Japan-based system manufacturer Takahashi Manufacturing exhibited its transcritical CO2 Sigma-300 Freezer system at the FOOMA Japan 2018 exhibition being held in Tokyo, Japan from 12-15 June.
The firm joins several other Japanese OEMs who offered CO2-based solutions for the food manufacturing and processing industry in Japan.
Takahashi Manufacturing President Tomokazu Naruta told this website that CO2 is being seen more and more as a sustainable alternative to traditional Freon gas-based freezing and refrigeration solutions in the industrial food manufacturing and processing sector.
“Tunnel freezers,” Naruta said, “until now have used Freon gas-based freezing systems. But in recent years, there has been a fast-growing need for natural refrigerant systems”.
Naruta explained that the growing use of CO2 in the cold storage industry is translating into growing awareness of the technology’s potential in the food processing industry.
“Even though the use of CO2 systems has been increasing with smaller-sized retailers, industrial food processing facilities need larger-sized systems,” said Naruta.
“So, in the beginning it was difficult to suggest using these natural refrigerant systems. However, awareness of natural refrigerant systems has since increased among the cold storage industry. That’s why now we are promoting the use of CO2-based systems.”
Naruta is confident that demand for the system will continue to grow, saying that the number of delivered units “has been increasing every year until now so we expect this to continue into the future”.
In addition, Naruta said, “we have decided that our salespeople would only suggest natural refrigerant-based systems to all our customers”.
About FOOMA Japan 2018
The International Food Machinery & Technology Exhibition (FOOMA JAPAN) is one of the largest exhibitions in Asia for food machinery and food processing technologies. Over 700 companies and close to 100,000 people attend each year.
Takahashi Manufacturing President Tomokazu Naruta explains the growing use of CO2 in the food processing industry in Japan:
