In this edition of the RefriAméricas Congress there will not only be an excellent academic proposal, but the congress will be complemented by guided tours of companies that have refrigeration as their main tool.
By: Alejandra García Vélez
"Nobody learns by someone else's head", that is one of the famous popular phrases that for years has been used to show that experience is the best teacher. Definitely, the best way to learn is by working, touching, living. Therefore, for this edition of RefriAméricas, attendees of the academic program will have, in addition to the conferences, the possibility of knowing first-hand the refrigeration equipment and processes of several companies in the host city.
It is worth remembering that the Congress of Refriamericas 2011 will be held on June 16 and 17 at the Plaza Mayor Convention Center, in Medellín, Colombia. The event, as is tradition, will bring together CVAC/R contractors, equipment manufacturers, institutional end users, wholesalers and distributors, consultants, builders, architects, purchasing managers from industries employing refrigeration, as well as universities and educational and government institutions.
In this, the eighth version, attendees will have the possibility of training in two conference rooms with parallel programming, one of industrial refrigeration and another of commercial refrigeration. But the main novelty is the complementary programming: the first people to register and cancel the value of the congress will be able to participate in one of the visits scheduled for June 15.
Of flowers and meats
The two visits confirmed so far are to the Cultivo de Flores Sayonara, located in the municipality of La Ceja, in eastern Antioquia, and the Central Ganadera, located in the municipality of Bello. In this way, attendees will be able to observe the entire cold process in two of the industries in which this topic is crucial.
To talk about the first visit we have as a guest Liliana Galeano, technical director of Sayonara crops, who shared with us some details of what those who access this visit will be able to know and experience.
The refrigeration process during the storage and transport of flowers is critical to ensure the quality of this product. In that sense, the interviewee explained that it is impossible to be competitive in the international market if you do not have a good cold chain that guarantees a healthy and fresh flower.
"Colombia is the main producer country and the second largest exporter of flowers worldwide. We managed to reach other markets, not only because of the climate or the quality of the soil, but also because of the cold process that allows us to offer a good product."
Precisely, the scheduled visit to Cultivos Sayonara will allow attendees to know a crop of chrysanthemums for export and its production process, starting with the harvest of the cuttings until reaching storage in cold rooms. "We never deviate from the hydration chain and end up with a cold process that keeps the flowers at temperatures between one and three degrees Celsius," the official explained.
Knowing the Medellín Cattle Center is the other option that RefriAméricas attendees who are interested in participating in the visits will have. There is offered the service of refrigeration and storage of meat in carcass, with independent cold rooms. The Plant has 18 refrigeration cellars with storage availability for 540 cattle and 900 pigs. It also has a slaughter plant, carrying out the entire process until it reaches storage, in one place.
Visitors will be able to observe three Vilter brand compressors, two mono-screw of 125 and 150 horses and another reciprocating of 150 horses. Two ammonia recirculation systems with evaporative condensers, a liquid receiving tank, a section accumulator tank with two recirculating pumps, 16 cold rooms with a Krack evaporator equipment of 12,000 tons of refrigeration (TR), and a fourth with the evaporator of the same brand but of six thousand TR, and another of three thousand TR.
Alvaro Ramirez, refrigerator of the Central Ganadera explains the importance of a good cold process for the conservation of meat "Due to its high aqueous activity and its richness in nutrients of high use, as well as a favorable pH, meat is an excellent substrate for the growth of microorganisms. But in addition, its own enzymes can alter it. Both exogenous bacteria and the autolytic enzymes of meat are mitigated and controlled through temperature. Thus the shelf life of fresh meat depends fundamentally on the storage temperature."
He also stressed that in an operational cold storage program, general conditions should be established to ensure optimal meat preservation; for example, total capacity of cold rooms, number and size of cellars or refrigeration chambers, refrigeration system equipment for the storage and handling of these.
"The hygiene and disinfection of the chambers intended for the storage of meat are crucial factors to avoid microbial invasion, which poses a great risk to the safety of the final product," he added.
Offering more and more
From the organization of the event, the idea of generating these spaces was conceived that will allow a direct approach of the attendees with real refrigeration applications in some of the most important segments for industry.
Ana María Restrepo, editor-in-chief of the journal ACR Latin America and academic coordinator of RefriAméricas, commented that "our goal is to continue consolidating ourselves as the main event in Latin America for the industrial and commercial refrigeration sector. That is why we decided that it was necessary to give the attendees of the event an added value, with the visits we achieved that in addition to training during the conferences they have the opportunity to know other experiences that can serve them for future projects".
Conferences
Finally, it is important to remember that among the conferences scheduled for the event are topics such as "Solar HVAC/R An alternative for Latin America?", or "Cost reduction through electric heating cables in chambers and industrial refrigeration equipment" this last topic presented by Guillaume Klein, who is a Mechanical Conception engineer at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon (France) and the Latin American Institute of Paris (IHEAL – Sorbonne). Nouvelle).
We will also be joined by Françoise Bernard, sales manager and head of the South America area of GEA Geneglace SAS – Les Sorinières. Bernard has extensive experience in the flake ice machine industry and associated products for the storage and treatment of flake ice.
These are just some of the issues raised for this eighth edition of the event that will also have the representation of countries such as France, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Spain among its grid of speakers.
