Introduction

Cold chain is an integral part of human life in the present day world & and the
different routes that constitute a cold chain, for different food items, are shown in
following diagram

CURRENT STATE OF INDIAN AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY

In India, 52% of total land is cultivable as against 11% in the world. All 15 major
climates of the world, snow bound Himalayas to hot humid southern peninsula; Thar
Desert to heavy rain areas all exist in India. There are 20 agro-climatic regions and
nearly
46 out of 60 soil types in the country. Sunshine hours and day length are ideally
suited for
round the year cultivation of crops. India is the centre for biodiversity in plants,
animals,
insects, micro-organism and accounts for 17% animal, 12% plants and 10% fish
genetic
resources of the globe. In the live stock sector, India has 16% of cattle, 57% of
buffalo,
17% of goats and 5 % of sheep population of the world. Agriculture contributes
24.2% to
GDP, 15.2% of total exports and provides employment to 58.4% of countrys work
force.
As mentioned in the FICCI report of October 2004 India is the
Second highest fruit and vegetable producer in the world (134.5 million tones)
with cold storage facilities available only for 10% of the produce.
Second highest producer of milk with a cold storage capacity of 70,000 tonne.
Fifth largest producer of eggs. Investments in cold chain required to store 20% of
surplus of meat and poultry products during 10th plan requires Rs 500 Crore (US$
100M)
Sixth largest producer of fish with harvesting volumes of 5.2 million tones.
Investment required is estimated to be Rs 350 Crore (US$ 70M)
In spite of the vast natural resources and abundant agricultural produce India ranks
below
10th in the export of food products. Conservative estimates put processing levels in
the
fruits and vegetables sector at 2%, meat and poultry at 2%, milk by way of modern

dairies at 14%, fish at 4%, bulk meat de-boning is to the tune of 21%. Currently, the
food
processing sector, though in the nascent stage, constitutes 14% of manufacturing
GDP
amounting to products value of Rs.2, 80,000 Crores. It employs 130 lakh persons
and is
supposed to increase at an annual rate of 7%.

Types of Cold Chain Processes

A. Direct cold storage of some food items
There are a number of commodities, which after initial sorting, grading and packing
are transported to the cold stores either at the producing center or at the
consuming center. Such items are, typically, Potato, Apples, Oranges, Tamarind, Red
Chilies, Raisins and some other fruits & vegetables. The commodities are stored in
bulk cold stores near the producing centers or in multi-product stores mainly located
near consuming centers.
B. Grading, packing, pre-cooling and /or ripening and storage of some
fresh fruits and vegetables

There are a number of fruits, which are very sensitive to heat and susceptible to
moisture loss after harvesting. Such items have to be pre-cooled within a short time
after harvesting. The pre-cooling involves faster cooling of product within a predetermined period at high RH, generally, over 95%. The pre-cooled products are
then loaded into the high RH cold rooms till they are loaded into the reefer
containers. The items, which, usually, follow the pre-cooling route, are (a) Grapes,
Straw-berries, and Flowers, which require faster cooling, within a short time after
harvesting (b) Mangoes, Pomegranates etc. which can be pre-cooled within 24 hours
after harvesting. Some of the products like banana, mango etc also undergo
ripening before dispatch to the market.
C. C.A storage for select varieties of Fruits
There are some varieties of fruits like apples; pears can be, successfully, stored for
long periods by delaying the natural ripening process. This process is known as
Controlled Atmosphere Storage and is used to extend the storage life of seasonal
perishable produce when normal cold storage with ambient air environment is not
sufficient to retain quality and flavor. The CA technology requires, apart from
refrigeration, gas tight storage construction, equipment to control Oxygen and CO2
levels, pressure equalization devices, automatic control systems and quality control
systems.
D. Processing, Freezing & Storage of foods
There are a large number of fruits, vegetable & other food items, which after some
processing, can be frozen and stored in frozen state for a long period of time. The
popular items are Green Peas, Corn, Okra, Mixed Vegetables, Tomato Puree, Mango
Pulp, Mango Slices and Dices, Pineapple Slices etc. The items need varying type of
heat treatment before freezing for instance blanching for Peas, Corn etc. and
pasteurization for Mango Pulp. The freezing is done in packed or unpacked
condition, depending on the type of freezer. The type of freezer used depends on
the type and shape of the product and the desired freezing time.

