Energy Conversion and Management, Vol.44, No.4, 559-571, 2003
Technical and economical model for the freezing cost comparison of immersion, cryomechanical and air blast freezing processes
This paper presents a detailed calculation model able to evaluate and compare the technical and economic aspects of different freezing techniques (immersion, air blast and cryomechanical freezing). This model relies on both established thermodynamic rules and also on an expert study of the specific technical parameters of the freezing techniques with respect to the product behaviour. It provides a detailed stage-by-stage overview of the effective costs: investment costs, operational costs (human resource costs) and specific costs of each process (such as brine regeneration and cryogen loss). The results are in good agreement with existing data, and complete them.