After harvesting, fruit, vegetables and flowers immediately start losing water (humidity) through evaporation which results in a loss of weight, loss of quality and reduction in shelf-life, thus causing a financial loss to the producer.
Several factors can contribute to this evaporation but the two most important factors are the temperature and the relative humidity (RH) of the air surrounding the product. The higher the temperature and the lower the RH, the higher the evaporation (weight loss).
It has been found that a temperature rise of 1°C results in a decrease in RH of ±7% and it is generally accepted that produce stored at 90% RH will lose moisture at a rate of 6 times faster than produce stored at 98% RH.
Tests have shown that one hour lost in post-harvest cooling results in a 8 to 24 hour loss in shelf-life.
It is therefore vital for produce to be refrigerated at a low temperature with a very high RH as quickly as possible after harvesting and then to maintain a constant storage temperature with very high humidity levels.It is impossible to achieve this by means of conventional refrigeration systems, therefore Club Refrigeration has developed a high humidity airspray pressure cooling system which works on the principle of cooling the air with chilled water and is designed to remove the field heat from the product within 1 to 6 hours whilst maintaining the RH at between 96% and 98%.
Although Club Refrigeration can offer it’s Clients a range of equipment from rapid high-humidity coolers, long-term storage coolers, ripening systems, drying systems, hydrocoolers and Continuous Tunnel Cooling (CTC), it is not limited to the mere supply of this specialized equipment, we also specialize in designing a complete solution for our clients. Our design team will meet with each client to understand their individual needs and then design, manufacture, supply, install and maintain an entire system, from receiving through to cooling, grading, packaging and dispatch.
The Client receives the advantage of a one-stop solution thus eliminating intermediate mark-ups and thus resulting in cost savings.
Some of our Clients include the following:
ZZ2
Agriflora (Zambia)
Homegrown (Kenya)
Shalimar Flowers (Kenya)
Greenpak
Chapter II