Sustainability is the key to a future worth living. This principle also applies to food. Gases help to optimize production, conserve resources and avoid waste.
Agriculture and the food industry account for a good third of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Some eating habits have a significant carbon footprint. The way in which food is stored, processed and transported also plays an important role in the environmental footprint. The UN's climate targets can only be achieved if emissions are also reduced in the central area of the food industry.
Meat and milk are considered to be particularly climate-relevant. Reducing the proportion of animal products in the diet can make a significant contribution to reducing emissions. Instead, more plant-based foods should be put on the table, which is also good for our health. This message is definitely getting through: there is a strong trend towards vegan and vegetarian products in many countries.
Numerous plants provide valuable proteins that can replace meat, fish and dairy products if processed appropriately. Novel sources of protein such as algae or insects open up additional possibilities. They can be used to save both arable land and emissions while producing high-quality, healthy food.
Greenhouse cultivation also makes a contribution here. It extends the vegetation period and makes a higher yield possible on the same area. An additional increase in yield can be achieved with the targeted use of CO₂. Obtained from industrial exhaust air, the "greenhouse gas" becomes a plant nutrient in the greenhouse.
Alongside light and water, carbon dioxide is one of the most important building blocks of plant growth. By increasing its concentration in the greenhouse atmosphere, growth can be increased: in experiments with peppers, for example, CO₂ fertilization increased yields by over 30 percent. At the same time, the carbon dioxide absorbed is - at least temporarily - removed from the atmosphere.
Whether plant-based or animal-based, a large proportion of agricultural products are now processed industrially. In the production of conventional sausage products, ingredients are mixed by machine. This also applies to many vegan products and other foods. Infestation of the mixed product with harmful microorganisms must be prevented at all costs. Low temperatures are, therefore, required. The fastest and gentlest way of cooling is achieved with cryogenic processes using cryogenic gases.
Speed is also useful when freezing: products that have been cryogenically frozen are almost indistinguishable from fresh ones after thawing. Under the effect of cryogenic gases, the cell water freezes so quickly that only small ice crystals are formed and the cell walls remain intact. The high freezing speed of cryogenic freezers also saves time, reduces space requirements and enables particularly efficient processes.
Cryogenic mixer cooling with nitrogen or carbon dioxide also has a welcome side effect: the cold gases displace the ambient air from the process environment. This prevents the oxidation of ingredients. The oily and fatty ingredients in the mix, for example, are susceptible to this: what we smell and taste as rancid is nothing more than the result of a chemical reaction between fatty acids and oxygen. The gases, therefore, already help to extend the shelf life of the food during processing.
Shelf life is a decisive factor for sustainability in general. It plays an important role both in ensuring a sufficient food supply for humanity and in the ecological footprint.
According to the aid organization Welthungerhilfe, 1.3 billion tons of food end up in the trash every year - that corresponds to a third of all food produced worldwide! Part of this loss is due to careless and wasteful consumption in rich countries. However, a large proportion, especially in poorer countries, is due to inadequate storage, pest infestation and rotting.
Protecting food from spoiling is, therefore, a top priority. "The inerting effect of gases also plays an important role here. Inert gas packaging protects food from rotting and extends its shelf life," explains Johanna Schirmacher, who is responsible for food applications at Messer. The technical terminology is modified atmosphere packaging , or MAP for short.
Carbon dioxide is particularly well suited to slowing down the growth of bacteria and mold. As an inert, reaction-inhibiting gas, nitrogen prevents all oxidation processes and also reduces bacterial growth. Both gases can be used individually or as a mixture for MAP.
However, oxygen is also part of the modified atmosphere for meat products, as it preserves the red color of the meat and inhibits the development of anaerobic bacteria. Plant-based foods also require a certain concentration of oxygen in the packaging in order to maintain cell respiration.
In order to utilize all the advantages of the individual gases, mixtures are usually used for MAP, whereby the optimum mixing ratios differ from product to product. Messer supplies MAP gases as ready-made standard mixtures in cylinders; however, they can also be individually mixed at the production site using gas mixing equipment.
All gases used for this purpose comply with legal requirements and are certified as foodstuffs. Incidentally, inert nitrogen is also used to prevent dust explosions when storing and removing grain and to extinguish silo fires.
Another well-known means of extending the shelf life of food is refrigeration. With continuous refrigeration, fresh food can stay fresh for many days and frozen food for many months.
From the hotel minibar to the hectare-sized refrigerated warehouse, there are countless storage options available. The cold is produced there using a compressor, just like in a normal refrigerator. Conventional refrigerated vans use the same technology for their cool box. However, the mobile refrigeration compressor makes a lot of noise and draws its energy from the truck's diesel engine or a separate diesel generator, both of which produce emissions.
More and more cities are restricting the entry of such emission-heavy trucks. To prevent the cold chains from breaking there, another source of cold is needed. The best alternative is the high cold content of cryogenic gases. Their use produces neither noise nor exhaust fumes. Messer offers several systems with different dimensions for efficient and low-emission transport refrigeration.
The combination of SnowDrop and MiniCryo is available for individual deliveries that go directly from the fulfillment center to the end customer. The SnowDrop station converts recovered liquid CO₂ into dry ice snow, which is placed in the lid of the MiniCryo transport crate. With this filling, the contents of the crate remain cold for up to 24 hours.
The Cryo2Pack system serves the same purpose. It allows you to produce your own cooling elements in seconds and use them in any portable cool box. The dry ice snow is filled into plastic bags.
The Siber System is one size larger and runs on its own rollers on the loading area of the truck. It is also cooled with dry ice, which is produced here by injecting and expanding liquid carbon dioxide directly in the reservoir of the cooling container. The cooling capacity is, therefore, usually guaranteed for at least 24 hours.
Finally, the EcoLIN solution cools the entire cargo area of a refrigerated truck, in this case with the high cooling energy of liquid nitrogen. The gas flows from a tank through a heat exchanger, where it evaporates and indirectly cools the loading area of the truck. This means that there is no liquid nitrogen in the cargo area, and the application remains safe and simple. Unlike compressor cooling, temperature fluctuations, such as when the doors are opened, are compensated for almost silently and without delay. Compared to a conventional refrigerated truck, CO₂ emissions are reduced by over 80 percent.
For more than 125 years, Messer, the today’s world's largest privately owned company for industrial gases, medical gases, specialty gases, and gases for electronics, committed to its guiding principles of safety, focus on customers and employees, responsibility for our society, sustainability, trust, and respect. Messer's Gases for Life and patented gas applications are essential for environmental protection, climate protection, decarbonization, and innovation.