Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Food and beverage processing and Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration

Refrigeration is what lets perishable food be stored, processed and shipped, so the food industry is a major user of compressor cooling, and the same compressor technology, run as a heat pump, is becoming a way to supply the low-temperature process heat that food plants use.

Food and beverage processing (industry) and Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration (energy): 4 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Refrigeration and chilling

Physical flow · Strong · Heat pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration → food and beverage processing

Milk, meat, fish, fruit, frozen foods and drinks must be chilled or frozen from processing to sale, so refrigeration plant is core equipment; the site rates it 4 of 5 for cold-chain warehousing and transport operators.

  • 3 enterprise types in food and beverage processing that depend on refrigeration
  • 4 of 5 criticality for cold-chain warehousing and transport operators

Packaged food makers and beverage bottlers rate refrigeration and chilling 3 of 5, as they can run some lines at ambient temperature. A refrigeration failure means spoiled stock rather than a slower line, so the risk is concentrated in cold storage and transport.

Enterprise types that depend on it:

  • Cold-chain warehousing and transport operators: refrigeration (criticality 4 of 5)
  • Packaged food manufacturers: refrigeration (criticality 3 of 5)
  • Beverage makers and bottlers: chilling (criticality 3 of 5)

Sources: Material Insights

2. Cold chain gap

Transition · High in India · Food losses and processing growth → demand for refrigeration

Where cold chains are thin, a large share of perishable output spoils before sale, so building cold storage and refrigerated transport is the main route to cutting losses and growing processed food.

  • 526 Mt food lost for lack of effective refrigeration, about 12% of world food production (2017 estimate)
  • 144 Mt food developing countries could save each year with cold chains like those of developed countries
  • about 10,000 reefer vehicles in India against an estimated need of at least 62,000 (NCCD, 2026 report)

India had 8,815 cold stores with about 40.2 million tonnes of capacity in June 2025, but NCCD projects capacity growth of only about 2.2% a year, to almost 44 million tonnes by 2031, and the reefer fleet is about a sixth of the estimated need. A UNEP and FAO pilot in India cut kiwi fruit losses by 76%, showing the scale of avoidable loss.

Sources: Rural Voice; International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR); International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)

3. Cold chain energy and refrigerants

Physical flow · Medium · Refrigeration → food sector electricity use and emissions

Refrigeration runs continuously on electricity, and refrigerant leaks add direct greenhouse gas emissions, so cold chain growth raises both power demand and the importance of refrigerant choice.

  • 281 TWh electricity use of the world's food cold chain (IIR estimate)
  • 60% share of cold chain emissions from electricity, against 22% from refrigerants and 18% from diesel

Because most emissions come from power use, efficient compressors and clean electricity matter more than refrigerant alone. Food loss avoided by cold chains also avoids emissions: the UNEP and FAO report put emissions from food lost for lack of refrigeration at about 1 Gt CO2e in 2017.

Sources: Rural Voice; International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)

4. Heat pumps for process heat

Substitution · Rising · Industrial heat pumps can replace gas or oil boilers in food plants

Food processing needs heat mostly at low temperatures for cooking, pasteurising, washing and drying, which heat pumps can supply using less electricity than electric boilers.

  • about 75% share of heat demand below 200 °C in less energy-intensive industries such as food
  • about 4 times running cost of a standalone electric boiler against a gas boiler in the US
  • 5 MW heat pumps installed by a Norwegian fishmeal maker to raise process steam

Running costs decide adoption: where electricity is expensive relative to gas, only efficient heat pumps or hybrid systems compete; the IEA finds that in Germany hybrids pairing electric boilers with existing gas boilers can reach heat costs 15% below gas boilers alone. Heat pumps need less electricity than electric boilers for the same heat, which improves on that case.

Sources: IEA

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Refrigeration is core infrastructure for the perishable food chain, with cold-chain operators the most exposed users.
  2. The cold chain gap in emerging markets is large: 526 Mt of food was lost for lack of refrigeration in 2017, and India has about a sixth of the reefer trucks it needs.
  3. Industrial heat pumps open a second market in food plants, but their economics depend on the electricity to gas price ratio.

What to track

  • Cold storage and reefer fleet capacity in India: Growth of demand for refrigeration equipment and cold chain services (Yearly · NCCD, Ministry of Food Processing Industries)
  • Industrial electricity to gas price ratio: Competitiveness of heat pumps for process heat (Quarterly · national tariff and gas price data)
  • Commercial refrigeration and compressor orders: Equipment demand from food and cold chain (Quarterly · listed HVAC and refrigeration makers' results)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. Cold chains cut food loss directly, so support for cold storage and refrigerated transport is food security policy as well as industry policy.
  2. Most cold chain emissions come from electricity, so efficiency standards for compressors and clean power do more than refrigerant rules alone.
  3. In India the reefer fleet, about 10,000 vehicles against an estimated need of at least 62,000, is a wide gap, while storage capacity is projected to grow only about 2.2% a year.

What to track

  • Post-harvest losses of fruit, vegetables, milk and fish: Whether cold chain investment is reducing waste (Periodic · ICAR-CIPHET loss studies)
  • Reefer vehicles registered: Progress on India's largest cold chain gap (Yearly · VAHAN, NCCD)

India

India had 8,815 cold stores with about 40.2 million tonnes of capacity in June 2025 but only about 10,000 reefer vehicles against a need of at least 62,000, so refrigeration for food is a large and growing market.

Sources

  1. Food and beverage processing: materials, Material Insights (2026)
  2. Lack of effective refrigeration directly results in loss of 526mn tonnes of food production: UN report (UNEP and FAO, Sustainable Food Cold Chains), Rural Voice (2022)
  3. Informatory Note: the carbon footprint of the cold chain, International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR)
  4. India: NCCD reports a 2.2% compound annual growth rate in cold storage capacity, International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) (2026)
  5. Can low-temperature heat in factories be electrified competitively?, IEA