E. Storage of Pre-processed & Frozen products

There are many items such as Ice Creams, Butter, Fisheries, Meat Products and
Poultry products which undergo processing and freezing at the main production /
processing plants. These items are transported through Reefer Vans to frozen food
stores and then to distribution centers / markets

F. AC or Ventilated storage for processed & packed food.

Processed and packed items like Chocolates, Confectionery products, Tobacco,
generally, need air-conditioned stores.
Distribution Centers
The distribution centers carry out the function of procurement of large variety of
food and other related items, inventory management, processing and freezing for
some items, cold storage for others and logistics. These centers play an important
role in the cold chain in distributing food to retail chain sector, hotel & institutional
consumers. Thus, the cold chain broadly involves initial handling and transport,
processing, packing, grading, pre-cooling / freezing, cold storage, distribution
centers, reefer transport, super markets and retail stores.
Energy and Environment Concerns
Cold Chain projects are a combination of variety of systems including civil works,
thermal insulation, refrigeration, electrification & lighting, ventilation, material
handling equipment, storage racks, control systems etc. High energy usage &
impact on environment are factors associated with cold chain projects & this is
where the concept of Green Cold Chain emerges, on the lines of Green buildings &
Green factories.

What constitutes a Green Cold Chain?

Whatever be the path followed in Fig.1 above, a Green Cold Chain project shall
incorporate the following features:

1. Location near rail / road terminal

2. Eco-friendly Plant Layout
3. Efficient Building Design using eco-friendly & recycled materials
4. Effective Thermal Insulation
5. Eco-friendly & Energy Efficient Refrigeration / cooling system
6. Waste Heat Recovery System
7. Effective Control Systems & VFDs
8. Energy Efficient Lighting & Electrical systems
9. Natural Ventilation
10. Noise Control
11. Fire Safety
12. Use of renewable energy
13. Minimum Water Consumption and Recycling
14. Rain Water Harvesting
15. Energy saving accessories - Strip / Air Curtains, water saving devices
16. Operational Practices to suit the Green character

A Green building (as a generic term), also known as a sustainable building, is a

structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and
resource-efficient manner. In this context, Green Cold Stores can be defined as,
structures designed to meet certain objectives such as using energy, water, and
other resources more efficiently; and reducing the overall impact on the
environment. These and other measures can only be fully realized when they are
incorporated right at the conceptual design phase of the projects with the
assistance of an integrated team of professionals willing to promote Green
concept.

The features of a green cold chain project, indicated above, have been highlighted
below:

1. Location near rail / road terminals

In order to reduce the transport cost and travel time, locations near highways / rail
terminals shall be preferable.
2. Eco-friendly Plant Layout
a) The cold chain project layout would involve an eco-friendly location for the
project. It is desirable to use natural landscape to reduce irrigational requirements
of the project.
b) Building orientation to achieve minimum solar heat gains. Creating shades by
planting tall trees . It is estimated that the shading would reduce the wall heat.
Doors should be positioned on shady and down wind side of the building to reduce
the cooling load due to air infiltration.
c) The location of the machine room shall be selected to ensure minimum lengths of
refrigerant & water piping and cabling.
d) The layout should allow a convenient vehicle movement and an efficient material
movement plan..
e) The site shall also not be dusty and should not be close to any dust, smoke or
other pollutant generating units.
3. Efficient Building Design
a) The cold chain project building houses process halls, pre cooling and cold
chambers, freezers, ante rooms, loading unloading docks, machine rooms, admin
areas, toilets etc. The building design shall be such that the ratio of external surface
to the volume of building shall be minimum. This means that the cold chambers
should have minimum exposed surface area for the given volume of storage.
b) The location of the handling area, ante room and doors shall be selected to
achieve minimum possible travel length for men & goods.
c) Most present day cold chain plants are built with insulated panel structure with
certain other parts of the building constructed in the conventional manner.
However, in some places, in India the entire cold store buildings have RCC frame &
brick wall construction. Here the normal bricks could be replaced with fly ash bricks
in all conventional construction.
d) Providing reflective coating on the roof would greatly help reduce the heat gains.
Considering a solar heat gain in the range of 850 1000 W / m2 on the roofs, a
conventional G.S Sheet roof would transmit about 120 W / m2 to the attic. With
reflective coating the heat gain could be reduced to around 65 W / m2

