Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Advancing agro-food sustainability in Pakistan: Solar-based cold storage and dehydration technologies for post-harvest management

University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Dept. of Energy Systems Engineering, Pakistan

Abstract

With the increasing population, industrialisation and environmental hazards, it is inevitable to consider green energy resources not only to meet the current energy demand but also to mitigate the climate change. The production potential from the green technologies is around 3.0 million MW but it is not fully explored in Pakistan yet. An integrated approach is needed to lay down the guidelines of policy making. University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) has developed various worthwhile solar based technologies viz. solar distillation systems, solar roaster, solar baking units, solar double jacketed autoclave and solar cookers to add value to agricultural products. Recently, a solar based cold storage chamber having capacity of 21.76 m³ was designed, developed and installed at “Solar Park” at UAF. The unique feature of this development was to use cooling pads filled with brine solution as a back up cooling source for night-time applications and the system is fully coupled with hybrid solar system to run a vapour compression refrigeration system continuously. The system was capable to maintain a temperature even below -4°C and the temperature can be set at desired temperature range for the particular agri-product. The experiments were conducted on potatoes, applies and straw berry and the temperature and relative humidity trends were evaluated in accordance with the international standards and significant results were obtained. This project was developed under Technology development fund (TDF) sponsored by HEC by engaging an industrial collaboration to multiply this technology to the end user in future. The second success story is the development of a solar based controlled dehydrator which can be used for the quality drying of different perishable products. The electric supply is completely provided by 3 kWp solar and heating is supplied by three different sources like, solar, natural gas, as well as from electric heater to ensure the uninterrupted heat energy supplying for continuous operation. The drying capacity of the developed machine is around 200 kg having 25 traying and air flow is distributed evenly on all the trays.

Keywords: Agricultural products, cold storage, dehydrator, green energy, solar technologies, value addition

Contact Address: Anjum Munir, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Dept. of Energy Systems Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan, e-mail: anjum.muniruaf.edu.pk