Renewable Heat for the Fulfillment of the Cooling Demand in the Fruit and Vegetable Processing and Preserving Industries in the Intensive Agriculture: A Case Study in Southern Spain
Abstract
The energy demand of post-harvest processing in fruit and vegetable packhouses and logistic centres (FVPLC) in those locations where, as it occurs in certain areas in Southern Spain, these facilities and greenhouses co-exist in a dense and interconnected environment constitutes an interesting field for the application of renewable sources because the availability, and conscious management, of solar radiation, necessary for driving the intensive food production into the greenhouses, and the availability of biomass both in the form of farms plant wastes and, eventually, in the form energy crops. In this work, it is analyzed a case study consisting of the fulfillment of energy requirements of the cold stores that are part of these facilities using thermally driven absorption devices feed by both renewable options, solar and biomass. On this basis, regional and facility level cooling loads have been evaluated and used as input for the calculation of the following indexes under different scenarios: annual energy consumption, specific energy consumption for cooling and CO2 emissions.