Cold Chain Technologies pairs with NanoCool for 'push button' refrigeration

For several years, NanoCool (Albuquerque, NM) has been offering an innovative chilling technology for cold chain shipments, based on evaporative cooling rather than refrigerant packs or dry ice. Now, it is bringing the global reach of Cold Chain Technologies (CCT; Holliston, MA) to its side with a partnership that gives it access to CCT’s business partners in Europe and elsewhere. CCT is now offering the KoolTemp GTS Instant container, first unveiled at the Cool Chain Logistics Conference (Jan 25-27, Frankfurt).

The NanoCool technique uses a bladder of very low-pressure water as part of the container. When the bladder is punctured, the water begins evaporating, and the heat consumed in that phase change generates “on demand” cooling. The rest of the package uses fairly standard packaging and insulation materials (according to NanoCool literature, there are some instances where the evaporative cooling is complemented with dry ice or other refrigerant). The end result is upwards of 96 hours of maintaining 2-8°C conditions, in boxes with capacities up to about 54 liters.

By reducing or avoiding refrigerants altogether, notes Jamie Chasteen, senior product manager, the GTS Instant package saves weight and materials, and doesn’t require pre-conditioning of the package. In theory, too, the cooling could be initiated at various points in the supply chain (for example, after leaving a temperature-controlled storage area).