Cold Storage Industry in India: Krishna V. Jog

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Keynote presentation at conference of Refrigerated Warehouse & Transport Association of

Australia (RWTA), Melbourne, Australia. October 2004.
COLD STORAGE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

by
Krishna V. Jog
Head, Technology Cell,
Kirloskar Pneumatic Co.Ltd, Pune-411013, India.
e-mail: kvjog@vsnl.net, jogkv@pnq.kpcl.co.in
Abstract
India is relatively a large country of more than 4 million sqkm of land with a very large number of people
with diversified religions, castes, colour, art, history, culture, languages and has a strength in excess of 1
billion (100 crores) as per the last census. India accounts for nearly 17% of the world population. We
are the second largest in population in the world, second only to China. It is estimated that it would grow
upto 1.5 billion (150 crores) by the year 2040 and may become no.1 surpassing China.
Because of the large number of people, the resources for decent survival were not enough and the
country was not developed enough to look for artificial methods of preservation. Enough food was not
available and the available food was not reaching all the people when it was required.
Slowly the production went up, but the required infrastructure was not there in place. Over a period of
last 10-15 years the roads are getting developed, the railways have a very wide network, electricity and
water is being made available and the thoughts of food preservation have caught up.
A large number of cold storages have come up with heavy subsidies, loans and help from the co-
operatives and the Government. The old ones have been revamped, generators added to take care of
power cuts and the availability of foods by storages / cold storages / CA and MA storages are on the
increase.
Reliable Refrigeration machinery and plants are indigenously manufactured and expertise developed
which is also playing a leading role in the export of fruits / vegetables / meat / flowers etc. as well.
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1.0 Introduction
India is a big country with more than 29 states and 6 union territories. It has several
languages and several diversified cultures. It has unity in diversity of races and
religions. Few have lost their original identity and many have found a permanent place
in the world’s largest democracy.
Map of India (Fig.1) will briefly show its neighbours with Arabian sea on the west, Bay of
Bengal on the East and Indian Ocean on the South. The country has one of the largest
railway networks in the world (Fig.2). The Indian Railways provide the principal mode of
transportation for freight and passengers in the country.
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2.0 GQ Project
India has one of the largest Road Networks in the world aggregating to more than 3.5
million km. National Highways Development Project (NHDP), the largest infrastructure
development project undertaken in Independent India, envisages development of 14000
km of world class 4/6 lane Highways connecting all corners of the country. The project
known as GQ- Golden Quadrilateral is shown in Fig. 3. The GQ Project comprising
Delhi-Kolkata -Chennai -Mumbai – Delhi circuit of 5846 km length is almost complete.
3
North-South and East-West corridors involving a distance of 7300 km connecting

Kashmir with Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) and Silchar with Porbandar is expected to
be complete by 2007- two years ahead of schedule - A thing never heard in India
before. Ten major ports are getting connected by NHDP by 4 lane Roads.
Building Highways - Accelerating the pace in a big way. 4/6 lane National Highways
built between 1947 - 1997 only 556 km i.e. just 11.12 km per year. Now it is about 11
km / day.
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India also has the largest merchant shipping fleet among developing countries. With
the development of Railways, Roads and merchant shipping fleet, the movement of
fruits, vegetables and other products will improve tremendously. Farmers at various
nooks and corners of the country will be able to move their produce very quickly in an
economical manner. This will facilitate them to be transported in fresh state, suitable
for quick processing / grading / packing etc. in the cold storage environments of proper
temperature, humidity and / or proper controlled atmosphere (CA Storage).
3.0 India - An Agricultural Country
Agriculture is the major industry of India and about 70% of Indian Population is engaged
in activities connected to agriculture. The total agricultural output amounts to approx.
40% of the National Income. The country is producing in excess of 60 million tons of
fruits and vegetables per annum. Most of the agricultural produce is perishable in
nature and requires certain levels of temperature and humidity to hold the horticultural
produce in good condition for longer periods.
It is estimated that due to lack of proper facilities of transportation and storage, about
33% of produce, especially fruits and vegetables are wasted i.e. about 20 million tons or
200 lakh tons are wasted. During the peak harvesting season, excess produce gets
over flooded and many -a-times, due to lack of storage facilities – let alone cold storage
facilities- gets damaged and totally wasted, whereas an artificial scarcity gets developed
during non-harvesting periods and prices soar and many times, we have to import these
goods at exhorbitantly high prices which most of the people of India cannot afford and
have to starve.
The major important fruits and vegetables grown in India are:
Fruits - Apples, Mangoes, Grapes, Oranges, Bananas, Papaya,

