SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Inerting, the process of suppressing oxidation ensures the freshness of food while retaining its nutrients and taste, extends the shelf-life of foods by up to eight times longer than other refrigerators. Xergy is proposing a low-cost, compact, simple to integrate and novel solid-state method of oxygen control based on an alkaline exchange membrane (AEM) electrolysis cell, a derivative technology from fuel cells development funded these past 20 years. This technology requires no maintenance, is quiet, and takes up very little space in a refrigerator, making it superior to other higher cost, high noise and vibration, and large footprint systems employing compressors; and therefore, usable widely by the appliance industry for food preservation. When employing AEMs for inerting, water and oxygen react at the cathode to form hydroxyl ions. The hydroxyl ions transport across the membrane and reform oxygen and water at the anode of the cell. The system proposed is low cost and easy to integration, and functions by reducing both water and oxygen in the space being inerted, providing a dry nitrogen environment for superior food preservation compared to other technologies.
