Sustainable potato storage with emission reduction floor

The yield that an farmer gets for his potatoes depends on several factors.
The quality of the potato is an important element of this. The potato is an organism that lives. The storage temperature, temperature fluctuations, oxygen and CO2 content: these are just a few elements of the complex process of storing the potatoes that have a major influence on the quality. Storage takes place in large storage sheds on concrete floors with ventilation slots. Air is blown through the ventilation slots into the shed and through the heaps of potatoes. The air is discharged from the shed via discharge channels.

Until now there were only concrete floorboards with or without ventilation slots. The air is blown from one side into air ducts under the floor and enters the shed through the slots. Because all floor parts have the same slots, the air pressure per channel on the side where the air is blown in is higher than in the middle. The air pressure is lowest at the end of the floor. This is reflected in the quality of the potatoes. The potatoes in the back of the storage receive too little ventilation and cooling, causing them to germinate too quickly, the front potato drying out too much.

The storage and removal of the sheds is done with large machines and shovels. Rotating the tires and sliding the body damage the floor parts at the weakest point: the ventilation slots. Damage to the floor causes damage to the potatoes when pouring and sanding out. Through the holes in the floor, pieces of sand and other dirt fall into the air ducts under the floor. Both increase the risk of diseases.

The aim of the project is to improve the quality of the potatoes by an average of> 5%, to reduce storage losses by 3%, to reduce the risk of diseases and to reduce the energy consumption for storage by 2 to 4%.