Pomegranate, Litchi, etc.
Vegetables - Potato, Onion, Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower. Peas, Okra (Ladies
Finger), Garlic, Ginger, Brinjal (Egg Plant), Green Chilies etc.
Other important Dry Fruits, Fruit Juices, Chemicals, Dairy Products, Ice Creams,
Food items are Frozen meat, Sea foods like Shrimps, fish etc and eggs.
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4.0 Refrigeration Market Size
The total Refrigeration Market size is as shown below:
Market size of all cold storages is about 1250 million Ind. Rs. in 2003-2004 (which is
about US$ 28 m ) . Out of this the smaller capacity storages at Hotels, Restaurants,
airports, etc. account for about 2/3rds and 1/3rd for large cold storages ranging from 1000
tons to 10,000 tons of product (See Annexure-I).
4.1 Large Cold Storages
Almost 95 to 98% of these use R-717 (NH3) as refrigerant. Most of these use gravity
feed flooded systems or pump-circulation methods. Only very large capacity ones with
liquid pump circulation think of screw compressors. Majority of others go in for open
type Reciprocating ‘Kirloskar make ‘KC’ compressors of single stage or two stage
design depending on the evaporating temperatures required. A very large proportion of
these cold storages use only Kirloskar compressors although there are a small number
of other indigenous manufacturers who also manufacture recip compressors. Virtually,
‘Kirloskar’ KC Compressors are used not only in India but also in many other countries
such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Middle East and even in Australia. We are
the largest manufacturers of open reciprocating compressors in India.
The smaller capacity cold storages who use halocarbons as refrigerants mostly use R-
22 or in some very few cases, for imported units use HFC’s like R-404a
India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Although for
Onions and Mangoes it is the largest in the world. We will now consider some of the
main products for which there are a large number of cold storages. Even these are not
enough considering the annual production. Steps are being taken to increase the
number of storages and also do the upgradation of old storages with old technologies
with better engineering and retrofits of modern equipment.
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4.2 Potatoes
These are predominantly produced in various states as shown in Fig 4.
The production of Potatoes varied between 200 lakh tons to 250 lakh Tons p.a. from the
year 1992-93 to 1997-98. It may go upto about 300 lakh Tons (1 Lakh = 0.1 m or 10 L
= 1 m). The total cold store capacity in the country was for about 103 lakh tons
numbering 3443. Out of these about 2012 are for potatoes, 447 for multipurpose and
198 for fruits and vegetables and others for miscellaneous items.
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The commodity wise distribution of cold storages is as shown in fig.5
Considering the total cold storage capacity available and the increased production due
to increase in productivity etc., there is still a wide gap between production and cold
storage capacity. This results in severe losses to farmers due to inadequate storage
capacity. Steps are being taken to improve the infrastructure as well as to build
additional cold storage capacity by giving subsidies and tax concessions.
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4.3 Onions
India is the largest producer of onions in the world. Onion is an important vegetable
crop. It is available in plenty during the season and is very cheap and within reach of
poorest of the poor. It is grown mainly in the states of Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka,
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh as shown in Fig.
6.
The size of the Onion crop in a year depends upon weather conditions. It has been in
the range of 40 to 60 lakh tons about 5 years ago and is now expected to be about 70
lakhs tons due to increased productivity. In some years of excessive rains / scanty
rains / delayed rains the crop gets affected and results in low production or sometimes
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even after good production, because of lack of storage facilities it gets spoilt and then
prices shoot up beyond the reach of the common consumers. The 1997-98 year
showed an unprecedented hike and onions had to be imported from various countries at
a very high price. Hail storm and sudden drop in soil temperature affected the root
activity and bulb formation and hence acute shortage of the product.
Traditionally, onions are stored by conventional methods in various parts of the country.
These include hanging bunches along with top, storage in various types of godowns.
Some of these are provided with ventilation from side and bottom, so that heat
generated is not accumulated in the godown. The losses in weight due to shrinkage
varies from 10% to 35% due to drying, 10 to 12% by decay and 8 to 12% by sprouting
depending upon RH and temperature during the rainy season. The total loss varies
from 30% to as high as 56% depending on the type of storage construction used.
Refrigerated cold storages for onions are almost non-existent, but efforts in that
direction are being seriously now given.
The BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) Bombay has developed techniques of
irradiation of Onions and Potatoes by which the storage life can be extended
comparatively at higher temperatures even without refrigeration. This has however not
yet been used on a commercial scale.
4.4 Mangoes
Mango is the National Fruit of India. India is the largest producer of mangoes in the
world with more than 12 million tonnes of production per annum. There are a number of
various varieties-easily exceeding a thousand but the highest rated of them is the
popular Alphanso from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra – the birth place of the author of this
paper. The share of exports is less than 0.6 % of the global trade.
The scene, however, is changing for the better. There is a growing realization about
India’s advantage as a Mango producing country and an increasing urge to use these
advantages of high Quality, tastes and varities, to capture the global markets. It
accounts for more than 50% of world production.
4.5 Apples, Grapes, Oranges etc.
India is a major producer of these as well. There is a growing need to develop a

