FEATURE
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Role(s) of water
in refrigeration
By Charles Nicolson
A
lthough the three phases of water
have been involved in cooling
throughout our history, until less
than 200 years ago, water used for
refrigeration was virtually entirely in the
form of ice.
SOLID PHASE
If you were living in the US or one of the
other northern hemisphere countries such
as England or France during the period
from the start of the 19th century through
to the early 1900s, when you needed to
reduce the temperature of foodstuffs or to
cool drinks down to a few degrees above
zero, you would use ice. Depending on
your location, you might visit the local ice
shop or possibly even be expecting a daily
delivery of ice.
For over 100 years, blocks of ice cut out
from natural ice sources and further cut
into reduced sizes suitable for domestic
purposes and commercial businesses were
the main, and often the only means of
preserving food and perishables, usually in
heavy lead-lined cold box containers that
had to be thoroughly cleaned out between
successive loads of food and ice blocks.
During the first half of the 1800s,
refrigeration for the majority of domestic
users, as well as small and larger
commercial and industrial applications
such as food storage depots and
breweries, was provided by ice. In fact,
this period saw proliferation and growth
of ice providers particularly in the US
where supplying blocks of ice locally and
further afield expanded rapidly into a
substantial industry.
Two entrepreneurs, Frederick Tudor and
Nathaniel Wyeth of New England, saw a
huge potential for the ice business and
revolutionised the industry during the first
half of the 1800s. Tudor became known
as the ‘Ice King’ following his successes
in developing combinations of insulating
materials that enabled ice to be shipped
on a profitable commercial basis from
New England to tropical climates by
reducing losses due to melting from over
60% to less than 10%. Wyeth concentrated
on improving ways to cut and shape ice
blocks by managing the heavy manual
labour involved more efficiently as well
as improving storage, transportation, and
distribution with less waste.
The ice industry, primarily in the US but
also spreading to Europe, continued to
grow very quickly as more companies
entered the business. Ice prices
decreased as ice became more widely
available from competing suppliers.
In 1879, there were 35 commercial ice
plants in the US, more than 200 by 1800,
and reportedly at least 2 000 by 1910.
According to some reports, the market
in the US reached 15 million tons of ice in
the first decade of the 1900s.
However, from about 1870 onwards,
it became apparent that the ice being
harvested, sectioned, and transported
was not all clean and was beginning
to cause health problems. Suppliers
were, in fact, finding it more and more
difficult to find suitably clean sources of
accessible natural ice and by the 1890s,
increases in general pollution as well as
sewage dumping had
become threats not
only to further growth
but also to existing
market levels. The first
concerns regarding
unclean ice arose in
the brewing industry,
followed by the meat
-packing and dairy
industries. As more
frequent and serious
problems occurred,
demand grew for
refrigeration to be
generated on site.
CHARLES NICOLSON
Charles Nicolson has a physics and chemistry
degree from Natal University which he
subsequently put to good use by applying
speciality chemicals in mining and industrial
processes where water is a major factor.
This created an enduring interest in water
technology, a passion that expanded to
the HVAC industry in 1984 when he joined
BHT Water Treatment. Since then, water
technology in HVAC water circuits has
continued to be an abiding interest.
Women delivering ice in 1918 during the First
World War.
COLD LINK AFRICA • November/December 2018
We take a look at the usage (and history) of water in refrigeration systems, focusing
individually on each of the different phases of water: solid, liquid, and vapour.
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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