In 2018, the food, beverages, and tobacco sectors within the EU-27 consumed approximately 27,500 ktoe of energy. The food facilities and the food production plants are responsible for a large part of this energy consumption. Current global strategies focus on energy conservation and natural environmental protection, ascribing a lot of importance to building-related analyses. Areas for food storage are essential within the food production chain, as the indoor thermal parameters determine the characteristics of the final products. In this paper, a low-energy storage container is proposed. The envelope of the container is made from sandwich panels with a polyurethane layer paired with two phase change material (PCM) layers. The container is designed to store perishable materials, such as extra virgin olive oil. A storage container prototype, equipped with a mini-split heating, ventilation, and air conditioning electric system, was built to analyse and assess the energy spent during its use. Moreover, the achievable yearly energy savings with respect to a container without the PCM layers was calculated. The results showed that the PCM layers improve the energy performance of the container at an indoor temperature of 20°C with an energy saving of about 27%, and at an indoor temperature of 17°C with an energy saving of over 22%.
A low-energy storage container for food and agriculture products / Barreca, F.; Pratico, P.; Cardinali, G. D.. - In: JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING. - ISSN 1974-7071. - 52:3(2021), pp. 1-7. [10.4081/jae.2021.1174]
A low-energy storage container for food and agriculture products
Barreca F.
Methodology
;
2021-01-01
Abstract
In 2018, the food, beverages, and tobacco sectors within the EU-27 consumed approximately 27,500 ktoe of energy. The food facilities and the food production plants are responsible for a large part of this energy consumption. Current global strategies focus on energy conservation and natural environmental protection, ascribing a lot of importance to building-related analyses. Areas for food storage are essential within the food production chain, as the indoor thermal parameters determine the characteristics of the final products. In this paper, a low-energy storage container is proposed. The envelope of the container is made from sandwich panels with a polyurethane layer paired with two phase change material (PCM) layers. The container is designed to store perishable materials, such as extra virgin olive oil. A storage container prototype, equipped with a mini-split heating, ventilation, and air conditioning electric system, was built to analyse and assess the energy spent during its use. Moreover, the achievable yearly energy savings with respect to a container without the PCM layers was calculated. The results showed that the PCM layers improve the energy performance of the container at an indoor temperature of 20°C with an energy saving of about 27%, and at an indoor temperature of 17°C with an energy saving of over 22%.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Barreca_2021_jae_A low-energy storage_editor.pdf
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