4rd Edition Refrigeration Conference

Each year, approximately a third of food is wasted worldwide. From storage, to processing, packaging and handling, more than 600 trillion kcal are lost in the supply chain. Additionally, some of the biggest challenges in the cold supply chain faced by Bahrain include traffic delays, temperature abuse, mechanical breakdowns, human error and inadequate food storage.

Furthermore, the successful phasing out ozone-depleting substances (ODS) led to a shift towards hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Though they represent a small fraction of the current total of all greenhouse gases, their emissions are projected to increase nearly twentyfold in the coming decades, mostly due to increased demand for refrigeration and air conditioning.

With the Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol – an international effort to phase down the HFCs – approaching a necessity for a major modernisation in the refrigeration system is required.

The challenges facing the industry include:

• The effect of power outages on climate control in cold storage facilities
• Energy consumption strategies onsite and in transportation
• The environmental issues associated with HFCs and the legal requirements of the phase down leading up to the 2024 freeze date
• Upholding food safety procedures in safe storage of fresh and frozen food products
• Time & temperature deviations, delay in product handover and related problems in refrigerated transportation

To addressthese challenges, Technical Review Middle East is hosting the 4th Edition Refrigeration Conference from 25-26 March 2019 in Manama, Bahrain, highlighting refrigeration and air-conditioning challengesfaced by allstakeholders along the value chain.

Cutting-edge technologies that will be discussed include:

• Future trends in commercial refrigeration
• Carbon dioxide (CO2), as a solution for the Kigali Amendment
• Advantageous backup power storage units – Gensets, solar panels and batteries
• Optimal energy saving technologies for cold storage
• Effective food safety strategies in cold supply chain, such as real-time temperature monitoring systems and user-friendly software for shelf-life modelling

• The Montreal Protocol (Kigali Amendment 2016)
• Natural refrigerants in the environmental spotlight
• Backup storage power (onsite and in transportation)
• Remote control in the cold chain supply
• Optimal energy saying in the food transport system
• Climate control for the safe storage of perishables
• New technological movement in refrigeration