TES Last Mile Delivery
Location:
Forlì Cesena/Padova, Italy
Food Category:
Meat, Fish, Fruits & Vegetables, Dairy
Application:
Transport and last mile delivery
Main Chain Link:
Transport
Impact:
Localized reduction of vehicle fuel consumption (up to 20%), localized pollutant emissions (up to 30%) and noise in urban areas.
The demonstrator aims at improving the environmental sustainability of last mile delivery through the employment of a thermal energy storage (TES) inside the insulated boxes containing the products to be transported and delivered. The TES is cooled through a stationary cooling unit employing natural refrigerants (propane and CO2) installed outside of the vehicle used for the deliveries and then it uses its latent/sensible heat to maintain the correct temperature range inside the insulated boxes. Such a solution allows to avoid the presence of a cooling unit installed directly on the vehicle, therefore allowing for the reduction of localized pollutant emissions and noise in urban areas during last mile delivery activities. Moreover, the use of propane and CO2 as the refrigerants in the primary and the secondary loops for the stationary centralized cooling unit which refrigerates the TES at the beginning of the delivery missions allows for the reduction of the equivalent greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions associated with refrigerant leakage during operation, due to the low global warming potential (GWP) of natural working fluids. In addition, the propane+ CO2 cooling unit cycle will be optimized to improve the overall system efficiency compared to the cooling units traditionally used in refrigerated vehicles, thus reducing also the indirect emissions linked to energy consumption during system operation.
MAIN CONTACT:
Antonio Rossetti antonio.rossetti@itc.cnr.it , Francesco Fabris fabris@itc.cnr.it
