be fully decided upon until 2008 but on a national level, the UK has agreed in principle to accept the existing qualifications City & Guilds 2078 and CITB Refrigeration Handling.
Heavy penalties, which will be set by the department of trade and industry (DTI) in the UK, will be handed out to those who do not comply with the regulation. These penalties will follow EU guidelines and aim to act as a deterrent.
Mike Nankivell, of Space Air, sits on the F Gas Implementation Group. He told FPJ: “There are always ongoing developments and right now the hot topics relate to minimum quality and labelling requirements. We’ll really see things happening in April and May.”
John Haffenden, managing director of Farm Refrigeration, says existing legislation will prove beneficial in the run up to F Gas Day. “The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) has been in effect since 2002 and this legislation will help refrigeration equipment operators move forward into the F Gas Regulations in July 2007,” he says.
Dye thinks that recent press coverage on the arrival of the new EU F Gas regulation has been somewhat negative. “I was rather surprised to read the way the story was put across,” he says. “It rather reminded me of the sort of scare tactics used in the 1990s when CFCs were being phased out.”
Dye says the regulation asks for no more than what should already be considered common sense by end users who operate large refrigeration systems.
All IMA customers are encouraged to take on a maintenance contract which ensures that their refrigeration plant is regularly inspected to maintain the performance and reliability of their systems. These visits include routine leak testing which will ensure that all their customers comply with the new F Gas demands.
“Finding and repairing a single leak which prevents large loss of refrigerant will save the end-user far more than the cost of the routine visit,” Dye says. “All our maintenance customers are being advised that they don’t need to do anything other than ensure that they keep copies of all our service and maintenance paperwork to enable them to comply with audit requirements as and when these may be carried out.”
Dye points out that not all systems will be subject to the new regulation and small charge systems such as canteen-size chill cabinets, vending machines and small packaged air conditioning plants will be unaffected.
However, IMA acknowledges that the arrival of F Gas is likely to mean an increased workload and is already advertising for additional service and maintenance engineers. It is also installing state-of-the-art operational software and investing heavily in further training of existing staff.
“Our new computer system will equip engineers with handheld computers which allow communication between the engineer and office thereby giving access to helpful historical service data to the engineer,” Dye explains. “Completed work sheets are sent electronically as soon as the customer signs off the work and a copy will be emailed back to the client within minutes. Recording of data for F Gas auditing will be important and this new system will assist both IMA and our clients in keeping easy track of the works carried out to each piece of refrigeration plant at a given site.”
ENVIROTAINER SHIFTS FOCUS
Increased demand from the healthcare and biotechnology industries in Envirotainer’s temperature sensitive products has resulted in a shift in the company’s activities.
“Envirotainer has decided to focus even more on the healthcare segment and has structured its resources to be in alignment with this sharpened focus,” says Envirotainer’s vice president of sales, Ulf Uby. “We continue to develop our container technology as well as our cold chain management services that is of benefit to producers of healthcare products.”
However, Envirotainer forecasts that the number of food shipments (which represent 10-15 per cent of all its shipments) will remain at the current level.
Envirotainer will be unaffected by the new European regulation. Uby explains: “Envirotainer’s active dry-ice cooling equipment is not subject to the EC Regulation No. 842/2006 because no such chemicals are used in the process (transported goods do not come in contact with the dry ice that is used throughout the journey). Envirotainer provides ‘cooling’ rather than refrigeration.”
In order to make its network more effective, Envirotainer is putting in place a number of initiatives in 2007. These include: increasing container storage capacities by approximately 20 per cent, integrating data systems with its major ground handlers in order to facilitate communication and servicing of orders and expanding its number of repair stations by a further 10 per cent.
Thomas Persson was appointed Envirotainer’s new ceo last October.
TRU-FOG CREATES GLOBAL BUZZ
Norman Pendred has reported strong demand for its Tru-fog crop hydration system. “Lots of our original customers are upgrading their systems and have a better understanding of what Tru-fog can do,” says md Chris Pendred.
Tru-fog turns a cold store into a conditioning room by filling the atmosphere with a light but visible Tru-fog made up of minute droplets (less than three microns) of purified water. The system re-hydrates crops harvested in dry weather or delivered with less than their maximum level of moisture.
“Tru-fog greatly extends the shelf life of product and maintains quality; it also minimises waste and means maximum shelf life for retailers,” he claims.
Pendred has received enquiries about Tru-fog from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. It is also busy dealing with interest from mainland Europe. “We’re now in a position to move forward with a full proposal and develop sales in Spain and Portugal where some British growers have farms,” says Pendred.
Chris Pendred says one of his clients was particularly pleased that he upgraded to the Tru-Fog humidification system last summer. He tells FPJ: “Brassicas grew very quickly in the summer and there was a lot of early harvesting. By using our system, our customer managed to sell 80 per cent of his yield and at higher prices as other brassica wasn’t available. The system paid for itself.”
Users of Pendred’s high humidity fogging systems include Vitacress Salads, Global Salads and Lincolnshire-based firms TC Clement & Son and Exotic Farm Produce.
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