GERMANY: Güntner has received a follow-up order for air coolers and evaporative condensers after the units successfully cooled a mango packaging plant in Brazil.
Mangos have been grown in Brazil since Portuguese traders introduced them in the 16th century. The country’s largest producer and exporter of the fruit, Agrodan, grows over 30 million kilograms of mangos annually on its eight farms. The company has declared a large part of its land a protected area and reforested an area of 8,000 hectares.
The company also runs an environmental project to protect native bee species that help pollinate the mangoes naturally, and has more than 100 hives spread across its farms. Energy comes from a solar array and two water treatment plants allow the reuse of over 26,000 gallons per day.
In 2021, Güntner was asked to supply a cooling system for Agrodan’s new packing line. The brief was that the mangoes had to be cooled within six hours without damaging the fruit. This had to be done without moving or turning the pallets, and the airflow had to be evenly distributed across all pallets. The project had to be completed in record time; Agrodan needed a finished installation in just 50 days.
The solution, developed by Luciano Costa, Güntner’s Brazilian technical sales representative, involved the installation of 10 Güntner Cubic Compact air coolers together with an ECOSS G3 evaporative condenser. This was the first time that a stainless steel cooling tower like Güntner’s was used for such an application, as opposed to a traditional galvanized steel version.
“Agrodan wanted to have the latest cooling technology in its plant and we met that need,” commented Costa.
In addition, the lower pressure loss with Güntner units meant that the number of compressors could be reduced compared to the existing cooling system. Using three compressors instead of four resulted in an energy saving of 25%.
One year after the successful completion of the project, Agrodan decided to expand the packaging plant and double its size. Impressed by the previous installation, they contacted Güntner again to order ten more Cubic Compact air coolers and another ECOSS G3 evaporative condenser.
