The art of air blast freezing: Design and efficiency considerations

Air blast freezing is a common freezing technique used throughout the world to freeze various food commodities from carcasses to packaged goods. The New Zealand Cold Storage industry identified blast freezing as the most energy intensive operation in the frozen food storage industry, consuming 8.1 GWh of electricity in New Zealand in 2005. This paper presents an overview of various types of blast freezers, their common design flaws, common energy saving measures and a best practice guide. A simulation model has also been presented to predict the performance and to design an optimal system under range of operating conditions.