Agriculture and Forestry

While the use of carbon dioxide is well-established in greenhouse fertilisation, the use of gases to freshen up wine barrels or cool freshly harvested grapes is relatively new. But it is precisely this huge diversity of applications that is whetting the appetite of food producers.

Germany: barrel cleaning with dry ice

Wine stored in oak barrels absorbs almost all the aromas and flavours the barrel has in the first two years. After that, the barrels are only used for inferior wines or are replaced. But it is possible to give such barrels a new lease of life. This involves using dry ice to remove as much as possible of the top layer inside the barrel, once again exposing the wood that is so important in terms of the taste of the wine. This treatment also opens up the wood fibres, thereby increasing the surface area that comes into contact with the wine and allowing the wine to absorb more flavour. Moreover, dry ice also removes bacteria, fungi, salt crystals and wine residues.

Italy: cool grapes for good wine

Grapecool is the name of the new, transportable system that Messer has developed in cooperation with DF AGRI, based in Siena, Italy. With this system, a bed of CO₂ snow keeps the grapes cool in the dump truck immediately after harvesting, thereby stopping them from overheating. This prevents premature fermentation on the way to processing. What is more, damaged grapes are protected against oxidation and contamination. The result is a very aromatic and less acidic wine – light and fruity.

Lithuania: carbon dioxide preserves mushroom spores

The Lithuanian compost producer “Baltic Champignons” supplies Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Polish and Russian mushroom growers with special compost that is ideally suited to mushroom growing. During transportation, the temperature of the compost, which is permeated with mushroom spores, must not exceed a permitted maximum, as otherwise the spores would die. Elme Messer Lit’s coolant – carbon dioxide – helps to stop the natural fermentation in the compost and keep the compost temperature constant. Carbon dioxide snow cools the compost and preserves the mushroom spores during transportation to the customer.

Netherlands: new customer for greenhouse fertilisation

Royal Pride BV specialises in growing tomatoes in its modern greenhouses which cover a total area of 45 hectares. Like most Dutch growers, Royal Pride tries to be green in its production by keeping the amounts of waste gas as low as possible. The company’s greenhouses in Made are located near the "Amercentrale" power plant, which supplies its residual energy to heat the greenhouses. This reduces CO₂ emissions as well as the consumption of fossil energy. An atmosphere with increased CO₂ concentration is artificially maintained in the greenhouses to increase plant growth and therefore boost production. As the carbon dioxide is absorbed by the plants, it needs to be constantly replenished. Messer Benelux has signed a contract to supply 6,000 tonnes of LCO₂ per year for this purpose – one of the biggest LCO₂ contracts ever.

Hungary and Croatia: measurable growth

In 2008, Messer Croatia and Messer Hungarogáz won new customers for greenhouse fertilisation with carbon dioxide – they are Zarja Grupa (Croatia) and Szeszico Kft. (Hungary).