The challenge 

In the event of a change to production requirements or a rise in external temperatures, these blast, shock or tunnel freezers can be prone to delays in reaching or maintaining their target operating temperature – particularly with longer batch runs. This, in turn, can compromise productivity and adversely impact the quality of foods as they are exposed to warmer temperatures for extended times. 

Mechanical blast or shock freezers can struggle to reach their target operating temperature in an acceptable amount of time due to inadequate refrigeration capacity. This is often difficult to address, since replacing the freezer or upgrading the refrigeration system can be expensive and require downtime.  Spiral and tunnel freezers can struggle to maintain target temperature as production throughput increases or external temperature increases. This often leads to lower productivity as food manufacturers look to minimise the impact on food quality.

How mechanical freezer boosting works

Mechanical freezer boosting uses a supplemental system of heat exchanger coils that are installed onto existing mechanical freezers. These coils use liquid nitrogen (rather than ammonia or freon) as the refrigerant which allows them to remain compact in size while delivering substantial additional refrigeration capacity. 

The coils are small enough to fit within/ be mounted on existing spiral, tunnel or blast freezers. Liquid nitrogen then travels through a closed-loop pipeline as it is conveyed to the coils from a storage tank. The nitrogen gas is vented safely to the outdoor atmosphere.

BOC's mechanical freezer boosting solution, NITROBOOST^TM, enables processors to keep products within specific temperature ranges and avoid the need to reduce freezer loading or operate additional hours or shifts.