Open AccessA low-energy storage container for food and agriculture products
Author(s) -
Francesco Barreca,
Pasquale Praticò,
G Cardinali
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of agricultural engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.3
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2239-6268
pISSN - 1974-7071
DOI - 10.4081/jae.2021.1174
Subject(s) - container (type theory) , environmental science , energy consumption , waste management , phase change material , thermal energy storage , energy storage , ventilation (architecture) , energy conservation , agricultural engineering , engineering , phase change , mechanical engineering , ecology , power (physics) , physics , electrical engineering , engineering physics , quantum mechanics , biology
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%.