Controlled Atmosphere Storage

Controlled atmosphere storage is a storage environment where temperature and other atmospheric conditions are managed according to the requirements of the stored product. Depending on the application, the system can include refrigeration, humidity management, atmosphere control, sensors, monitoring, insulation, and operational controls. It is commonly considered for selected fruits, vegetables, horticultural products, and other commodities where temperature control alone does not provide the required storage environment.

Normal cold storage primarily focuses on maintaining a defined temperature range, while controlled atmosphere storage can manage additional environmental parameters according to the product requirement. These may include humidity and selected atmospheric conditions. The exact configuration depends on the commodity, storage duration, temperature, room conditions, product movement, and operational process. Controlled atmosphere storage therefore requires product specific engineering rather than simply lowering the room temperature.

Controlled atmosphere rooms can be considered for selected fruits, vegetables, horticultural products, apples, flowers, seeds, and other commodities that require defined environmental conditions during storage. The suitability depends on the product, required temperature, humidity, atmospheric conditions, storage duration, packaging, loading method, and handling process. The final storage parameters should be established from the product specification before the refrigeration and atmosphere management system is designed.

There is no single temperature for all controlled atmosphere applications. Many fruits and vegetables are commonly stored around 0°C to 4°C, while tomatoes are typically around 12°C to 15°C. Bananas and avocados in controlled ripening are typically around 12°C to 18°C, and flowers are typically around 1°C to 5°C. The actual temperature depends on the specific commodity, storage stage, and operating conditions.

Capacity depends on the product quantity, packaging, pallet dimensions, stacking, room dimensions, aisles, storage height, daily movement, storage duration, and loading method. These factors also influence the refrigeration load and the required room configuration. A project specific assessment is therefore required before confirming storage capacity. Uniref can evaluate the product, available space, storage arrangement, and operating process as part of the engineering assessment.

Yes. Controlled atmosphere systems can be customized according to the product, temperature, humidity, atmosphere requirements, storage duration, room dimensions, loading method, product movement, site conditions, and monitoring requirements. The system can include refrigeration equipment, atmosphere management, sensors, controls, monitoring, insulation, doors, and storage arrangements. The final configuration is established from the actual project requirements rather than a standard room specification.

Yes. Uniref can coordinate projects from requirement analysis and site assessment through heat load calculation, storage design, equipment selection, manufacturing and supply, installation, testing, commissioning, training, and handover. The scope can include the storage room, refrigeration system, atmosphere management, controls, sensors, monitoring, and associated components. Maintenance, breakdown support, spare parts, repairs, and selected upgrades can also be addressed after commissioning.

There is no standard catalogue price for a controlled atmosphere storage project. Cost can be affected by room size, storage capacity, temperature requirements, humidity requirements, atmosphere management, insulation, doors, refrigeration equipment, compressors, evaporators, controls, monitoring, storage arrangements, electrical requirements, site conditions, installation, commissioning, and overall project scope. A project specific quotation can be prepared after the product and operating requirements are understood.

Yes. A facility can be designed with separate rooms or zones where different products require different temperature, humidity, or atmospheric conditions. Each zone can be assessed for its individual heat load, insulation, refrigeration duty, airflow, atmosphere management, controls, monitoring, and product movement. This approach can help separate products with incompatible storage requirements while allowing the facility to operate as a coordinated storage system.

The refrigeration system is selected after assessing the heat load, required temperature, product characteristics, ambient conditions, humidity requirements, site utilities, and operating process. 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 required operating conditions.