Mango cooling success brings repeat order
25th August 2024
GERMANY: Güntner has received a repeat order for air coolers and evaporative condensers after the equipment’s success in cooling a mango packing facility in Brazil.
Mangoes have been grown in Brazil since they were introduced by Portuguese traders in the 16th century. The country’s largest producer and exporter of the fruit, Agrodan, grows more than 70 million pounds of mangoes annually on its eight farms. It has designated a large portion of its land as a natural heritage reserve and has reforested an area of 8,000 hectares.
The company also has an environmental project to conserve native species of bees—which contribute to the natural pollination of mangoes—and more than 100 hives distributed across its farms. Energy comes from a solar plant, and two water treatment plants make it possible to recycle over 26,000 gallons a day.
In 2021, Güntner was approached to provide a cooling system for Agrodan’s new packing facility. The stipulation was that the mangoes should be cooled within six hours, with no damage to the fruit. This had to be done without moving or turning the pallets, and the air flow needed to be uniform across all of the pallets. The project had to be completed in record time; Agrodan required a finished installation in just 50 days.
The solution developed by Güntner’s Brazilian-based technical sales representative, Luciano Costa involved the installation of 10 Güntner Cubic Compact air coolers, together with an ECOSS G3 evaporative condenser. This was the first time a stainless steel cooling tower like Güntner’s had been used for such an application, as opposed to a traditional galvanised steel version.
“Agrodan wanted to have the latest cooling technology in their plant, and we satisfied that need,” Costa commented.
In addition, due to a reduced pressure drop with Güntner’s equipment, it was possible to reduce the number of compressors compared to the existing cooling system. As a result of using three compressors instead of four, there’s an energy saving of 25%.
A year after the project was satisfactorily completed, Agrodan decided to expand the packing facility, doubling it in size. Having been impressed by the previous installation, they returned to Güntner for ten more Cubic Compact air coolers and another ECOSS G3 evaporative condenser.
