Goossens Flevoplant: cooling strawberry plants
Nijssen have recently supplied two Filacell units for installation into the existing cooling facilities at Goossens Flevoplant. The Filacell air handling units are used to quickly cool down the wooden containers in which the strawberry plants are delivered, by means of a forced air system with a high humidity.
"By installing the Filacell units we have made a significant improvement in quality," said director Jos Goossens. Early in the morning the strawberry plants are dug up including its soil and sorted into cubic containers. Every cooling facility offers enough space for around 200 crates, each weighing 300 to 400 kg. The Filacell air handling units, running on Freon R407C DX as refrigerant, has a cold nominal capacity of just 48 kW. Every hour, 24,000m3 of humid air is blown through these crates. The product cools down from +7 to -12°C, within 24-36 hours, with an end temperature of +1°C in the core.
Safe and fast
The Nijssen Filacell system stands apart and is widely recognised as the safest and fastest cooling system in the world. It cools and humidifies the air simultaneously using cold water, therefore, expelled air can never be lower than 0°C. On top of this, the system contains an internal ice store and large cold buffer which ensures products are quickly chilled. Thanks to the optimum heat transfer between water and air, humidity remains around 99% without any moisture lost, condensation or freezing of the product.
Forced Air Cooling System
The units are placed in close collaboration with Goossens Flevoplant's inhouse installers. Nijssen have given advice over positioning and sizing of every pre-cool wall to optimise the cooling process. For each extraction wall there are three inlets and the edges are sealed with foam pads. The location of the openings depends on the cubic container's measurements. The pre-cooling walls are installed by third parties after the Filacell system was placed.
Additional fans
Additional axial fans were mounted on both sides of the Filacell unit, for support during the pre-cooling process. They create more underpressure, and force the airflow through the boxes of strawberry plants.
Quality improvement made
"By installing the Filacell units we have improved quality," said director Jos Goossens. "We can cool the strawberry plants a lot faster without any risk of moisture loss. This system represents a vast improvement to our old cold storage system."
