Given your interest we transcribe here the article published in the following link:
https://www.interempresas.net/Industria-Carnica/Articulos/232164-La-refrigeracion-evaporativa-aportaciones-y-aplicaciones-en-la-industria-carnica.html
Evaporative refrigeration: inputs and applications in the meat industry
The wet refrigeration systems – cooling and evaporative condensers – are used in two thirds of the food industry, but it is in the meat sector that this technology is particularly relevant in order to cool the condensation water of the refrigeration facilities that they are used to maintain the conditions of treatment and storage of the meat before it is sent to the points of sale.
Refrigeration systems are present in each phase of the meat production chain: from slaughterhouses and cutting plants to processing industries; looking for in all of them maximum energy efficiency, as well as an optimal relationship between investment and performance and environmental respect.
Why use evaporative cooling systems in the handling and preservation of fresh products ?.
The industrial air conditioning is an application of refrigeration that, unlike the proper air conditioning in office or residential buildings, is carried out to achieve adequate hydrothermal conditions in the rooms where the products are processed, handled and packaged. In the case of meat, refrigeration covers the entire process. Industrial air conditioning provides a stable state of the supplied air, defined by the lowest level of temperature, precisely controlled humidity, in a more strict filtering and in the previous elimination of contaminants.
The preservation of the meat is only ensured by means of the low temperatures, which must be stable throughout the process in order that the product reaches the final consumer with the highest quality. This is the first of the reasons that justify the use of evaporative cooling in the meat industry. The sooner the temperature is reduced to optimum storage levels, the longer the preservation of food will result.
Secondly, evaporative cooling guarantees an adequate and stable temperature in the meat manufacturing process with energy efficiency levels difficult to achieve with another system.
Third, the evaporative cooling equipment is used to dissipate the condensation heat that originates in the mechanical compression refrigeration facilities, which generate and serve artificial cold to the chambers and rooms where the meat is refrigerated, preserved, cleaned and It is packaged in refrigerated vehicles in which it is transported from the storekeeper or from the slaughterhouse to the point of sale.
How is energy efficiency guaranteed in evaporative cooling systems?
The saving of energy and the search of formulas that contribute to improve the energetic efficiency of some already efficient installations have become a constant in the last years.
The evaporative cooling also offers the meat industry some energy efficiency ratios that are incomparable with other systems:
- Both by its application and its design, these devices save energy.
- Lower water cooling temperatures ensure optimal process operation and reduce energy consumption.
- Also, the equipment is highly efficient from the energy point of view due to the use of latent heat transfer of evaporation. This transfer allows the elimination of a higher amount of heat than that achieved with the use of a traditional sensible heat transfer, that is, it requires an air flow rate up to four times lower than that required by an air cooling process.
- In air conditioning and refrigeration installations, energy efficiency and electric power consumption are directly related to the condensing temperature of the refrigerant used in the refrigeration system. In a typical air conditioning installation, the comparison of energy consumption shows illustrative figures: the cooling towers and evaporative condensers would offer, compared to the air condensing equipment, a saving in consumption of up to 45%. Another example in the same line would be the one produced in the refrigeration facilities, where the absorbed power, when the condensation of the refrigerant is made by water cooled by evaporative towers and condensers versus when it is made with air, are significantly lower.
Refrigeration with ammonia
A fundamental factor in refrigeration in the meat industry is the use of ammonia, used in numerous applications of refrigeration and air conditioning. It is the refrigerant most used in the refrigeration facilities of the food industry, up to 90% of the existing ones, and is also in line with environmental protection.
As a refrigerant, it offers the following advantages:
- It is compatible with the environment by not destroying the ozone layer and not contributing to global warming. The regulations that promote the use of respectful refrigerants have made the ammonia emerge with a potential of increasing use.
- It has very adequate thermodynamic properties, which results in the ammonia refrigeration systems being very efficient and consume less electricity.
- Its cost is lower, between 10 and 20% per installation, than that of any synthetic manufacturer.
- The characteristic smell of ammonia is its greatest guarantee of safety, something vital in the food industry. Unlike other refrigerants, which lack odor, refrigeration with ammonia has a proven record of safety, largely because leaks are easily detectable.
Conclusion
By way of conclusion, it should be remembered that evaporative cooling is a natural process that uses water as a refrigerant, a medium that has proven effective in the transmission of surplus heat to the atmosphere. These systems are presented as a technology of the future from which the meat industry, specifically the slaughterhouses, can extract maximum performance also in environmental and economic terms.
Control y Ventilacion, S.L. is a company of international renown within the industrial and livestock sector, for being a manufacturer of products within the evaporative cooling sector, such as the HUMIBAT, evaporative plastic cooler; or its NUCLEOS towers, Cooling Towers. In both products, the substrate in which the evaporative process is produced is a plastic honeycomb, a honeycomb resistant both to physical and chemical attacks, and at the same time flexible, a honeycomb with a mesh structure, made of polyethylene High Density, and marketed under the names of PANAL C & V or in the case of being a drop separator, SEPARADOR C & V .
For more information you can see the following links:
www.controlyventilacion.com/refrigeracion-evaporativa/
www.controlyventilacion.com/relleno-y-separador/
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