EnviroSave

Meat & Poultry Cooling

This project aims to develop, optimize, and manufacture a Environmentally Cost Saving Efficient and Hygienic Humidity and Temperature Control System for Safe Storage of Meat and Poultry Products

* Innovate UK Project 102331

Project Summary

This project aims to develop, optimize, and manufacture a Environmentally Cost Saving Efficient and Hygienic Humidity and Temperature Control System for Safe Storage of Meat and Poultry Products

The project aims to design/optimise and construct a small scale (5kW electricity power/3kW cooling) prototype Ice Heat Pump suitable for sustainable heating/cooling at reduced cost for the food and drink storage and distribution warehouse/storage room. Through the utilisation of Ice heat pump ice production technology, the proposed system will harness heat from ambient air, water vapour/steam under low temperatures to solidify and release a large amount of latent heat. The heat is converted to mechanical work through the expander to offset compression work, thereby improving the COP of the heat pump for heat/coolth production, while reducing the cost of production. The project provides an opportunity for UK industries to pioneer the development of new Ice Heat pump technology. This will lead to a commercial product which strengthens UK competitiveness and growth of SME companies.

The project offers new business, market and job opportunities across a wide range of manufacturing/energy/food industries in the UK/worldwide. It will deliver a sustainable environmental and cost-effective solution to significantly reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission. The project will contribute to UK excellence in terms of addressing energy/carbon savings and improving the quality of life of its citizens. It will strengthen the UK by building stronger collaboration between industry and academic institutions with special complementary skills as well as training of students and young researchers.

Compared with conventional vapour-compression air conditioning systems, the proposed Ice Heat Pump cooling unit has significant advantages: 1) large potential for energy saving and thus carbon dioxide emission reduction because energy intensive compressors are not required; 2) more environmental friendly cooling technology using mix water/air instead of high global warming HFC refrigerants; 3) simpler/low cost design in terms of structure, construction, and control strategies; and 4) direct cooling effect without increasing loss at heat exchanger.

The energy consumption of Ice Heat Pump cooling systems is usually 30-40% that of compression air conditioning system with the same capacity as only a low-power pump and compressors are required to operate the system. The current mainstream refrigerants employed in vapour-compression air conditioning systems are high global warming potential (GWP) HFCs such as R-134a and R-410A. As refrigerant air and water have essentially zero environmental impact. The University of Nottingham has a long record of successful research projects in the field of sustainable cooling systems including the patent: ZHAO, X. and RIFFAT, S. B. (2010) Air conditioning, WO 2010/034994 (patent granted April, 1, 2010).

Work Packages

24 Month Project

Overall project to be led by Geo Green Power with tasks spread amongst 6 work packages over 2 years.

1 - 24 Months WP1:

Project Management

A two-level management system will be set up. The project committee will meet every three months to oversee the smooth running of the project agenda. At the work package level, the work package leaders will assume responsibility for the progress of the individual work packages. The project manager will be responsible for prosecution of the proposed system.

6 Months WP2:

Computer simulation and optimisation

The mathematical model for each component of the proposed system will be given to form the basis for a computer simulation programme in Matlab, Fortran or EES. Mathematical modelling, computer simulation and performance optimisation of the air compressor unit, expander unit, the water atomising nozzle, and whole system and sizing of the proposed components, the performance of the proposed system will also be compared with other emerging systems.

9 Months WP3:

Design, construction and testing of prototype

Based on the simulations and optimisation process in WP2, design, construction and laboratory testing of a small-scale prototype system will be carried out to evaluate the efficiency and reliability of the system.

11 Months WP4:

Carry out field trials

Based on the simulations and laboratory testing in WP2 and WP3,
a field trials for the proposed system will be carried out in a typical Unilever warehouse (see picture) under real climatic conditions. We will fully evaluate the performance of the Ice Heat Pump with different kinds of food products including eggs under commercial conditions. In addition to the engineering aspects, we will continually monitor ambient indoor temperature, humidity, and air flow. performance records (egg storage time and temperature, Ice production etc.) will be taken and compared with existing performance.