complete cold chain right from harvesting to exporting of these products. A large
number of pre-cooling units with required temperature and high humidity are already in
use for grapes. They reduce the shrinkage and weight loss to a mere 1% or less.
4.5.1 Cold Chains
These have already been established for flowers, meat, Ice Cream and a host of other
products. Cold storages with prefab panels have been installed at major airports in the
country. Container Corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR) is setting up a countrywide
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network of cold chain complexes to meet the requirements of quality fruits and
vegetables in the International and Domestic markets. It proposes to set up 14 such
complexes in different parts of the country. In the first phase, three such complexes
are coming up - one near Delhi, Bombay and Bangalore.
The CONCOR’s systems involve providing transportation of perishable products from

source to the end-user while maintaining the required temperatures all along the route.
4.6 Sea Food
Fish, shrimp and many other varities of seafood is caught in abundance along the
western coast and eastern coast totaling 7600-km as shown in the map.
Fig, 7 - Coastal areas.
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There are a number of seafoods processing units both for raw and pre-cooked near the
shores on land. The sea food is cleaned, graded, packed, blast frozen or frozen in
plate freezers and stored in frozen storages and used domestically or exported.
5.0 Refrigeration Systems and Equipment
We have so far discussed various fruits, vegetables, sea foods and other products
which are to be preserved in cold storages or frozen storages so that they can be made
available year-round and there is no scarcity of these at any time of the year thus
relieving us from the dependence of a particular season.
We will now look into the refrigeration system and equipment used to achieve these
desired temperatures and relative humidities.
As discussed, today the most common method of achieving these temperatures is by

