• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.1012-1021
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• 2021

This study evaluated the effect of freezing rate on the quality characteristics of pork loin to establish an objective standard for rapid freezing. To generate various freezing rates, three air flow rates (0, 1.5, and 3.0 m/s) were applied under three freezing temperatures (-20℃, -30℃, and -40℃). Based on the results, freezing rates ranged from 0.26-1.42 cm/h and were graded by three categories, i.e, slow (category I, >0.4 cm/h), intermediate (category II, 0.6-0.7 cm/h) and rapid freezing (category III, >0.96 cm/h). Both temperature and the air flow rate influenced the freezing rate, and the freezing rate affected the ice crystal size and shear force in pork loin. However, the air flow rate did not affect thawing loss, drip loss or the color of pork loins. In the comparison of freezing rates, pork belonging to category II did not show a clear difference in quality parameters from pork in category I. Furthermore, pork in category III showed fresh meat-like qualities, and the quality characteristics were clearly distinct from those of category I. Although the current standard for rapid freezing rate is 0.5 cm/h, this study suggested that 0.96 cm/h is the lowest freezing rate for achieving meat quality distinguishable from that achieved with conventional freezing, and further increasing the freezing rate did not provide advantages from an energy consumption perspective.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of slow freezing with that of vitrification method for the cryopreservation of human embryos. Human embryos were derived from in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and the mixed solution of propanedial (1.5, 1.0, 0.5M PROH) and sucrose (0.1M), ethylene glycol (7.5, 15%), dimethyl sulfoxide (7.5, 15% DMSO), sucrose (0.5, 1.0M) and SPS (Serum Protein Substitute) was used for a cryoprotectant for slow freezing and vitrification solution, respectively. Rates of recovery after thawing, morphological normality, post-thaw viability, arrest, morphological abnormality and preimplantation development were compared between two protocols. After freezing-thawing, recovery and survial rate of slow freezing was (88.6% and 73.4%), whereas vitrification was (99.2% and 96.2%) (p<0.05). The arrest rate of slow freezing was significantly lower compared with those of vitrification(8.7% vs 29.9%) (p<0.05). Preimplantation development to the 2-cell (83.8% vs 67.7%), 4-cell (69.0% vs 47.2%) and 8-cell (62.4% vs 37.8%) stages 24, 48 and 72 h after thawing, respectively, were higher in the slow freezing than the vitrification. After slow freezing and vitrification of human embryo at 2-8cell stage, the rate of recovery rate, survival rate and partial damage rate were 92.0% vs 100%, 80.4% vs 96.2% and 52.2% vs 19.0%, respectively. And partial damage rate was significantly lower than those of slow freezing method (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that a slow freezing using PROH is more efficient than a vitrification for cryopreserving the human zygotes, although the vitrification yielded better recovery, survival and partial damage of frozen-thawed 2-8 cell stage embryos than slow freezing method.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.13.1-13.7
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• 2016

Background: In the present study, various freezing containers were tested for mouse embryos of respective developmental stages; embryos were vitrified and then their survival rate and developmental rate were monitored. Mouse two cell, 8 cell, and blastula stage embryos underwent vitrification freezing-thawing and then their recovery rate, survival rate, development rate, and hatching rate were investigated. Methods: EM-grid, OPS, and cryo-loop were utilized for vitrification freezing-thawing of mouse embryos. Results: It was found that recovery rate and survival rate were higher in the group of cryo-loop compared to those of EM-grid (p < 0.05). Embryonic development rate, two cell embryos to blastocyst, as well as hatching rate were higher in the control group compared to the EM-grid group and OPS group (p < 0.05), yet no difference was noted between the control group and cryo-loop group. Development rate and hatching rate of eight cell morulae and blastocysts were all lower in the treatment groups than the control group whilst hatching rate of blastocysts was higher in the control group compared to the groups of EM-grid and OPS (p < 0.05); although the cryo-loop group was shown to be slightly higher than other groups, it was not statistically significant. Conclusions: In the study, we investigate effects of freezing containers on vitrified embryos of respective developmental stages; it was demonstrated that higher developmental rate was shown in more progressed (or developed) embryos with more blastomeres. There was however, no difference in embryonic development rate was shown amongst containers. Taken together, further additional studies are warranted with regards to 1) manipulation techniques of embryos for various vitrification freezing containers and 2) preventive measures against contamination via liquid nitrogen.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2014

