DSI report hints at potential

It says freezing of seafood i.e. shrimp in block or as Semi-IQF in Asia is a huge potential market with an enormous daily capacity of shrimps to be frozen in nearly every seafood plant in Asia.

The common and well-established double contact plate freezer is since many years / decades in the factories to freeze the high quality shrimps for consumers mainly in Japan / Europe and the US.

Refrigerent

The daily refrigerant quantity of either Freon (R22) or Ammonia (R717) is therefore huge, but necessary to freeze the i.e. shrimps very quickly by a low temperature. R22 is only in limited use in Europe and on the way out of the processing plants. R717 is still popular and the use of brine in a second stage of freezing is also a save.

In areas where the population is quite high and is mixed with industrial areas, the target will be to forbid the use of R717, due to the population is not accepting such dangerous refrigerant in living areas.

Due to European environmental rules and duties — the use of C02 i.e. in Europe will force the existing refrigerants in processing plants.

DSI (A/S DYBVAD STAAL INDUSTRI) a private owned “double contact plate freezer-manufacturer” — in the Northern part of Denmark looked deeper into this thematic of using other refrigerant. The company — which is by the way the today’s “plate-freezer-name-holder” of Gram freezer (Denmark) — tried as part of the core business to find a refrigerant which is faster, saver and lesser costly for the seafood factories around the world either onboard a fishing trawler or on land in a seafood or food factory.

Oldest

The search was not long — as the C02 refrigerant – is an existing one and the oldest refrigerant in the world.. Medio 2001 received DSI Denmark all type-approvals for manual vertical and horizontal plate freezer after one year of case work with the authorities.

Further in July 2001 bought A/S Dybvad Staal Industri the Italian competitor SAMIFI of York Refrigeration. Samifi proceed under DSI-SAMIFI-Italy.

York Marine made tests of C02 in August 2001 in former Samifi-vertical plate freezer

for special clients with interest in vertical and horizontal plate freezer with satisfied result.

An order was placed at DSI Denmark for 11 units of automatic vertical plate freezer-type DSI V20 – for C02 refrigerant.

Advantages

The big advantages of C02 refrigerant are:

* bigger freezing capacity per contact freezer

* reduction of freezing time up to 25%

* more production cycles per working day

* smaller refrigerant volume in freezer

* cheaper production costs per working day

* lower labour risk compared to R717

* bigger safety ness in production compared to R717

* more friendly for the environment compared to R22

* C02 is not flammable

* C02 can be used against fire fighting

* smaller header dimension of freezer

* better power factor (COP) compared to the refrigerant plant with R22 or R717 DSI has all necessary officials’ certificates and approvals for vertical and horizontal contact freezer for C02.

By writing the advantages, it is also necessary to explain the disadvantages, which are the following:

* Standard C02 plate freezer are higher in price as plate freezer for R22/R717

* Existing plate freezers can not be used for C02

* much higher pressure on the equipment