In this edition of RefriAméricas there will not only be an excellent academic proposal, but the congress will be complemented by guided tours of companies that have refrigeration their main tool.
"Nobody learns by someone else's head", that is one of the famous popular phrases that for years has been used to show that experience is the best teacher. Definitely, the best way to learn is by working, touching, living. Therefore, for this edition of RefriAméricas, attendees of the academic program will have, in addition to the conferences, the possibility of knowing first-hand the refrigeration equipment and processes of several companies in the city.
It is worth remembering that Refriamericas 2011 will be held on June 16 and 17 at the Plaza Mayor Convention Center, in Medellín, Colombia. The event, as is tradition, will bring together CVAC/R contractors, equipment manufacturers, institutional end users, wholesalers and distributors, consultants, builders, architects, purchasing managers of industries that employ refrigeration, as well as universities and educational and government institutions in its eighth version.
Attendees will have the opportunity to train in the two conference rooms, one for industrial refrigeration and the other for commercial refrigeration. But, this year the event will have an important novelty. The first people to register and cancel the value of the congress will be able to participate in one of the visits scheduled for June 15.
Of flowers and meats
The two visits confirmed so far are to the Cultivo de Flores Sayonara, located in the municipality of La Ceja, in eastern Antioquia, and the Central Ganadera, located in the municipality of Bello. In this way, attendees will be able to observe the entire cold process in two of the industries in which this topic is crucial.
To talk about the first visit we have as a guest Liliana Galeano, technical director of Sayonara crops, who shared with us some details of what those who access this visit will be able to know and experience.
The refrigeration process during the storage and transport of flowers is critical to ensure the quality of this product. In that sense, the interviewee explained that it is impossible to be competitive in the international market if you do not have a good cold chain that guarantees a healthy and fresh flower.
"Colombia is the main producer country and the second largest exporter of flowers worldwide. We managed to reach those markets, not only because of the climate or the quality of the soil, but because of the cold process that allows us to offer a good product."
Precisely, the scheduled visit to Cultivos Sayonara will allow attendees to know a crop of chrysanthemums for export and its production process, starting with the harvest of the cuttings until reaching storage in cold rooms. "We never deviate from the hydration chain and end up with a cold process that keeps the flowers at temperatures between one and three degrees Celsius," the official explained.
Knowing the Medellín Cattle Center is the other option that RefriAméricas attendees who are interested in participating in the visits will have. There is offered the service of refrigeration and storage of meat in carcass, with independent cold rooms. The Plant has 18 refrigeration cellars with storage availability for 540 cattle and 900 pigs. It also has a slaughter plant, carrying out the entire process until it reaches storage, in one place.
Visitors will be able to observe three Vilter brand compressors, two mono-screw of 125 and 150 horses and another reciprocating of 150 horses. Two ammonia recirculation systems with evaporative condensers, a liquid receiver tank, a section accumulator tank with two recirculating pumps, 16 cold rooms with a Krack evaporator equipment of twelve thousand tons of refrigeration (TR) and, a fourth with the evaporator of the same brand but of six thousand TR, and another of three thousand TR.
Alvaro Ramirez, refrigerator of the Central Ganadera explains the importance of a good cold process for the conservation of meat "Due to its high aqueous activity and its richness in nutrients of high use, as well as a favorable PH, meat is an excellent substrate for the growth of microorganisms. But in addition, its own enzymes can alter it. Both exogenous bacteria and the autolytic enzymes of meat are mitigated and controlled through temperature. Thus the shelf life of fresh meat depends fundamentally on the storage temperature."
He also stressed that in an operational cold storage program, general conditions should be established to ensure optimal meat preservation; for example, total capacity of cold rooms, number and size of cellars or refrigeration chambers, refrigeration system equipment for the storage and handling of these.
"The hygiene and disinfection of the chambers intended for the storage of meat are crucial factors to avoid microbial invasion, which poses a great risk to the safety of the final product," he added.
Offering more and more
From the organization of the event, the idea of generating these spaces was conceived that will allow a direct approach of the attendees with real refrigeration applications in some of the most important segments for industry.
Ana María Restrepo, editor-in-chief of the journal ACR Latin America and academic coordinator of RefriAméricas, commented that "our goal is to continue consolidating ourselves as the main event in Latin America for the industrial and commercial refrigeration sector. That is why we decided that it was necessary to give the attendees of the event an added value, with the visits we achieved that in addition to training during the conferences they have the opportunity to know other experiences that can serve them for future projects".
Conferences
Finally, it is important to remember that among the conferences scheduled for the event are topics such as "Solar HVAC/R An alternative for Latin America?", or "Cost reduction through electric heating cables in chambers and industrial refrigeration equipment" this last topic presented by Guillaume Klein, who is a Mechanical Conception engineer at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon (France) and the Latin American Institute of Paris (IHEAL – Sorbonne). Nouvelle).
We will also be joined by Françoise Bernard, Sales Manager and Head of the South America area of GEA Geneglace SAS – Les Sorinières, Bernard has extensive experience in the flake ice machine industry and associated products for the storage and treatment of flake ice.
These are just some of the issues raised for this eighth edition of the event that will also have the representation of countries such as France, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Spain among its grid of speakers.
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