What even is a central ripening system?

Developed by CATALYTIC GENERATORS in 1998, this safe, easy, low-maintenance, and cost-effective generator has been making the ripening and degreening process easier for ripeners across the world.

How the Centralized Ripening System works

Ripening rooms can have continuous ethylene production from one central supply of the Ethy-Gen II Ripening Concentrate, offering a safer process without fear of explosions. Rather than transmit ethylene by pipe into each room, we send Ethy-Gen II by pipe/tube to each ripening room, and then our system makes ethylene right inside the room.

It’s as easy as flipping a switch to turn ethylene on and off in each room and ethylene output adjustments can be made by turning a single knob. With the ability to adapt to any ethylene requirement, this generator is wall mounted and narrow, safely tucked out of the way of pallets and lifts.

Advantages

• Produces consistent, non-pressurized, and safe ethylene levels to ensure uniform initiation of the ripening process
• No mixture with inert gas is needed as our system is inherently safe
• Easy to make only as much ethylene as needed for the target room, no need to store large quantities of compressed gas on site
• There are no residues as a result of our ethylene application
• Adjustable ethylene output allows for adaptation to any ethylene PPM requirement and any room size

Room size

CRS generators can be used for fruit ripening in rooms that have a minimum cubic dimension of 45 cubic meters / 1,600 cubic feet.

On the maximum side, the general rule is 10,000 cubic foot (285 cubic meters). The actual dimensions depends on several factors, including desired ethylene level and room “tightness” (how well-sealed the room is to prevent air loss).

For rooms larger than this, additional generators can be used, if needed, to achieve the proper ethylene level. It may be possible to use just one generator for a room that is larger than 10,000 ft3 / 285 m3; again, dependent upon how tight the room is. We have some customers that can use just one generator in rooms that are 570 m3 / 20,000 ft3 and still achieve 150 ppm of ethylene.

No wonder it's used by many companies across the world who enjoy the efficiency of their ripening!