using vapour compression systems. We have seen earlier that small cold storages are
generally using halocarbons mainly R-22 or sometimes R-134a or R-404a. The large
cold storages use Industrial systems with NH3 (R-717) as the refrigerant.
Almost 90% of these large systems use reciprocating compressors. Only the very
large ones use screw compressors with liquid ammonia pumping systems. Kirloskar is
the accredited packager of Howden (UK) compressors in India. We regularly use
Howden Screws on NH3 for all Industrial Refrigeration Projects including ice-cream
hardening, frozen storage etc. as used at Hindustan Lever Limited (HAL ) Nasik- Walls
Ice cream – near Pune- Kirloskar’s Head Quarters. A photo of this factory is as shown
in fig.8.
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Another picture of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) at Bangalore which uses
Howden Screws with liquid NH3 Pumping systems with Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) fully computer controlled and completely automatic operation is
shown in Fig,9
13
14
Fig.10 - Fig 11 MDFL Delhi (Mother Dairy)
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Fig. 9 NDDB
5.1 India’s Largest Compressor Manufacturer
Kirloskar Pneumatic has been manufacturing the K-110 / KC Reciprocating Open Type
Compressors for the last 40 years. These are available both in single stage and two
stage versions and have from a minimum of 2 to maximum of 12 cylinders. These
can be used for NH3 / R-22 or other common HFC’s. The maximum speed of these
compressors is 1000 RPM. A typical single stage and two stage compressor is as
shown in Fig,.12 and Fig.13
Fig. 12 - Single Stage KC Fig. 13 -Two Stage KC
5.1.1 Reciprocating Compressors
The recips have multiple cylinders and have various steps of unloading. The loading /
unloading of cylinders is achieved automatically depending on the load of the system. If
part load in between the two steps of certain number of cylinder is required the same
can be achieved by using a hot gas bypass system. This is very commonly used
particularly for refrigerants like (NH3) ammonia.
The reciprocating systems have good COP and may even be better than the screws in
many cases particularly for low – temperature refrigeration systems. Many-a-times,
screws are selected on the basis of so-called, better power consumption but in reality
the recips are found to be more efficient and consume less power than the screws
particularly at evaporating temperatures of -30°C or lower. Typical IPLV at ARI
Standard conditions both for screws and recips are as shown in fig.14.
16
Fig. 14 Typical IPLV
Another comparison of part load performance of piston (recips) compressors and screw
compressors is as shown in fig.15.
17
Another independent source ref. “Cold and Chilled Storage Technology” Edited by
C.V.J.Dellino published by Blackie and Sons Ltd. Glasgow have made the comparison
of COP at part load conditions as shown in fig.16 for reciprocating screw and
centrifugal.
Fig. 17 Part Load Compressor Performance
18
If the effect of other ancillaries in the system is considered the part load curve varies as
shown in fig.15.
Fig.15 - Part Load System Performance
The compressor performance and hence power cost, is only a part of the total
ownership cost of a refrigeration system. The minimum cost can only be achieved by
good system design and by maintaining the actual logs at the design level conditions
and by taking all corrective actions such as, cleaning of condenser tubes / cooling tower
circuit, cleaning of choked filters, choked nozzles etc. maintaining proper refrigerant
levels in heat exchangers, degree of superheat, degree of subcooling, pressure drops
etc. within limits.
Most of the systems thus continue to use the most trusted open reciprocating
compressors on NH3 as refrigerant.
5.1.2 Faster Pull Down
Low temperature applications such as, plate freezers, Blast freezers, Frozen storages
etc. essentially require compressors to be selected at low evaporating temperatures at
-30°C to -40°C or -45°C or lower. For these conditions, either booster systems or two
stage compound compressors can be selected. In India most selections use internally
compounded 2 stage compressors like KC-51, KC-42, KC-72, KC-63 or KC-102 or KC-
93 etc. All these represent two stage models. The first digit represents the Low stage
cylinders and the second digit shows the High stage cylinders. Thus a model KC-51
and KC-42 is a 6 cylinder model which would become KC-6 if it were a single stage
compressor.
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When we start the system from ambient pull-down conditions, the compressor will work
as a high stage compressor only. When the system achieves temperature of around -
15°C, it can be operated as a two-stage system. Various steps of loading are given in
the compressor manual. The two stage KC-51 compressor will operate as KC-1 with
only one cylinder till the temperature comes down. If we select KC-42 and start the
compressor it can be made to work as KC-2 compressor by taking care of oversizing
the condenser and motor kW suitably. This will give rise to a faster pull down.
Depending upon the requirements of initial cooling i.e. the extent of room size, load,
brine tank reservoir size etc. and how often this takes place, it may be worthwhile to
design the system right at the beginning for a faster pull down. It will be difficult or
sometimes impossible to incorporate these changes in the field for achieving faster pull
downs once the systems are charged with the refrigerant and commissioned. It is
necessary to visualize these right at the design stage so that we get quick cooling of a
product in stipulated time periods. The quality of the product to be frozen depends on
the speed at which this takes place and the time it requires so that the product is quickly
frozen and can be kept for a period of 8 months or longer in a frozen storage room
without affecting its overall quality and texture.
6.0 Automation and IT applications
Most of the modern cold storages are being planned for more and more automation.
Mechanical equipment like Pressure Gauges, Thermometers, Physical logbooks etc.
are being replaced with micro process controls and transducers and automatic
recorders. The Information Technology, with suitable fully computerized and proper
softwares are being developed and used. But many small cold storages still heavily
depend on old manual labour.
7.0 Conclusions
There is an awareness amongst the Government and the common people, that not only
we must increase the production of foodstuff, but preserve it and distribute it properly to
a common man in the country. This is possible only by developing the infrastructure of
railways, Roads and Merchant shipping. Required Electric power must be generated
and in case of power interruptions or failures a back up with generators be kept ready
as stand by so that tons of products stored in a cold storages do not get damaged and
wasted. People have realized that they cannot survive with strikes and must be
prepared to do hard work. Wealth cannot be distributed unless it is created. We see a
bright future for India not only in IT sector but all walks of life and Kirloskars have been
playing that role for over a century in India and the Globe. A time will come when all the
controls will become wireless and can be operated automatically from a remote place.
8.0 Acknowledgments
The author is thankful to Mr.Aditya Kowshik of Kirloskar Pneumatic Co. Ltd and Mr.
John Mignano of Lu-Ve Contardo Pacific Pty. Ltd, Australia for their encouragement and
20
sponsorship. The author wishes to thank Mr.Hiru Jhangiani, Editor of ISHRAE Journal,
Bombay for his valuable help and guidance.
9.0 References
1. Report of the High Level Expert Committee on Cold Storage and Storage -
Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, Feb.1999.
2. Agree Business and Food Industry Vol.I, Issue 3 Nov. 2003 Published by MB
Naqvi on behalf of Media Today Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India.
3. Advantages of Open Recip.Compressors by K V Jog, Air Conditioning and

