Freezing - CryoSOL
CryoSOL is a specific line of technologies, products and services developed by SOL that can offer a complete answer to the requirements of operators in the food sector for low-temperature cryogenic applications and in particular for cooling and freezing.
Perishable food products have always been conserved using low temperatures: the inhibition of microbiological activity at temperatures below zero centigrade is still today a very widespread technology. Freezing or cryogenic cooling of food uses nitrogen or carbon dioxide in a liquid state, using the frigorie in the cryogenic gas liquefied at very low temperatures. Heat exchange with the product to be frozen occurs by direct contact and the used gas, once it has given up its frigorie is liberated into the atmosphere, since it is a natural constituent of the air.
Freezing with cryogenic gases is one of the best methods for freezing foods, both because of the speed of freezing, and hence the very short working time required, both for the lower investments required to use it. The high concentration of frigorie per unit of gas, provided at a temperature of -196°C for liquid nitrogen and -78°C for liquid carbon dioxide, permits extremely rapid cooling (in just a few minutes) for most food products; this makes it possible to maintain the taste of the foods substantially unaltered compared with other methods of cooling such as freezing with conventional frigorie systems.
This high freezing speed also makes it possible to transform the water content of the food into micro-crystals, limiting weight loss compared with traditional air freezing systems and guaranteeing better product quality when the food is thawed.
CryoSOL freezing tunnels use the SOL patent that optimises gas and electrical consumption, permitting effective savings (of the order of tens of percentage points) compared with similar freezing systems with cryogenic gases.