BANANA STORING AND RIPENING TECHNOLOGY

We have an experience of almost twenty years in designing and execution of banana ripening plants. The capacity of the banana ripening chambers can be of 12-24, or even 48 pallets, certainly in correspondence with the standard truck dimensions (1152 boxes, 22 tons/truck). According to the local circumstances and the Principal’s requirements, the banana ripening chambers can be executed on one or two stories, and in case of greater capacities the ripening chambers can be divided into sections of 1/3 or 1/2 of the room.

The bananas arriving to Europe get the centre of the continent through the greatest seaports, and at entering they are still green and tough. For maintaining these conditions until reaching the ripening plant, the bananas are stored and transported at a temperature of +13,5°C. Afterwards, the banana’s ripening can be adjusted to the market’s requirements with a very precise ripening technology and process, containing different ripening programs from 4 to 8 days, controlled and supervised by a very clear intelligent software.

The single programs can be modified in each case, they can be adjusted on the basis of the banana’s variety, packing, or the time passed since the harvest; the banana master has an important role in stating the conditions. For starting the process of ripening, in the first place it is necessary to have heat and ethylene, afterwards it becomes a very intense self-supporting process, meaning that the banana generates a high amount of heat and ethylene during the ripening. Due to this fact, it is very important to have proper ventilation and cooling, which are also adjustable with high precision.

Besides the installation of the necessary relatively high cooling capacity, it is also important to maintain a higher humidity, recommended to be obtained using a liquid chiller (with glycol) working with a low delta T on the principle of indirect cooling, instead of using a system with direct expansion.

As for the architectural requirements, it is important to obtain proper gas-tightness.