This study was carried out to study the survival rate of thawed Hanwoo embryos frozen by the slow-rate freezing or the cryotop vitrification method. Hanwoo cumulus-oocyte complexes were recovered from ovaries at a slaughter house, matured for 20~22 hours, fertilized with Hanwoo semen for 5~6 hours, and cultured for 7~9 days in $38.5^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ incubator. For freezing, Day 7~9 blastocysts were collected. Embryos for the slow-rate freezing were equilibrated in 1.8 M ethylene glycol (EG) with Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (D-PBS). Programmable cell freezer was precooled down to $-7^{\circ}C$, and the straw was seeded during 8 minutes-holding time, and was cooled to $-35^{\circ}C$ at the cooling rate of $0.3^{\circ}C/min$, and then was plunged and stored in liquid nitrogen. Embryos for the cryotop vitrification were treated in TCM199 with 0.5 M sucrose, 16% EG, 16% dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Embryos were then loaded individually onto cryotop and plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. The survival rates of embryos frozen by these two freezing methods were evaluated at 12 to 24h post-thawing. The survival rates of frozen/thawed Hanwoo embryos by the cryotop vitrification method ($56.86{\pm}26.53%$) were slightly higher than those by the slow-rate freezing method ($55.07{\pm}26.43%$) with no significant difference. Using the cryotop vitrification and the slow-rate freezing of Hanwoo blastocysts on Day 7 following in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, the survival rates of frozen/thawed Hanwoo embryos were $72.65{\pm}18.3%$ and $79.06{\pm}17.8%$, respectively. The survival rates by the cryotop vitrification were higher than those by the slow-rate freezing on both Day 8 and 9 with significantly higher survival rate on Day 9 (p<0.05). Using the cryotop vitrification and the slow-rate freezing of Hanwoo embryos to compare between three different blastocyst stages, the survival rates of the blastocyst stage embryos were $66.22{\pm}18.8%$ and $45.76{\pm}12.8%$, respectively with higher survival rate by the vitrification method (p<0.05). And the survival rate of expanded blastocysts was higher than those of early blastocysts and blastocysts in two freezing methods with significantly higher survival rate by the slow-rate freezing method (p<0.05).

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.1250-1259
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• 2001

This study was experimentally performed to investigate sea water freezing behavior along parallel cooled plate with bubbly flow The experiments were carried out for a variety of parameter, such as sea water velocity, air-bubble flow rate, and cooled-plate temperature. The shape of freezing layer, freezing rate and salinity of frozen layer were observed and measured. It was found that the experimental parameters gave a great influence on the freezing rate and the salinity of the frozen layer.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.386-394
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• 1991

Freezing of saturated porous media contained in a rectangular cavity has been studied experimentally. Water and different diameter glass beads consitituted the liquid and porous media. Solidification front shape, the effects of bead diameter and initial liquid temperature was investigated. When the hot wall temperature was below $4^{\circ}C$, the freezing rate was higher at the top than at the bottom due to the density inversion, but with increasing the hot wall temperature the freezing rate at the top was effected by the liquid temperature and was lower than at the bottom. With increasing the bead diameter, the difference of freezing rate between top and bottom was increased and depends on thermal conductivity. When the liquid temperature was low in the beginning, the freezing rate was high, but with increasing the time almost the same with those of high temperature liquid.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Marine Engineers Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.249-257
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• 2001

This study was experimentally performed to investigate sea water freezing behavior along parallel cooled plate with bubbly flow. The experiments were carried out for a variety of parameter, such as sea water velocity, air-bubble flow rate, and cooled-plate temperature. The shape of freezing layer, freezing rate and salinity of frozen layer were observed and measured. It was found that the experimental parameters gave a great influence on the freezing rate and the salinity of the frozen layer.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 1988

