Engineering for Storage of Fruits and Vegetables: Cold Storage, Controlled Atmosphere Storage, Modified Atmosphere Storage

Contents: I. Pre Cooling of Fruits and Vegetables and their Storage Requirement: 1. Introduction. 2. Post Harvest Physiology of Fruits and Vegetables. 3. Estimation of Cooling Times of Foods. 4. Pre-cooling of Fruits and Vegetables by Ventilation Method. 5. Forced-Air Cooling of Fruits and Vegetables. 6. Hydro Cooling of Fruits, Vegetables and Cut Flowers. 7. Evaporative Cooling Systems for Fruits and Vegetables. 8. Vacuum Cooling of Fruits and Vegetables. 9. Handling and Storage of Common Fruits. 10. Handling and Cold Storage of Vegetables. II. Cold Storage: 11. Moist Air and Applied Psychrometry. 12. Preliminaries for the Estimation of Cooling Loads. 13. Air Conditioning Systems and Estimation of Cooling Load. 14. Evaporators. 15. Refrigerant Compressors. 16. Condensers. 17. Expansion Devices. 18. Spray Ponds and Cooling Towers. 19. Fans. 20. Transmission and Distribution Systems of Cool Air. 21. Heat and Water Vapour Transport in the Cold Storage. 22. Thermal and Vapour Insulation Materials. 23. Design of Small Capacity Cold Storages. 24. DimensionsLayoutStacking Methods for Cold Storage. 25. Transportation of Fruits Vegetables and Flowers. 26. Instrumentation and Climate Management in Cold Storages. III. Controlled Atmosphere for Storage (CAS) Horticulture Produce: 27. Operation, Maintenance and Energy Conservation in Cold Storages. 28. Introductory Information of Controlled Atmosphere Storages. 29. Biochemical Considerations of Controlled Atmosphere Storage. 30. Gas Exchange Mechanisms in Controlled Atmosphere Storage. 31. Mass Balance Principles Applied to CA Chamber. 32. Gas Generators for Controlled Atmosphere Storage. 33. Equipment for Producing and Regulating Controlled Atmosphere. 34. Design, Construction and Operation of Controlled Atmosphere Storage Chambers. IV. Modified Atmosphere Storage: 35. An Overview of Modified Atmosphere Storage. 36. MAP Technology. 37. Gases and Vapour Applied to MA Processing Operations. 38. Shelf Life of Foods. 39. Kinetic of Food Deteriorative Reactions. 40. Water Activity and Shelf Life. 41. Effect of Logistics Environment on Shelf Life. 42. Shelf Life Testing. 43. MAP Modeling. 44. Principles of Enzyme Kinetics. 45. Enzyme Kinetics Applied to MAP. 46. MAP Design with O2 Modelling (Experiments on Tomato Fruit). 47. Methods of Storing Fruits in Polymeric Packets with MAP. The deterioration and consequently the shelf life of fruits and vegetables starts from the time they are harvested from the plant. The rate of the deteriorative reactions is dependent on intrinsic (compositional) and extrinsic (environmental) factors around the fruits and vegetables. The intrinsic factors are influenced by the cultivation, soil parameters and the practices adopted in their growing in open field or under protected cultivation. Among the extrinsic factors, the most important are temperature, relative humidity, composition of atmosphere, light intensity, water activity etc. The extrinsic factors can be controlled by providing controlled conditions in transportation and subsequent storage in cold storage. This book consists of four major parts. First part deals with post harvest physiology pre-cooling fruits and vegetables, handling and storage and various precooling methods of fruits and vegetables. Second part deals with fundamentals of air conditioning processes, load calculation, design of air conditioning equipment for cold storages including spray pond and fans. The transportation of fruits and vegetables and instrumentation and control systems for cold storage. Third part deals with Controlled Atmosphere Storages (CAS). Unsteady state mass balances for equilibrium conditions in CAS, equipment for generation of different gas regiemes and design of CAS structures. Fourth part deals with Modified atmospheric Packaging (MAP), MAP packaging materials, deteriorative reactions reaction kinetic and shelf life of packaged foods. This book brings all the important aspects of cold storages and cont.…