Blast freeezing of sausage in corrugated board

[colonelbogart]

Can some one help me to compute heat load difference between blast freezing in a corrugated board and in open crates? initial temp of product is 4 c and final temp would be -12 c. Carton size is .3 x .2 x.15 mtrs. At present we can reach the -12 temp of product using carton in 24 hours. Our management want us to compute the savings that will be incurred. Load per batch is 10 tons. our blast freezer capacity is 24 TOR. Target time of freezing would be 12 hours only if not in carton.

 

[sterl]

Lots of stuff out there on Blast Freezing, and there is efficiency gains to be made, but the product heat load is not going to change very much whether in open crates or in cardboard. The latent heat proportion for the moisture content of the sausage dominates all the other energies involved and presuming your casing prevents whrink from moisture loss, the contnainer is not going to change that. What it will change is the rate of heat transfer and thus the period in the freezer...Which means either less hours of fan energy in and out, or less fan steady state energy. Blast freezer measurements would indicate that 35%, give or take, of the heat load is "base load" of which the fans are probably 75%. So your target is the fans and applying your moving air very effectively.

You might want to compare what your current Blast Feezer consumes and produces, against the consumption of a Variable Retention Time, Carton Freezer. The designers of that equipment can give you some pretty hard numbers on fan consumption, holding time, etc.