e) All doors shall be of metal, FRP or reusable plastic construction thus avoiding use
of timber.
4. Effective Thermal Insulation
a) Well designed thermal insulation system is the most essential feature of a cold
store / pre-cooling / freezer / process hall design for achieving minimum possible
heat & vapour transmission to cold chambers, piping, low pressure accumulators
etc.
b) The insulation material should be eco-friendly i.e the materials like polyurethane
foam shall not contain any CFC or such ODSs.
c) Adherence to ASHRAE Stds / ECBC (India) norms is recommended to achieve best
possible thermal efficiency of the structures.
5. Eco-friendly & Energy Efficient Refrigeration & Cooling system
a) The essential feature of green cold chain plant would be the plant working on an
eco-friendly refrigerant. The natural refrigerants like Ammonia could be the best
choice for medium and larger sized stores / pre-cooling / freezer plants. The other
refrigerants like HFCs shall have zero or minimum ODP & GWP.
b) CO2 has also emerged as a refrigerant for low temperature systems and a lot of
equipments are available for CO2 application. A cascade with Ammonia & CO2
refrigerants has also been introduced in the field of industrial refrigeration.
c) The refrigeration system has to be designed to achieve the best possible energy
efficiency.
d) The Compressors in larger systems shall have capacity control either step less or
with a number of steps and shall have best possible energy efficiency at part loads.
e) The systems can be air cooled or water cooled depending on the designers
choice, availability of water, size of the system etc. In case of ammonia systems,
evaporative condensers are best suited to achieve lower condensing pressures and,
thereby, the lower energy consumption. In case air cooled systems are used, it is
desirable to use air pre-cooling such as evaporative cooling for the condenser air as
this would greatly help in reducing the energy consumption in high ambient
temperature regions.
f) In case of systems with water cooled compressor heads / jackets / oil coolers, it is
a normal practice to provide cooling towers for cooling of recirculated water. These
could be of fanless induced draft type for saving of fan energy.

g) Air cooling unit fans shall be selected on the basis of low motor power
requirement and lower noise characteristics.
h) Application of variable frequency drives is recommended for condenser and
water pump motors as also the evaporator fans (in cases where loads in pull down
period & holding period varies substantially) as also to achieve energy saving during
low ambient conditions
i) For larger installations liquid refrigerant pumping system helps achieving efficient
performance and better energy efficiency.
j) For collection centers and pre-processing plants, use of evaporative cooling can
be considered to have lower temperature and higher RH with much lower energy
costs (around 35% as compared to air conditioning).
6. Waste Heat Recovery System
a) In plants where hot water can be gainfully utilized, it is prudent to install waste
heat recovery unit which provides FREE hot water for possible use in the process /
washing, cleaning or pre-heating of water fed to boilers. Generally for a plant
capacity of, say 100 KW, about 400 litres of hot water could be generated hourly
with a temperature of 50 to 60 deg C
b) One possible use of waste heat can be for the sub-floor heating for sub-zero
temperature cold stores.
7. Effective Control Systems and VFDs
Appropriate control of temperature with the desired RH levels, proper air circulation
is the basic requirements of the cold storage plants. An efficient design would
incorporate regulation of the optimum evaporating temperatures, condensing
pressures and ensure timely and efficient defrosting (for lower temperature
applications). A centralized remote control panel for indication and control of
various parameters would be very much desirable. Application of BMS would be an
added advantage to monitor various operational parameters and safety systems.
8. Energy Efficient Lighting and Electrical systems
a) Lighting in cold chambers produces heat which acts as a load on the refrigeration
system. Efficient light fittings such as CFL and SV Lamps are very effective energy
savers as compared to normal tube lights / incandescent bulbs. The use of LED
lights can be very beneficial for energy saving. The lighting in cold chambers can be
made in different circuits so that the operator could put the lights ON in areas where
access is required. Lighting in other areas could also be controlled by occupancy
sensors and daylight sensors.

