A Large Mushroom Farm from Ukraine Scales Production with HVAC Equipment

Dlnbo is a Ukrainian production company, registered in 2006, with authorised capital of 9,000,000₴ and permanent operating base in Shpitki village, Meshchansky district, Kyiv region. For almost 20 years of operation, the company has evolved from a local agribusiness to a structured processing facility with packing and its own refrigeration infrastructure designed for continuous turnover of products in industrial volumes for export.

The actual profile of DInBO is a full-cycle mushroom farm focused on growing, sorting, cooling, packing and distribution of champignons. The production works with retail formats 180-250 g, 400-500 g, as well as with large batches for HoReCa and chains, which automatically forms the requirements for stable cold, uniformity of regimes and logistics for distances of 50-600 km within the country without breaking the temperature chain within the production.

The company operates several brands at once – “DInBO”, “Zelena Kraina”, “Mushroom World”, which indicates a diversified product model and constant work with the assortment of 10-25 SKU at a time. Presence in the national chains “METRO”, “Sielpo”, “EKO” means a daily turnover in thousands of packages, the mass of shipments in hundreds of kg per day and the need to maintain predictable cooling parameters at stages from the cultivation chamber to expedition.

For EVROPROM, this project is also important because it is a repeat sale: DInBO already operates HVAC equipment from our warehouse and is scaling up capacity as its business grows.

The repeated choice of a supplier in a production facility with a turnover of millions of hryvnias per year, high product sensitivity and tight shipping schedule is a direct confirmation that EVROPROM ‘s engineering solutions, service and approach work not in words, but in a real agro-industrial cycle where there is a potential risk zone.

From brand to shelf

“DInBO” works in the format of production cycle, where growing, sorting, processing and packing of champignons are tied to the rhythm of retail chains. This means not occasional shipments, but a precise and regular flow of products with a turnover of tens of tonnes per month, hundreds of SKUs on the shelf and strict requirements for quality, timing and temperature stability. For such a format, refrigeration infrastructure is not a support, but a basic tool for retaining contracts with national product retail chains.

– Fresh mushrooms under the brand “DInBO” – whole, sliced and mixed, with batch turnover of 900-3,200 kg per week, batch changeover rate of 24-48 hours and sensitivity to storage deviations at the level of ±0.5-0.8 °C, which requires stable cold without peaks;

– Zelena Kraїna line – packaged fresh mushrooms for mass retail, with 20-35 SKUs in operation simultaneously, daily shipments to 5-9 distribution centres and temperature synchronisation along the entire logistics chain;

– Processing and pickled mushrooms under the brand “Gribnyi Svit” – a longer production route with 3-5 cooling zones, increased residence time in chambers up to 72-120 hours and higher requirements for uniformity of cold;

– Typical packaging formats of 180-250 g and 400-500 g, typical for “METRO”, “Sielpo”, “EKO”, where one position can be simultaneously in 25-45 retail outlets, and deviation immediately turns into a network risk;

– The total volume of packaging – thousands of packages per day, while a single temperature failure affects not just one chamber, but 6-12 logistics nodes and is scaled throughout the supply chain.

Presence in METRO, Cilpo, EKO means working to strict standards: fixed delivery windows, limited time at the distribution centre, batch quality control and instant write-offs in case of deviations. In this model, cooling has a direct impact not only on product safety, but also on preserving shelf space, contract turnover and sustainability of the brands “DInBO”, “Zelena Kraina”, “Gribnyi Svit” in the national retail export market.

Engineering structure from EVROPROM

This scale of “D²NBO” automatically forces to build the site as an engineering object, where cold, air and humidity work as a single chain, rather than as a set of disparate refrigeration elements.

