-
Modification And Performance Evaluation Of A Cold Room Storage Structure
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 2]
Page 1 of 2
-
-
-
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Fruits and vegetables are of great nutritional value. They are important sources of vitamins and minerals thus, essential components of human diet. Consequent upon this, there had been increased trade or commerce activities surrounding these commodities. Vegetable production forms a substantial percentage about 25% of the major food crops cultivated in the tropics and so it is the source of livelihood for a considerable section of the population (Idah, 2007).
Fruits and vegetables in their fresh forms contain high percentage of water. They are living and hence carry out their physiological function of respiration thereby absorbing and releasing gases and other materials from and to their environment. These activities lead to their deterioration in transit and storage, which is more rapid under conditions of high temperature and humidity. As a result, heavy losses are encountered in these produce. Fruit and vegetable are generally classified as perishable crop if not quickly preserved when harvest they shrivel wither or rot away rapidly especially under hot condition. Highly perishable ones likes’ leafy vegetables, tomatoes asparagus etc. even in storage have a recommended refrigeration storage life of less than one week (Ndukwu, 2011).
Fruit and vegetable are fundamentally different from most other produce which is sold stored in the fresh (unfroze) state in that they are living they respires thus suitable ventilation must be provided. During cold storage they undergo characteristic change of senescence and of ripening of fruit (Cantwell, 2001).
Storage has been developed to ensure the supply of an agriculture product to consumers with minimized quality degradation. Orderly marketing of perishable commodities often requires some storage to balance day- to- day fluctuation between product harvest and sales or for long term storage to extend market period. (Tripath and Bhat 2000).
Cold room storage generally tends to depict the views and ideas of a system that embarks on a continual extraction of heat from its body whose temperature is already below its surrounding temperature. Thus, refrigeration inevitably is the only means of preserving food in its original freshness. (Ugwuet al, 2012).
1.2 Problem Statement
Lack of storage facilities is one of the major challenges facing perishable produce in Nigeria and result in higher post-harvest losses. Temperature plays an important role in post-harvest handling of perishable produce since it affect most of the enzymatic reaction in harvesting produce cause an increase in the rate of deterioration processing. Cooling of perishable product immediately after harvest and maintain the cold chain along the supply chain is key in slowing down the deteriorative process hence there is a need to develop a cold room that will reduce deterioration of fruits and vegetable and extend their shelf life.
1.3 Aim and Objective of the Project Work
The aim of the study is to enhance good storage facilities for fruits and vegetables under a cold room storage structure in order to prolong their shelf life and retain the quality of this perishable product for a specific period of time.
The specific objectives:
(i) To modify a cold room storage structure.
(ii) To install temperature and relative humidity controller and change some component parts of the cold storage.
(iii) To evaluate its performance on selected fruits and vegetables in terms of cooling rates, physiological weight loss, colour changes and firmness
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 2]
Page 1 of 2
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACTÂ Â Â The cold storage structure was modified and evaluated for the storage of fruits and vegetables at the department of agricultural and bio-environment engineering of Kwara State polytechnic, Ilorin; the cold storage structure consists of the following components; compressor, evaporator, condenser, accumulator, dryer, etc. the variable factors are temperature and relative humidity. The cold storage structure was tested with the following fruits; watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes and app ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]APPENDIX B: RAW VALUES OBTAINED FROM PHYSIOLOGICAL WEIGHT LOSS4.2 Output Parameters Result ... Continue reading---
LIST OF TABLES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF TABLESTABLESDescription2.1 General problems of each fruits and vegetables group at each handling3.1 Bill of engineering measurement and evaluation ( BEME)4.1 Average weight and temperature of samples both in cold storage and ambient condition4.2 Average value of physiological weight loss of samples4.3 Data obtained from cold storage and ambient temperature against time ... Continue reading---
LIST OF FIGURES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]LIST OF FIGURESFIGURES                        Description4.1 Effect of weight loss on daily time for okro4.2 Effect of weight loss on daily time for pear4.3 Effect of weight loss on daily time for water leaf4.4 Effect of weight loss on daily time for bell pepper4.5 Effect of temperature against time interval in the cold storage and under ambient condition   ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle Page                              Certification Dedication Acknowledgement Abstract Table of ContentCHAPTER ONE:   INTRODUCTION1.1    Background of the Study                        1.2    Problems Statement 1.3    Aims and objective of the project 1.4    Justification of the Project 1.5    The Scope of the Project Work CHAPTER TWO:   LITERATURE REVIEW2.1    ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER TWO - [ Total Page(s): 5 ]CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW2.1   Development of Cold Room Structure for fruit and Vegetables   Refrigerant and cooling of perishable food product is an important and fascinating area of application of heat transfer and thermodynamic. Refrigerant slow down the chemical and biological processing in foods the accompanying deterioration and the loss of quality. Cooling is defined as decrease in temperature of a substance or medium below its temperature of its environment. (Abubakar 2006) re ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 6 ]CHAPTER THREEMATERIALS AND METHOD3.1 Modified Area on the cold Storage.    The following areas were modified on the cold storage structure in order to improve its performance. i.   Compressor: the existing compressor was 1.5hp and was replaced with 2.0hp to improve the capacity of the evaporator ii.   Capacitor: 30uf capacitor was replaced with 50uf capacitor to enhance the effectiveness of the 2.0hp compressor. iii.   Condenser: 0.5hp condenser was added to the existing 2.0hp ma ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 5 ]The result obtained from the effect of weight loss on daily time for bell Pepper, it was revealed that the rate weight loss under ambient condition is high the rate of weight loss in the cold storage structure is low.The result shows that the temperature in the cold storage decrease with time interval while the ambient temperature very with time interval depending to the atmospheric condition.Cooling rate:- this is determine by plot of temperature against time. ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]CHAPTER FIVECONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION5.1    CONCLUSION   A cold storage system was modified for performance and the following conclusion were drawn;   The percentage weight loss (PWL) varied between 0 – 41.7% . Maximum weight loss was found in ambient condition where as minimum (0.06%) was found in the cold storage system. The percentage weight loss was found increased with increase in storage period for both cold storage system and ambient condition,   The minimum tem ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]REFERENCESAbubakar(2006) Storage Crops Require low Temperature and Humidity (80 to 90) Adebayo, M. F. (2015). Modification and Performance Evaluation of a Cold Room Storage Structure. Unpublished HND project, Department of Agric Engineering, Kwara State Polytechnic, IlorinAdebisi et al,(2009) Evaporative Cooling for the Storage of Fruit and Vegetable.Adewumi (2013) Temperature Affecting Performance of Cold Storage System.Anon, A. (2000).Recommendation for Chilled of Perishable Produce Internatio ... Continue reading---
