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New food freezing concept improves quality, increases safety and cuts energy use:
"A complete change over to this new method of food freezing worldwide could cut energy use by as much as 6.5 billion kilowatt-hours each year while reducing the carbon emissions that go along with generating that power by 4.6 billion kg, the equivalent of removing roughly one million cars from roads," said ARS research food technologist Cristina Bilbao-Sainz. She is with the Healthy Processed Foods Research Unit, part of ARS's Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) in Albany.
"These savings could be achieved without requiring any significant changes in current frozen food manufacturing equipment and infrastructure, if food manufacturers adopt this concept," Bilbao-Sainz added.
The new freezing method, called isochoric freezing, works by storing foods in a sealed, rigid container -- typically made of hard plastic or metal -- completely filled with a liquid such as water. Unlike conventional freezing in which the food is exposed to the air and freezes solid at temperatures below 32 degrees F, isochoric freezing preserves food without turning it to solid ice.
As long as the food stays immersed in the liquid portion, it is protected from ice crystallization, which is the main threat to food quality.
[...] Another benefit of isochoric freezing is that it also kills microbial contaminants during processing.
Journal Reference:
Analysis of global energy savings in the frozen food industry made possible by transitioning from conventional isobaric freezing to isochoric freezing, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111621)
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @12:24AM (6 children)
Another Green Scam (tm)
Some non-paywalled stuff on the tech: https://peerj.com/articles/3322/ [peerj.com]
The tiny but relevant detail omitted in TFA is that the "sealed, rigid container" has to withstand the pressure of 2.000 atmospheres.
One can reliably expect, on unsealing the container, an unscheduled rapid disassembly of the content and whoever does the unsealing.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @12:35AM (3 children)
Not quite. At -3C (around 26F) the pressure requirement is a relatively mild 300 atmospheres. A few centimetres of appropriately shaped, high grade steel will do the job just fine (assuming no pressure/release fatigue cycle problems to worry about). Also, when you release, while you could get splashy the actual volume alteration is very slight. It's more like a hydraulic cylinder that really, really wants to move that extra tenth of an inch, compared to a pneumatic cylinder that will send its working end flying the moment you release it.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday September 05 2021, @08:44AM (1 child)
But frozen food is not at -3°C (well, technically, at that temperature it is already frozen, but it won't do much for long-time preservation). More like -18°C.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @08:48PM
I suspect that the difference in energy cost between mild freezes and deep is part of the intended savings.
Not that it matters. 300 atmospheres is already a savage pressure to maintain for any length of time. Not to mention pressure cycles affecting vessel lifespan.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @09:58AM
That’s considerably more pressure than a SCUBA tank holds. I suspect that they are underestimating the challenges involved in making a safe, production-ready system to do this.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @11:02AM (1 child)
Found the Trumptard. God, SoylentNews is turning into the cesspool that is Slashdot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 05 2021, @07:10PM
Yeah, basic physics is Another Republican Conspiracy against the honest artsy-educated lefties.
This is what happens when "Science" becomes an idol's name, for ignorant self-ordained priesthood to offer sacrificed heathens to, and do cute virtue-signalling dances around. All the artsy leftie thingys that are so very much easier to do for the artsy leftie types, than wrapping their tiny leftie brains around a single bit of that cold, unforgiving, hard scientific knowledge.
Bon voyage back to barbarism.