– Multi-zone refrigeration architecture on one site: 5-9 independent zones – growing, supercooling, sorting, packing, storage, expedition with total design demand 650-1 150 kW and reserve N 1 at 25-35 %;

– Air exchange and distribution in chambers without aerodynamic failures: 18 000-42 000 m³/h per zone, 6-12 ACH, external static pressure 350-650 Pa, supply/exhaust balance in corridors ±2-4 % to avoid overflows;

– Humidity stability as a KPI for quality, not comfort: 88-96 % RH in production volumes, daily drift not exceeding ±2-3 % RH, specific humidity of 45-110 kg/h per enclosure, dew point control with 1.0-1.8 °C margin;

– Heat transfer fluid and hydraulics without ΔP lottery: flow rate 28-65 m³/h on mains, ΔT 4.0-6.0 °C, pressure loss 45-95 kPa, 2×1 working 1 reserve pumps with frequency control 30-50 Hz and actual efficiency 0.72-0.84;

– Energy efficiency that reads in the bill, not in the booklet: seasonal COP 2.9-4.2, EER 2.6-3.6, cosφ 0.92-0.98, 18-27 % reduction of input peaks due to cascading and VFD logic;

– Air purity and product protection at industry standard level: ISO ePM1 filtration 60-75 % at critical areas, ISO ePM10 50-60 % at storage areas, filter drop 120-260 Pa, cassette life 3-6 months at stable dustiness;

– Gas control and process predictability: CO₂ 800-1,600 ppm in working volumes, alarm thresholds 2,200-2,800 ppm, air removal flow rate 1,200-3,600 m³/h per zone, sensor-based correction in 50-100 ppm steps;

– Fault tolerance 2-4 levels of alarm logic, 24-60 discrete protections, 12-30 analogue control loops, automation response time 200-600 ms, event log 10,000-50,000 entries for troubleshooting and preventive maintenance.

That’s why the transition of “DLNBO” to air chillers and the expansion of the fleet from EVROPROM looks like a repeated engineering purchase according to the mature logic: when the company grows, it strengthens not with capacity, but also with stability of the system in air, water and redundancy, so that the network does not catch failures at the point of sale, and production does not catch them in the workshop.

Cold as a reproducible parameter in the capacity growth of an HVAC cascade with UNIFLAIR

At the stage of production capacity expansion “DnBO” faced a situation typical for large agro-productions: heat inflows increased by 35-45 %, the number of cold points increased from 6-8 to 12-16, and the water scheme stopped scaling without loss of efficiency and complication of maintenance. Switching to an air chiller was not seen as an equipment change, but as a logic of refrigeration supply. The UNIFLAIR 503 kW was chosen as a platform capable of consistently closing cold in the range of 300-480 kW at 55-90 % part load, operating at high seasonal efficiency and reducing total energy consumption through screw compressors and simplified systematic hydraulics.

– The Fu Sheng BSR 324 screw compressors offer energy savings of 18-28 % compared to previously used scroll solutions, which with an installed capacity of 503 kW and an average annual consumption of 1,400,000-1,700,000 kW/h results in energy cost savings in the range of 22,000€-38,000€ per year;

– The 503 kW cooling capacity with 12/7 and 35 °C scheme provides an actual operating margin of 40-50 % with respect to the current site load, allowing the system to operate in the optimal EER zone of 3.4-3.8 at 60-75 % part load;

– Two screw compressors of 250-260 kW each provide smooth modulation of capacity in 5-7 % steps, reducing the number of starts to 6-10 per hour and reducing inrush currents by 30-35 %;

– Two independent refrigeration circuits on R134a increase system fault tolerance, preserving up to 55-60 % of cooling capacity when one circuit is stopped and eliminating cascading failures in the cold chain;

– Shell-and-tube heat exchanger with a design flow rate of 85-110 m³/h operates stably at ΔT 4.5-5.8 K, which reduces hydraulic losses by 12-18 % compared to overloaded plate schemes;

– Eight fans provide a total airflow of about 420,000-480,000 m³/h, keeping the condensing pressure 1.8-2.2 bar below peak summer values;

– The integrated hydronic module with two Calpeda NM 80/16A/C pumps is designed for continuous operation of 20-24 h/day and reduces the need for external pumping stations and back-up lines;

– The unit weight of 5,174 kg and dimensions of 6.4 × 2.2 × 2.5 m allow the chiller to be placed on existing sites without reinforcing foundations and reconstructing load-bearing structures.

