Facts
Vitamins for the world
Recently, the Food Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) predicted that the world population would top eight billion by the year 2030. Therefore, the demand for food would increase dramatically. According to the report, crop output is projected to be 70 percent higher in 2030 than current output.
Fruits and vegetables will play an important role in providing essential vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibre to the world, feeding populations in both developed and developing countries.
However, during postharvest storage, transport and distribution, losses up to 50% occur.
Currently, controlled atmosphere systems (CA systems) are the state-of-the-art agricultural storage methods in which the concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as well as the temperature and humidity of a storage room are empirically determined and often suboptimal resulting in more losses than expected.
Optiflux solutions predict quality changes and determines optimal storage conditions resulting in the highest possible quality and value after storage.
8
billion people
by 2030
70%
higher production output needed
50%
losses in postharvest today
Products & Services
Monetize your hard work, store and sell your fruit in the best conditions with Optiflux postharvest solutions
Optiflux® makes innovative storage technology that is used for monitoring, control and management of contemporary storage facilities for fresh fruit and vegetables. To this end, Optiflux® offers smart algorithms that predict quality changes and determine optimal storage conditions in order to guarantee the highest possible quality and value after storage. Our technology consists of a measurement and control system linked to a cloud platform with various software services.
Optiflux offers an add- on measurement and control system that can be installed on existing cold stores.
The system collects measurement data of oxygen, carbon dioxide, ethylene, ammonia and temperatures and sends it digitally to the cloud.
Accurate real-time measurements of:
-
O2/CO2/C2H4/NH3
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Temperature, humidity, air quality
Works with
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Optiflux WatchDog application
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Designed for OptiControl® DCA
Based on the gathered data in the cloud, Optiflux offers three SaaS modules:
Measure, monitor and compare storage room conditions
Integrate temperature, CA and machine data
User-friendly visualization
Set alarms
and notifications
Determine and predict quality during storage
Overview quality going
into storage
Predict storability and shelf life
Informed inventory
management
Optimal long-term storage with DCA
Dynamically optimize storage atmosphere
Improve storability
Save energy
WatchDog: collecting and user-friendly display of the measured oxygen, carbon dioxide and temperature in a clear dashboard on the basis of lists and graphs.
Possibility to set alarm thresholds and notifications in case of deviation via e-mail & SMS. Ability to efficiently enter manual control measurements on gas composition and temperature. Ability to flexibly export data in the form of tables and graphs for reporting and reports.
StorageInsights: This module uses mathematical models that describe the change in the quality of the fruit (such as firmness and color) based on the initial quality of the batch at harvest and the measured gas composition and temperature.
On the basis of this module, it can be determined which batches are suitable for short, medium and long storage, allowing informed decisions to be made about when to open which cold store.
OptiControl: With OptiControl DCA, the oxygen level in the cold store is gradually lowered, until it is detected on the basis of fruit respiration that the fruit is experiencing low oxygen stress. Then the oxygen level is increased slightly until this low oxygen stress disappears. In this way, the fruit is stored at the lowest possible oxygen level, which leads to maximum preservation of quality, without introducing taste or storage disorders.
Technology
Patented Optiflux Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere (DCA) principle
Optiflux has developed and patented an innovative and non-chemical system to optimize the controlled atmosphere gas composition to the needs of the product being stored or transported, by measuring fruit respiration.
With Optiflux dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) storage, the oxygen level in the storage facility is gradually decreased until, based on measurement of respiration of the fruit, low oxygen stress is detected. Subsequently, the oxygen level is slightly increased until relief of low oxygen stress. In this way, the fruit is stored at the lowest oxygen level possible resulting in maximal quality preservation without development of disorders and off-flavors.
Schematic representation of the OptiControl DCA principle.
Evidence from research
To evaluate the effect of Optiflux technology on post-storage quality of apple fruit, a pilot infrastructure was built in collaboration with the Postharvest Group of KU Leuven and the Flanders Centre of Postharvest Technology (VCBT).
Long term storage experiments complemented with extensive shelf life exposure were conducted for various apple cultivars, including scald-sensitive and quickly softening cultivars such as ‘Granny Smith’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ apple fruit, ‘Conference’ pear fruit, ‘Liberty’ blueberry fruit and ‘Kordia’ sweet cherry.
Storage Insights: measure, predict, plan
Technology highlights
News
Optiflux is elected Limburg startup of the year 2022!
02/12/2022
We are thrilled to announce that Optiflux was voted Limburg Startup of the Year 2022! 🏆 This is a great recognition for the hard work of the past year and strong motivation to further expand Optiflux. A big thank you to all our customers for helping Optiflux grow so fast! We couldn't have done this without you!
Optiflux raises 600.000 Euro capital
08/07/2021
Optiflux, developer of an innovative method to preserve fruit better after harvesting, is raising 600,000 euros from the Limburg Investment Company LRM, Gemma Frisius Fund (GFF), KU Leuven, the Belgian Fruit Auction (BFV), BelOrta and the founders. The company is active in the agrotech sector and was founded at the beginning of this year as a spin-off of the MeBioS Postharvest group.
The innovative measurement and control system is the result of years of research at KU Leuven, in collaboration with the Flanders Center of Postharvest Technology (VCBT) and the Association of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives (VBT). In this first capital round, Optiflux raises 600,000 euros from LRM, GFF, KU Leuven, BFV, BelOrta and the founders Niels Bessemans, Pieter Coppens, Pieter Verboven and Bart Nicolaï.
Smart hub Vlaams-Brabant awards subsidy of €102.770 to DigiFruit Project
28/01/2021
We are happy to announce that on January 28 - 2021, the DigiFruit project was selected to receive an innovation subsidy of the province of Flemish Brabant. The subsidy will accelerate Optiflux' hardware development and support installation of first systems with project partners.
Optiflux selected for Start it @KBC accelerator program!
27/03/2020
Great news! On March 27 - 2020, Optiflux was selected by a jury of experts to participate the business accelerator program of Start it @ KBC!
Upcoming Events
Come and meet us!
XII International Conference Postharvest Unlimited
May 14th-17th
We are excited to be sponsor of the Postharvest Unlimited Conference & Postharvest Ornamentals Symposium, May 14th-17th at Omnia, Wageningen Campus, The Netherlands.The event discusses the latest findings & insights related to postharvest quality preservation.
Our CEO, Niels Bessemans, will be representing us at the conference.
Talk to him and find out what Optiflux' role is with this respect and what we can do for you!
More info about the conference & program: https://ap.lc/cHF6F
Jobs
Don't work at Apple. Join Optiflux!
Business developer
As a Business Developer you implement and coordinate the company's business plan. Your main role is to deploy new growth levers for the company. You will have a real strategic role, developing a long-term vision for the company while at the same time rolling out tactics to rapidly conquer new markets.
Full-stack developer
As a full-stack developer you will participate in building Optiflux software services. Hereto, you will set up databases and data flows between devices at the customer site and the Optiflux cloud. You will implement data science algorithms in the cloud platform and develop the front- and backend of the Optiflux webapps. You will deploy and maintain these applications.
Contact us
Get started with Optiflux today
For any inquiries, questions or recommendations, fill out the following form or e-mail at info@optiflux.world
Greenville, Centrum-Zuid 1111
3530 Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgium