Blast Freezing Solutions

A blast freezing solution is an engineered low temperature refrigeration system that uses controlled airflow and refrigeration to remove heat from products during the freezing process. The system can include an insulated blast freezer room, evaporators, fans, compressors, condensing units, controls, sensors, and monitoring. The final configuration depends on the product, incoming temperature, batch quantity, packaging, loading arrangement, required final temperature, freezing cycle, and site conditions.

Blast freezing removes heat from a product inside a controlled low temperature room. Refrigeration equipment cools the room while evaporators and fans provide controlled airflow around the loaded product. The freezing process depends on product characteristics, product dimensions, incoming temperature, packaging, loading arrangement, airflow, refrigeration duty, and the required final condition. The actual freezing cycle must therefore be established from the product and process rather than assumed from the room temperature alone.

Blast freezing can be used for selected meat, poultry, seafood, fish, processed foods, ready to eat foods, frozen desserts, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and agricultural products. The suitability of blast freezing depends on the product composition, size, packaging, incoming temperature, required final condition, and processing requirements. Uniref assesses these factors before developing the freezing system and refrigeration configuration.

There is no single temperature that applies to every blast freezing application. The required room temperature and final product temperature depend on the product, incoming condition, dimensions, packaging, loading arrangement, freezing cycle, and intended storage condition. Frozen holding is commonly near minus 18°C or lower, but the blast freezing process itself requires project specific engineering to establish the appropriate operating conditions.

Blast freezer capacity is established from the amount of product loaded per batch, product dimensions and weight, incoming product temperature, target final temperature, packaging, loading method, freezing cycle, room dimensions, and operating schedule. These factors determine the heat that must be removed and therefore the refrigeration duty. Capacity should not be selected from a standard room size alone because two products with the same weight can have different freezing requirements.

There is no standard catalogue price for a blast freezing project. Cost can be affected by the required freezing duty, batch quantity, room dimensions, insulation, doors, compressors, condensing units, evaporators, fans, controls, monitoring, electrical work, loading arrangements, site conditions, installation, commissioning, and overall project scope. A project specific quotation is prepared after the product and operating requirements are understood.

Yes. Blast freezer systems can be customized around the product, batch quantity, incoming temperature, target final condition, packaging, loading method, freezing cycle, available space, and refrigeration duty. The design can include different room dimensions, evaporator arrangements, airflow configurations, refrigeration systems, controls, monitoring, and loading arrangements. The final configuration is established through project specific engineering.

Yes. Uniref can coordinate blast freezing projects from requirement analysis and site assessment through heat load calculation, blast freezer design, equipment selection, manufacturing and supply, installation, testing, commissioning, training, and handover. The scope is developed around the actual product and process requirements. After commissioning, maintenance, breakdown support, spare parts, repairs, and selected upgrades can also be addressed.

Yes. Blast freezing can be planned as one stage of a larger temperature controlled facility that also includes frozen storage. The blast freezer is used for the freezing process, while a separate frozen room can provide holding conditions after the product reaches its required frozen state. The two systems are assessed according to product movement, batch loading, refrigeration duty, storage capacity, room configuration, and the overall operating process.

The refrigeration system is selected after assessing the product load, required freezing condition, heat load, ambient conditions, site utilities, and operating cycle. Freon based and ammonia based systems can be considered depending on the project requirements. Air cooled and water cooled configurations may also be evaluated according to the site. Compressor and evaporator selection is then based on the calculated refrigeration duty and operating conditions.