As a result, the UNIFLAIR 503 kW has become a key element in the expansion of cooling supply for DILNBO, working in parallel with the supplied EMICON 482 kW and complementing the existing scheme without rebuilding the infrastructure. The new system distributes the load between the circuits, covers current and future peaks, reduces the specific rated energy consumption by 0.12-0.18 kW/h for each kW of cold, simplifies operation due to screw compressors and the elimination of complex water bundles, as well as forms a technological reserve for the next 2-3 stages of production without repeated HVAC investments

Why EVROPROM was repeatedly selected in the project “DYNBO”?

The engineering logic of EVROPROM in projects like DILNBO is not built around one-off delivery, but around re-launching, scaling and managed operation. Here, cold is not a piece of equipment, but a parameter that must be reproduced at each new stage of growth without recalculating the entire agro-industrial system.

– Delivery and preparation time of 5-10 days instead of the standard 84-168 days factory cycle time allowed the project schedule to be maintained without shifting FAT/SAT, with service completed in 1 working day with 30-40 parameters monitored and 12-18 engineering documents generated, eliminating re-negotiations the next time the line is run;

– Readiness for integration without modifications provided stability of modes within ±0.8-1.2 %, correct operation at 25-100 % of load and transients of 80-120 s, which saves 10-25 engineering hours for each re-entry and reduces the risk of cascading errors in systems with 300-900 I/O;

– Service preparation at EVROPROM warehouse by 2-3 engineers was 2-3 times faster than object procedures and reduced the number of visits by 2-4, while the reduction in power consumption due to optimisation of modes was 0.10-0.18 kW/h for each kW of cooling;

– Load tests on 8 parameters with fixing 30-40 measurements, pressure step 0.1 bar, vibrations 1.0-1.5 mm/s and automation response 200-500 ms allowed to keep the scatter between starts within 0.5-1.0 %, which is critical for repeated scaling without reworking of PLC algorithms;

– EVROPROM 6-month warranty closed the starting period of 2 000-5 000 motor-hours, including 1-2 adjustments of settings, which reduces the probability of primary failures to a level below 30% of the industry statistics and simplifies the re-commissioning of similar units;

– A 30-45% mode reserve enabled additional cooling zones to be connected without reassembly, compensating for thermal fluctuations of ±15-25% and keeping specific energy consumption below 0.65-0.72 kW/h per 1 kW of cooling;

– The factory delivery equivalent was obtained with a 60-80 % reduction in total costs and a minimum of <500 hours per compressor, saving tens of thousands of euros in energy costs alone and eliminating unproductive hours for repeat purchases;

– EVROPROM’s recommendation model, validated by 12 years of experience, 1,000 units and projects in 60 countries, allows customers to start up second and third phases 20-35 % faster and with a predictable energy balance without re-engineering.

As a result, restarting a project with EVROPROM is not a repeat of costs, but a repeat of savings: the total effect in terms of energy, reduced delays, reduced engineering hours and avoidance of major rework falls within the range of €40,000€-150,000€ for each new scale-up phase, while kW/h per cycle and start-up risks are reduced simultaneously. This is why cooling works here as a growth tool rather than a variable cost item.

Outcome of the DInBO project

In the DInBO project, the UNIFLAIR 503 kW air chiller became the core of the renewed refrigeration architecture of the farm: the unit was prepared and delivered in 5-10 days, service was performed in 1 working day, the system was tested on 8 key parameters with fixation of 30-40 measurements and put into operation without stopping production, which allowed to synchronise cooling with the growth of cultivation and packing volumes without reconstruction of water circuits; stable operation at load 25-100 %, mode reserve 30-45 %, reduction of specific energy consumption by 0.12-0.18 kW/h per kW of cold and the elimination of complex hydraulics have resulted in energy savings in the range of 40,000€-120,000€ per year at site scale, while the ability to restart similar stages without recalculation of circuits, additional engineering and downtime has turned cold from a costly item into a reproducible growth tool, which explains the repeated choice of EVROPROM as an HVAC engineering partner.

Contact EVROPROM for an optimal and cost-effective choice:

🌐 evroprom.com
📞 48 799 355 595
📥 sales@evroprom.com

Article author:

Svyatoslav Ovcharenko, Sales Manager

23.12.2025