4 Months WP5:

Economic and environmental analysis and risk and operability assessment

Based on the outcomes of WP2, WP3 and WP4, detailed technical, economic and environmental assessments of the pilot project will be carried out and safety issues will be investigated. The specifications of the proposed system in relation to the capital cost, running cost, payback period and market acceptance will be evaluated. The proposed system will be evaluated against existing and emerging international standards. A risk assessment of installation and operation of the system will be performed. The energy savings and emissions reduction from the adoption of the new Ice Heat Pump will be analysed based upon a life cycle assessment procedure.

6 Months WP6:

Dissemination and exploitation

Dissemination of the project outcomes will be carried out through workshops/seminars/conferences, articles in professional/technical journals, an open day and exhibitions. A dedicated website providing information on the project will also be established. The prototype system will be demonstrated to visitors at the Faculty of Engineering/Department of Biochemistry and Food Sciences.

Project Market

COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS:

Warehouse Ice Storage, Supermarket Refrigeration/Air Conditioning, Fast Cooling of Food Product Directly (Fish, Meat, Eggs, Vegetable), Fast Cooling of Food Product Indirectly (Milk, Beers, Oil etc.), and Display of Food Product

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS:

Ice Storage, Process Indirect Cooling, Quick Chilling/Freezing, Cold Immersion Baths, Batch Cooling and Process Machinery Cooling

Project Benefits

Benefits to consortium members:

The project consortium would seek to benefit initially through their respective established routes to market. Establishing a project focus group will be a priority at the beginning of the project to raise the awareness of the relevant manufacturers about the project and its progress. The commercialisation route and its coordination are summarised in Figure A3. The project focus group will play a key role in the exploitation activities and could serve as a pioneer for the technology to widely penetrate food/drink supply Chain Company including warehouse for storage/production Innovate-UK – Improving Food Supply Chain
/distribution of food such as meat or eggs.

A range of meetings/workshops will be held to engage these manufacturers to determine operational characteristics and parameters in the early stage of project. The feedback from the manufacturers will help to ensure the development of new material is more suitable to be used in warehouse and eventually attract their interest for commercialisation. It is planned that the UoN, GGP, UNI and EPS will be responsible for establishing a focus group and this may be initiated by identifying the most relevant participants from their existing contacts in the HVAC industry and warehouses operator’s sectors. As shown in Figure A2, the initial focus group will be formed from the existing industrial collaborators to the project consortium. With the project progressing, the focus group will be extended to include new collaborators. Each milestone progress of the project will be reported to the focus group. GGP Ltd will meanwhile explore the opportunity for the technology to be used in the sustainable food supply chain for food/drink storage markets, and in collaboration with PAK and EPS will manufacture the new product to extend their products ranges.

Once the prototype system has been successfully developed, manufactured and tested, a workshop will be organised to demonstrate the technology to the focus group and other potential customers to facilitate technology transfer. If the technology is licensed to other manufacturers contacts will be made both by direct contact and through trade associations. UoN will responsible for IP protection and dissemination. The project outcome will be introduced to the relevant students and visitors through lectures, seminars, exhibitions, etc. Academic output will be also published and presented at leading conferences and offered to journals disseminating research findings. All partners will promote commercial awareness of the new materials and generic marketing campaigns aligned to commercialisation plans after project completion.

The project leader GGP will coordinate all aspects which have an influence on the exploitation of the results. He will coordinate all exploitation related issues within the Consortium (patents, licenses, diffusion activities, etc.) and will also oversee coordinating possible negotiations concerning exploitation issues between the Consortium and external parties. He will be assisted by the Technology Transfer Officer from the UoN who is experienced in collaboration and technology transfer between academia and industry. The University of Nottingham has a Research Transfer Group based in Research Innovation Services (RIS). This group comprises experienced technology transfer staff, intellectual property lawyers and commercial managers and is responsible for ensuring the protection and exploitation of any intellectual property generated within the University's research projects.
The commercialisation route and its coordination are summarised in Figure A3. The project consortium can benefit from licensing the technology, providing service and consultation, and supplying components. There will be a dynamic interaction between the project consortium and the focus group. This will be coordinated by the project leader.