Ethylene distribution and ventilation strategies of apple cold storage

Abstract

Ethylene is a kind of plant hormone that may affect storage quality of fruit and corresponding ventilation strategies of cold storage. The purpose of this study was to explore the emission characteristics of ethylene and put forward ventilation strategies to reduce ethylene concentration. A real 230 t cold store for apples in Fufeng County of China was taken as the research object, Gas Chromatograph analysis (GC analysis) was applied to test ethylene concentration in the cold room, it was found that the indoor ethylene release rate peak appeared at 70 d. A 3-D, unsteady, incompressible and viscous numerical calculation model was developed and the component transport model was applied to numerically study the complicated phenomenon of heat transfer and mass transfer in the cold storage room. The results show that the ethylene concentration formed a tendency of diffusion from the apple zone to the air zone, and the highest ethylene concentration did not appear in the center of the apple zone, but appeared near the bottom of the apple zone. Furthermore, the air cooler was recommended to be running during ventilation for shorter ventilation time of 40 min and better temperature stability for cold storage.