The work aims to design and develop a passive modified-atmosphere refrigerated container to evaluate its effect on maintaining the storage quality of pakchoi, so as to address the problems of water loss, wilting, yellowing, senescence, and nutritional quality deterioration of leafy vegetables during cold-chain transportation, and to provide a reference for the development and application of cold-chain preservation equipment for leafy vegetables. A prototype passive modified-atmosphere refrigerated container was constructed by integrating modified-atmosphere windows and selective gas-permeable membranes into the sidewalls of an integrated mobile cold storage unit. With pakchoi as the experimental material, a conventional refrigerated cabinet was used as the control group, and the passive modified-atmosphere refrigerated container was used as the treatment group. The samples were stored at 1 ℃ for 24 days. The corrected cumulative weight loss rate, chlorophyll content, vitamin C content, and sensory quality were measured periodically, and the thermal conductivity of the modified-atmosphere window was tested. With prolonged storage time, the corrected cumulative weight loss rate of pakchoi increased in both groups, whereas chlorophyll and vitamin C contents generally decreased. Compared with the conventional refrigerated cabinet, the passive modified-atmosphere refrigerated container slowed water loss and delayed the decrease in chlorophyll and vitamin C contents. After 24 days of storage, the corrected cumulative weight loss rate of the treatment group was 37.28%, lower than 46.95% of the control group. The chlorophyll content was 53.98 SPAD, approximately 68.4% higher than 32.06 SPAD in the control group. The vitamin C content was 33.70 mg/100 g, approximately 75.7% higher than 19.18 mg/100 g in the control group. Sensory evaluation showed that the treatment group still retained a certain degree of commercial acceptability after 24 days of storage, whereas the control group had largely lost marketability. The thermal conductivity of the modified-atmosphere window samples was below 0.11 W/(m·K), and the additional heat transfer accounted for approximately 4%-5% of the total heat load of the container. In conclusion, the passive modified-atmosphere refrigerated container helps reduce water loss, delay yellowing, and maintain the nutritional quality of pakchoi. It also showed good thermal insulation performance and had only a limited influence on the overall heat load, indicating potential application value in the cold-chain preservation of leafy vegetables. Since the dynamic changes in O2, CO2, and relative humidity inside the container are not continuously monitored in this study, the modified-atmosphere mechanism requires further verification.
Key words
passive modified atmosphere /
refrigerated container /
selective gas-permeable membrane /
pakchoi /
cold-chain preservation quality
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