DOSIERTES
REIFEN
DOSED
RIPENING
Only the best-looking products make it
onto supermarket shelves. Especially
tomatoes have to meet an extremely
high aesthetic standard. Ensuring the optimum
time for ripening can be a real challenge, espe-cially
in colder climates towards the end of the
growing season, when the days get shorter and
the sun loses its intensity.
The use of chemicals such as ethephon to ripen
tomatoes in greenhouses is sometimes banned
or opposed by consumers because it can leave
residues on the products. Alternatively, natural
ripening processes towards the end of the sea-son
require the additional use of heating and
lighting, which can be very costly.
Solution without chemicals
Linde has therefore developed a solution that
supports the natural ripening of tomatoes in
greenhouses without the use of chemicals.
Linde’s user-friendly Banarg® Control system
doses a tailor-made, safe gas mixture into
greenhouses, allowing the ripening process
to be carefully controlled and optimally acce-
lerated.
The Banarg® gas mixture consists of 96 percent
nitrogen and four percent ethylene. Ethylene is
a plant hormone that stimulates plant growth
and maturation. It is classified as a crop protec-tion
agent and has therefore been approved for
use in Germany in accordance with European
Regulation 1107/2009.
Control system for two greenhouses
The all-in solution Banarg® Control consists
of two independent wireless ethylene sensors
and a control measurement kit. The sensors
send data to this kit, which is directly connec-
ted to the gas bundle containing the Banarg®
gas. When the ethylene concentration in the
greenhouse falls below a certain preset level,
the measuring kit opens the gas valve and
closes it again when the target concentration
is reached. In this way, optimum control of the
ripening process can be ensured fully automat-ically.
The traceability of the measured values is
guaranteed by the possibility of data readout.
Continue reading on page 30
Die mobile Lösung Banarg® Control von Linde steuert und
kontrolliert den Reifeprozess von Tomaten vor der Ernte.
The mobile solution Banarg®
Control from Linde monitors
and controls the ripening process
of tomatoes before harvest.
REIFETECHNOLOGIE
28 5 / 2020 RIPENING TECHNOLOGY
Foto: Linde Gases Division