Recent developments in solar-powered refrigeration systems and energy storage methods for on-farm preservation of fruits and vegetables

Abstract

There is a strong demand for food and energy security to attain sustainable development in developing countries. Solar refrigeration systems (SRS) offer a crucial solution for reducing fruit and vegetable (F&V) loss and addressing energy and environmental challenges. Solar energy has the potential to decentralize cold storage operations for F&V preservation significantly reducing the carbon footprint. This paper aims to provide the fundamental concept and principle of different solar refrigeration technologies and eco-friendly energy storage methods for F&V preservation. It presents a detailed review of past efforts on solar cooling systems, development, and application for F&V storage. This study reviews various research articles in the field of solar cooling systems and their integration with cold thermal energy storage (CTES) performance studies for F&V preservation reported. Solar cold storage systems are classified into solar thermal, solar evaporative, and solar electric refrigeration systems. SRS adoption can prevent CO2 emission rate by 0.784 0.784KgCO2/kWh during F&Vs preservation. Solar PV vapour compression systems are simple, require less maintenance, and present higher COP than other systems. Additionally, Solar thermoelectric, evaporative, and single-effect absorption systems presented COP less than 1. The integration of cold thermal energy storage with a solar refrigeration system (SRS) will be the next-generation alternative for battery-based backup, which has the potential to run the system at low cost and net-zero carbon emission-based F&V storage. CTES is classified into latent and sensible heat-based energy storage. Latent heat storage systems store the cold energy 10–15 times greater than sensible heat storage system.