Industrial refrigeration installation for Japofish warehouses at Mercavalencia

The challenge

Japofish operates seafood distribution warehouses at Mercavalencia, the leading wholesale market in the Valencian Community. The nature of the product demands absolute cold chain control: any break, however brief, compromises food safety and causes direct economic losses.

The facilities require multiple temperature zones for different product types. Fresh fish needs positive temperature cold rooms between 0 C and 2 C, while frozen products require negative temperature cold rooms at -20 C or below. Handling and dispatch areas must remain refrigerated without reaching freezing point, creating a scenario with at least three differentiated thermal ranges.

Compliance with RSIF (Safety Regulation for Refrigeration Installations) and food safety regulations is non-negotiable. The installation had to guarantee reliability above 99%, with backup systems and continuous monitoring to detect any deviation before it affects the stored product.

The solution

Acoval designed and installed a refrigeration plant with high-efficiency semi-hermetic compressors, configured in a rack arrangement with redundancy to ensure continuous operation even during maintenance. The installation uses low-impact HFC refrigerants, complying with current F-Gas regulations and RSIF.

Positive temperature cold rooms were built with low-profile evaporators to maximise usable storage volume, and negative temperature cold rooms feature hot gas defrost systems that minimise temperature rise cycles. Handling areas and loading docks have air curtains and rapid doors to reduce thermal infiltration.

The system features 24/7 remote monitoring via temperature probes connected to an alarm centre. Any deviation from the programmed ranges triggers an immediate alert to the Acoval maintenance team, which operates with response times under 2 hours in the Mercavalencia area. Since commissioning, the installation has maintained 99.7% availability, with no cold chain break incidents.