Cold storage for fruits and vegetables

Why produce cold rooms require specialized design

Different fruits and vegetables have unique temperature, humidity, and ethylene sensitivity requirements. Improper storage conditions can lead to chilling injury, moisture loss, premature ripening, or reduced shelf life. For this reason, incompatible commodities should not share the same airspace without proper segregation.

Berries often require rapid forced-air or hydrocooling systems to remove field heat immediately after harvest. Apples may benefit from controlled O₂ and CO₂ environments with ethylene management, while leafy greens require high relative humidity and low air velocity to minimize dehydration and type burn.

We carefully define operating setpoints, evaporator coil ?T values, and defrost intervals to balance energy efficiency with product quality and weight-loss targets.

Room types we engineer

• Hydrocoolers and Forced-Air Precooling Systems — Rapid field-heat removal within minutes or hours depending on the commodity, including water treatment and drift-control systems for hydrocooling applications.
• General Cold Storage Rooms (+0 °C to +13 °C) — Pallet or bin-based storage systems with optional ethylene scrubbing solutions for mixed-product storage halls.
• Controlled Atmosphere (CA) and ULO Rooms — Gastight construction systems with sealed Panel joints, calibrated pressure-relief valves, gas sampling ports, and staged commissioning procedures.
• Citrus Degreening and Produce Curing Rooms — Temperature-controlled environments with monitored ethylene introduction and gradual temperature ramping where required.
• IQF Support Areas for Frozen Vegetables — Ante-rooms and blast-freezing interfaces supporting Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) operations upstream of -18 °C frozen storage facilities.
• Energy-Efficient Evaporator Systems — EC fan technology, variable-speed operation under partial load conditions, and heat recovery systems for underfloor heating in packing and processing areas.

Humidity, airflow, and ethylene management

We Model latent heat loads generated by product respiration and door-opening activity to optimize evaporator selection, airflow patterns, and defrost strategies. Defrost methods may include air, electric, or hot-gas systems depending on operational requirements.

Optional ethylene destruction systems, CO₂ scrubbers, and O₂ control systems can be integrated with BMS monitoring and alarm platforms to maintain stable storage conditions within specified ranges.

Information required to engineer your facility

• Room dimensions — Bin and pallet dimensions, stacking heights, aisle widths, and door locations for forklift or manual cart access.
• Target temperatures — Commodity-specific minimum and maximum temperature requirements, including staged cooling curves after harvest if applicable.
• Product information — Crop varieties, packaging types (RPC, cartons, bags), inbound product temperatures, and daily throughput volumes.
• Atmosphere requirements — Whether Controlled Atmosphere (CA) or ULO storage is required, including target O₂ and CO₂ levels and known scrubber capacities if available.
• Site conditions and utilities — Ambient wet-bulb temperatures for condenser selection, available electrical capacity, seasonal peak loads, and local noise limitations.

Project photographs, packhouse flow diagrams, or historical spoilage data allow us to optimize system design based on real operational conditions rather than standard catalog assumptions.