Refrigeration&Freezing SOLUTIONS
CASE STUDY CANNEBERGES BÉCANCOUR AARON HAND | EXECUTIVE EDITOR
CO2 Refrigeration Helps Cranberry Processor Overcome Logistics Challenges Developing a freezing facility to support its original processing plant, the cranberry grower wanted something that was energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and easy to operate. The system calls on food retail experience to provide the best industrial solution.
W
ITH A TYPICAL HARVEST period of just four to six weeks in late fall, Canneberges Bécancour has to take advantage of every day available. In fact, it’s one of the most productive cranberry farms in North America, processing about a half million pounds of cranberries a day during the harvest season. But it’s also important that Canneberges Bécancour make haste in getting those cranberries out to customers from its farm and processing plant in the Bois Franc region of Quebec, Canada. “Once harvested, cranberries need to be delivered over significant distances in a short time frame,” says Bob Hampson, one of Canneberges Bécancour’s founding partners. “Unfrozen cranberries that face long transit times can pose serious challenges and risks to the distributors.” Because of this, Canneberges Bécancour called years later on Hampson—who had sold the cranberry business back in 2009—to help develop a freezing facility to support the original 17,000-sq-ft processing plant. Hampson drew on his experience with his family-owned cold storage business, working together with Luc Decubber, Canneberges Bécancour’s general manager, to decide on a refrigeration system, and then eliciting help from Carnot Refrigeration to develop a system with optimum efficiency. “If the berries could be frozen at the site of harvest before they are shipped across North America, the logistics become much more manageable and the risk is significantly reduced,” Hampson says.
Energy efficiency and environmental benefits As they considered a refrigeration system, Hampson and Decubber focused on three key considerations: The system could not use halocarbons, it could not use ammonia, and it needed to be able to run without skilled refrigeration operators. “We did not feel as though halocarbons were a good choice for the environment or atmosphere,” Hampson says. “Plus, practically speaking, given the global polit-
PHOTO COURTESY OF DANFOSS
With about 80 cranberry bogs, Canneberges Bécancour processes about a half million pounds of cranberries per day during a typical harvest.
ical pressure to eliminate them, it didn’t make good business sense to use them in this new facility.” Ammonia is a more environmentally friendly and efficient material, but Hampson and Decubber were concerned that even a small leak could ruin an entire crop of cranberries—as much as 25 million pounds at its peak. “Additionally, the town fathers were averse to the construction of an ammonia facility,” Hampson adds. An ammonia/CO2 system was considered early on. However, in addition to the local restrictions on ammonia, it was a prohibitively complex system. Canneberges Bécancour wanted something simpler to operate. System requirements included 100% CO2 refrigeration; 400 tons of refrigeration (TR), primarily freezers; www.profoodworld.com
0621_R+F_CaseStudy.indd 71
| June 2021 | PROFOOD WORLD
71
5/27/21 10:09 AM