b) Emergency lights and alarms are a must for cold stores and these could work on
the solar PV Cell system. Similarly majority of the outside lighting can be done with
solar PV Cells.
c) Automatic power factor correction facility must be provided on the electrical
system to achieve the best possible PF.
d) In case of attic spaces over the cold chambers, as well as areas like process halls,
machine room, the benefit of natural daylight can be availed by using FRP sheets at
selected points in the roof structure / walls.
9. Ventilation
Certain areas in the cold chain complex do need effective ventilation. The
ventilation of large attic spaces can be achieved by providing turbo ventilators
which work without electric power thus, saving energy for fans operation. In cold
chambers where fresh air supply is required to control CO2 levels, energy recovery
systems (ERVs) can be installed to cool the incoming air.
10. Use of Renewable Energy
Solar PV lighting systems can be employed as best as possible. Bio-gas generation
for hot water generation is possible from bio-waste collected from processing plants.
11. Noise Control
Compressors, Pumps, Condensers, AC Units and D.G.Sets are possible sources of
noise on a cold store & allied plants. Selection of low noise equipment, acoustic
enclosure for D.G.Sets would be essential to create a quieter environment in the
complex.
12. Fire Safety
Fire detection sensors, alarms, Dry & Wet fire fighting system shall be essential
features of the project. The system shall conform to the local fire safety codes.
13. Water Consumption and Recycling
a) Most medium and large cold store complexes are water cooled and a rough
estimate of water consumption per day per 1000 MT cold store capacity would be
around 7 to 8 Kl.
b) For water cooled plants water is required as make up for condensers / cooling
towers. Evaporative condensers consume minimum quantity of water as compared
to other types. In case the evaporator units have water defrosting, it would be worth
providing a system to collect this water and feed it to the condenser / cooling tower.

c) Recycling of water is possible on cold store plants which have attached food
processing facility where water consumption is substantial. The waste water from
the process can be recycled and used for condenser / cooling tower operation.
14. Rain Water Harvesting
With large roof surfaces on buildings, it would be possible to take the benefit of rain
water harvesting.
15. Energy saving accessories- Strip / Air Curtains, water saving devices
a) Use of Energy Efficient PVC Strip Curtains on cold store doors is an effective way
of reducing air exchange that takes place during door openings. Air curtains are also
helpful on ante-room entrance doors, process halls entrance doors etc.
b) Use of low flow fixtures on sinks & showers and use of dual flush valves on toilets
can reduce water consumption.

16. Operational Practices

a) Energy charges are the major running expenses for cold chain projects and
hence it is imperative that an Energy saving culture is adopted at every level in
the functioning of these units.
b) It is a good practice to load fresh goods coming in at ambient temperature,
during early morning hours to take benefit of free natural cooling at nights.
c) The office comfort AC temperatures can be set in the range 24 to 26 deg C in
summer and 20 to 22 deg C in winter to effectively reduce energy consumption.
d) The management & the operating staff on cold store units need to be given
proper training for efficient operation and maintenance of the various systems to
maintain the GREEN character of the units.
e) Environment friendly practices such as No Smoking norms have to be followed
in plant premises.
f) Yearly Energy audits on plants would be an essential feature on these projects.
NEXT STEP
In order to formalize the green character of cold chain projects, it would be essential
define the bench-marks for each of the above listed features. This would involve the
following steps:
1) To prepare ratings for design of green cold stores & other cold chain projects.

2) To institutionalize process of award on the basis of ratings achieved through

design & implementation.
3) To offer incentives for implementation of projects with GREEN character.
CONCLUSION
Today, the concept of Green Projects is gaining attention of promoters, designers,
engineers and managers all over the world. One should certainly aim at creating
the concepts of Green Cold Chain based on sound, safe & eco-friendly technology
& high energy efficiency of the plants. Sincere efforts should be made to think
GREEN in the whole concept of Cold Chain and industrial refrigeration project
construction and operation. A Green Cold Chain project is also about creating /
leaving behind a better environment for future generations and conservation of vital
resources like water, energy etc.

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[3] L. P. Van Reeuwijk, Guidelines for quality management in soil and
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[4] S. K. M. Ho, Is the ISO 9000 series for Total Quality Management ?,
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[5] C. Peri, The universe of food quality, Food Quality and Preference,
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