On November 26, Air Water announced that it developed a rapid cooling system of fruits and vegetables utilizing the liquid nitrogen cooling/heating system and extremely low-temperature technologies. Utilizing the system, Air Water is going to maintain freshness for longer time, enhance the added value of foods and vegetables as well as to cut down food wastes.

In order to preserve fresh foods and vegetables, it is important to quickly chill them after harvesting to control their respiration. To this end, some well-equipped production areas provide electric pre-cooling facilities in their collection points to store foods and vegetables transported from producers before loading onto refrigerated cars for shipping.

However, as the operation of such cooling facilities was limited for the harvesting season, only part of companies could afford to introduce such facilities. In the areas where such facilities could not be introduced, crop deterioration progressed, resulting in decreases in product value and the consequent disposals. Especially in the summer season at a higher temperature the freshness preservation of foods and vegetables has been a great issue.

Air Water has so far been engaged as the group in the logistics business in the cultivation, logistics, processing and cold chain. In this connection Air Water has been exploring a solution to the freshness preservation and reduction of food wastes. It has led this time to utilize the rapid cooling technologies by liquid nitrogen which the company has cultivated in the field of the industrial gas business.

It can be said to be a business model to search for and lead to a solution of issue combining the technologies and knowhow fostered in the diversified group businesses.

The use of liquid nitrogen at this time for rapid cooling was intended to attain an effective cooling for a short time utilizing liquid nitrogen cold energy at -196℃. Since liquid nitrogen has just a simple structure to supply sensible heat as well as latent heat of evaporation, Air Water accomplished the cooling time of one hour down from more than 8 hours taken by the conventional mechanical freezers.

In addition, as the system was made transportable loaded on a truck trestle, the production area can be shifted to meet the period of harvest. It can also be used for a tentative refrigerator such as in the backyard of retail shop during an intensive hot season.

This idea of portable system has come from the experiences fostered in the gas-related business such as the removable hydrogen station as well as mobile power supply vehicles. 　

In the future, the company will produce more units of rapid chilling systems, implement verification tests with the regional areas and transportation companies and accumulate freshness preserving recipes for each produce.

For further future plan the company intends to enhance profitability in the various activities of the group such as leasing of the system, sales of liquid nitrogen and exporting of highly-fresh foods and vegetables taking advantage of the precooling at producing areas.

This is a model of group businesses in the future which could bring profits extensively taking advantages of the technological accomplishments developed across the group.