Refrigeration Journal – Ishrae Mumbai Chapter Vol.7 No.1 Jan – March 2004
4. Recent Trends in Cold Storage Practice by K V Jog Paper presented at IIT

Kanpur in December 1968 on The Cold Storage Industry.
5. Cold and Chilled Storage Technology Edited by Clive V J Dellino Published by

Blackie and Son Ltd. Glasgow, U.K.
6. Rama - Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Manufacturers Association

website: www.ramaindia.org.
7. Industrial Refrigeration – Principles, Design and Applications by P.C.Koelet with

T B Gray, 1992 Published by Marcel Dekker Inc. New York, USA.
8. York International’s published paper in HVAC&R Engg.Update Chiller Efficiency,

Recip better Than Most Screws 2001.
21

Cold Storage Industry in India: Krishna V. Jog

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This watermark does not appear in the registered version - http://www.clicktoconvert.

Keynote presentation at conference of Refrigerated Warehouse & Transport Association of

COLD STORAGE INDUSTRY IN INDIA

e-mail: kvjog@vsnl.net, jogkv@pnq.kpcl.co.in

North-South and East-West corridors involving a distance of 7300 km connecting

3.0 India - An Agricultural Country

The major important fruits and vegetables grown in India are:

Fruits - Apples, Mangoes, Grapes, Oranges, Bananas, Papaya,

4.0 Refrigeration Market Size

The total Refrigeration Market size is as shown below:

4.1 Large Cold Storages

These are predominantly produced in various states as shown in Fig 4.

The commodity wise distribution of cold storages is as shown in fig.5

4.5 Apples, Grapes, Oranges etc.

India is a major producer of these as well. There is a growing need to develop a

4.5.1 Cold Chains

The CONCOR’s systems involve providing transportation of perishable products from

4.6 Sea Food

Fig, 7 - Coastal areas.

5.0 Refrigeration Systems and Equipment

As discussed, today the most common method of achieving these temperatures is by

Fig.10 - Fig 11 MDFL Delhi (Mother Dairy)

Fig. 12 - Single Stage KC Fig. 13 -Two Stage KC

5.1.1 Reciprocating Compressors

Fig. 14 Typical IPLV

Fig. 17 Part Load Compressor Performance

Fig.15 - Part Load System Performance

5.1.2 Faster Pull Down

6.0 Automation and IT applications

3. Advantages of Open Recip.Compressors by K V Jog, Air Conditioning and

4. Recent Trends in Cold Storage Practice by K V Jog Paper presented at IIT

5. Cold and Chilled Storage Technology Edited by Clive V J Dellino Published by

6. Rama - Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Manufacturers Association

7. Industrial Refrigeration – Principles, Design and Applications by P.C.Koelet with

8. York International’s published paper in HVAC&R Engg.Update Chiller Efficiency,

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