Most of meat spoilage bacteria area Gram negative, which are very sensitive to freezing ; for instance , 90% of E. coli cells are killed or sub-lethally injured by freezing at -3$0^{\circ}C$, and the freeze-injury rate is dependent upon freezing rate. Since the injured bacterial cells are sensitive to selective agents, they fail to multiply in selective media. Injured bacterial cells are, however, capable of spontaneous repair at appropriate environmental and nutritional conditions . Enumeration of injured bacterial cells involves artificial induction of repair at these conditions. Cubic beef samples(3$\times$3$\times$3cm) were frozen at -6$0^{\circ}C$, -4$0^{\circ}C$, or -18$^{\circ}C$. The samples frozen at each temperature were thawed at 4$^{\circ}C$, 2$0^{\circ}C$, or by microwave . After these respective freezing an thawing treatments, the percentage of sub-lethally injured total coliforms out of total surviving ones was measured and compared. The results were as follows: 1. The interaction between freezing and thawing on injury rate was not significant. 2. The injury rates(as means of all three thawing treatments post-freezing) by freezing at -6$0^{\circ}C$, -4$0^{\circ}C$, or -18$^{\circ}C$ were 32.2$^{\circ}C$ and 19.2$^{\circ}C$ respectively . 3. The injury rates(as means of all three freezing treatments)by thawing at 4$^{\circ}C$, 2$0^{\circ}C$, or by microwave were 49.3%, 11.7% and 21.0% respectively. The highest injury rate was caused by freezing at -6$0^{\circ}C$ and subsequent thawing at 4$^{\circ}C$. However since the injury rates by freezing treatment were not significantly different, freezing at -18$^{\circ}C$ and subsequent thawing at 4$^{\circ}C$ can also be recommended , from an economic perspective.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.1055-1061
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• 2014

Innovative freezing technology is currently applied to preserve foodstuffs for long-term storage. Generally, the quality of frozen food is closely related to the types of freezing and thawing processes. In this study, we characterized the physicochemical properties of onions depending on freezing rate. When onions were frozen at $-40^{\circ}C$, freezing rates were 0.1, 0.5, and $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ depending on air-blast quick freezer mode. Onions were thawed by microwave irradiation at 400 W. Hardness of onion dramatically decreased after freezing and thawing compared with blanched onion. However, the fastest freezing rate did not affect hardness. Thawing loss of onion decreased with a faster freezing rate. For morphological observation, onion frozen at a faster rate showed a smaller ice-crystal size. Vitamin C content decreased upon blanching or freezing, but there was no significant difference according to freezing rate. Although free sugar content also decreased upon blanching and freezing, its highest content was at $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ freezing. Among organic acids, malic acid content was highest at $0.7^{\circ}C/min$ freezing. Based on this study, it could be suggested that a faster freezing rate is effective to improve frozen food quality in accordance with preventing tissue damage or minimizing destruction of nutrients.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.555-565
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• 2018

Nowadays, the artificial ground freezing (AGF) method has been used in many geotechnical engineering applications such as temporary excavation support, underpinning, and groundwater cutoff. The AGF method conducts the freezing process by employing a refrigerant circulating through a set of embedded freezing pipes to form frozen walls serving as an excavation support and cutoff wall. Two refrigerants of brine with the freezing temperature of $-20{\sim}-40^{\circ}C$ and liquid nitrogen with the freezing (evaporating) temperature of $-196^{\circ}C$ are commonly being used in geotechnical applications. This paper performed a series of field experiments to evaluate the freezing rate of marine clay in application of the AGF method. The field experiments consisted of the single freezing-pipe test and the frozen-wall formation test by circulating liquid nitrogen, which is a cryogenic refrigerant, into freezing pipes constructed at a depth of 3.2 m in the ground. The temperature of discharged liquid nitrogen was maintained through the automatic valve, and the temperature change induced by AGF method was measured at the freezing pipes and in the ground with time. According to the experimental results, the single freezing-pipe test consumed about 11.9 tons of liquid nitrogen for 3.5 days to form a cylindrical frozen body with the volume of about $2.12m^3$. In addition, the frozen-wall formation test used about 18 tons of liquid nitrogen for 4.1 days to form a frozen wall with the volume of about $7.04m^3$. The radial freezing rate decreased with increasing the radius of frozen body because the frozen area at a certain depth is proportional to the square of the radius. The radial freezing rate was formulated as a simple equation.