GEA, a German-based large-scale refrigeration manufacturer, has installed a 2.4MW (682TR) ammonia (R717) refrigeration system at a new Betko fruit storage facility in Sunnyside, South Africa.
Betko grows, stores and ships approximately 65,000 metric tons of apples and pears annually, exporting them to around 40 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the U.K. The company produces and handles 16 apple varieties and eight pear varieties. GEA’s system provides controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage at −0.5 to 1.5°C (31 to 35°F), depending on the variety, while energy-efficiency measures reduce peak energy by 20%.
“In the past we were looking at six to seven months of average storage, [which] forced sales because of the lack of cold storage space,” said Alan Salonika, Refrigeration Advisor at Betko. “With this new project, we’re pushing our storage toward 12, even 14 months, allowing for more flexibility in our distribution worldwide.”
Building on a 30-year relationship, GEA and Betko developed the facility to support the producer’s growing output and expanding export markets despite South Africa’s constrained electrical grid. The facility was built at Betko’s newly acquired Sunnyside farm, where available grid capacity and proximity to the orchards made the project feasible. Construction began in March 2024 and was completed in February 2025.
The configuration: The 5,000m2 (53,800ft2) standalone facility contains 24 CA sections, each capable of storing 1,200 bins, with the infrastructure already sized to double the total storage capacity in a second phase.
- The refrigeration system uses three Grasso V series reciprocating compressors, backed by a fourth identical standby unit.
- “The compressors run with variable frequency drives, controlling the speed between 500 and 1,500 RPM,” said Shaun Kleb, Head of Project Sales for Southern and Eastern Africa for GEA’s Heating and Refrigeration Solutions business. “When the load tapers off in winter we run them slower, and the coefficient of performance improves.”
Saving electricity: Other efficiency measures include a new suction-control system, refrigerant subcooling and insulated floors.
- The new Adaptive Suction Set Point Control system collects data from each CA storage section, analyzes it and calculates the optimal operating point every 60 seconds, according to Hannes Steyn, Senior Director Country Manager for Southern and Eastern Africa at GEA.
- High-pressure liquid subcooling minimizes flash gas formation, allowing more liquid ammonia to reach the evaporator.
- Betko also insulated the storage floors, a practice rarely used in CA facilities. The insulation reduced heat transfer between the cold storage rooms and the ground, achieving payback within a year, according to Kleb.
Extending storage life: Uniform temperatures and carefully controlled atmospheric conditions help preserve fruit quality.
- GEA optimized the entire evaporator assembly for air management based on experience at a previous Betko facility, where temperature hotspots caused fruit to wilt despite the use of variable speed fans.
- “This is the most critical design element as it allows optimization of evaporation temperature,” Kleb said. “We fitted a cowling on the fan inlet, a proven technique that delivers 2‒3% savings in absorbed fan power, and designed the cooler shallower than standard to cut the pressure drop through the coil.”
- The system also enables remote monitoring and control of oxygen and carbon dioxide setpoints in each storage section, with oxygen levels reduced to 1‒3%, depending on the fruit variety, to slow respiration and ripening.
Quotable: “That 20% reduction in peak power really means that the customer can expand by another 20% in production without needing more power from the local grid,” Steyn said.
“With this new project, we’re pushing our storage toward 12, even 14 months, allowing for more flexibility in our distribution worldwide.”
Alan Salonika, Refrigeration Advisor at Betko
