Lifecycle of banana ripening rooms is 12-15 years

“Our main activity is to design and build banana ripening rooms to our customer’s specifications,” says John Sydoriak with Advanced Cold Storage International (ACSI). “However in many cases, we replace older ripening rooms that are coming to the end of their lifecycle.” If properly maintained, the average lifespan of a ripening room is 12-15 years. This is mainly due to the effect of ethylene on the refrigeration equipment, operator damage from fork lifts and the ever-changing codes on refrigerants. We typically provide epoxy coatings on our refrigeration equipment to provide extended life.” 

Advanced Cold Storage’s clients are based all over the globe. “Closest to home, we have an important customer base in California, specifically San Diego and San Francisco, both of which are important banana ports in the US,” shared Sydoriak. “In 2015, we built 16 new ripening rooms in the Golden State and soon we are scheduled to start with 10 more rooms in San Diego.” There has been an increase in demand for the rooms in California in the last two years, somewhat due to the ease in port transportation restrictions from Mexico to the US.

“We have our own ripening software that facilitates the controlled ripening process,” mentioned Sydoriak. Temperature, humidity, ethylene and Co2 control are at the ripener’s fingertips with the use of ACSI’s Ecube Micro Controllers mounted on the face of each room and a desktop PC based at the produce manager’s office. Utilizing the company’s internet based software allows the ripener access to the ripening rooms from any remote location having internet accessibility. 

Outside the US, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, China as well as South America (for exportation and pre-cooling facilities) are important markets for Advanced Cold Storage. “Asia is an important ripening room market with the growth in China. Demand throughout the Asia Pacific region for cost effective, energy efficient ripening rooms has never been higher. We have many years of experience in overseas construction and continue to service the Asia Pacific region,” shared Sydoriak.

In addition to banana ripening rooms, the company also builds precoolers to extend produce shelf life. They pull the ambient heat out of harvested produce and bring the temperature to the desired level in 6-12 hours. Precoolers basically put the fruit to sleep, enabling a better fruit ripening process and shelf life. “Similar to the banana ripening rooms, we build precoolers worldwide, however mainly at the source plantations. Although they can be used for any type of fruits, they are very often used for pineapples, avocados and mangoes,” shared Sydoriak.

Sydoriak has been in the banana ripening business since 1995 and started Advanced Cold Storage International LLC in 2006. The company is currently celebrating 10 years in business!

For more information:

John Sydoriak

Tel: 715-398-6357

Cell: 404-886-4646