Cold Link Africa January / February 2020 | Page 27

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
OUT AND ABOUT
In the new week, the group did site
visits for three days to view installations
charged with natural refrigerants,
even water. The Roche Diagnostics
GmbH plant in Penzberg, had cascade
CO 2 /propane plant for chilled water
and other processing plant in the
manufacture of pharmaceuticals. It was
interesting to note that all refrigerant
piping in the Roche plant was of
stainless steel.
The Maintal College does not have an
operational ammonia training plant and
all operational training was theoretical.
For training in the principals of ammonia
systems, the group visited the plant of
Nordfrost GmbH, a third-party distributor
of refrigerated perishables. Nordfrost
generates on site 1 156kW of power with
natural gas to drive the refrigeration plant.
A meeting with officials of the
Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and
Consumer Protection in Munich, was of
mutual interest and gave further insight
to the natural refrigerant training project
to be undertaken in South Africa.
After the Bavarian Ministry, the group
visited a hops processing plant in Au in
der Hallertau. The site comprises a large-
scale warehouse and processing facility
for raw hops into pellets for breweries
using a cascade system with propane
(R290) for the upper stage and carbon
dioxide (R744) for the lower stage. In
COLD LINK AFRICA •
January/February 2020
Small unit for training in the skills for R290
systems at the college in Maintal.
this installation, all refrigerant piping is of
high-grade copper.
The plant at Heiderbeck GmbH, a
sales company for high quality cheese
specialities and gourmet products, is
charged with R1270 (propylene), which
is not used much in South Africa. Being
classified as a A3 refrigerant, the charge
of the plant is limited. The packaged
refrigeration unit, manufactured
by Frigadon of Sweden, has three
circuits each with only 4kg of R1270 for
compliance with safety standards.
Lidl, one of Europe’s major
supermarket chains, was next to be
visited. The group has chosen R290 for
all new stores and in old stores at time of
being revamped. For the back-up cold
stores, R290 plug in units are installed
on the roof. Any leaks that can occur
would be in the large area outside the
cold store.
The e-chiller charged with water
(R718) as the refrigerant is under further
development at Efficient Energy GmbH.
Efficient Energy GmbH in Feldkirchen was
the last to be visited and probably the
most unusual. The company produces
the E-chiller, using water (R718) as the
refrigerant. Although still expensive to
produce, the company has developed a
compressor solely for water. The models
have a capacity of 20 to 45kW with a
COP of 3.6 to 4.0 when producing water
at 10˚C. The high efficiency e-chiller
is probably the most environmentally
friendly chiller in production: zero GWP,
Two stage ammonia plant at Roche.
zero ODP and low carbon emissions from
absorbed power.
The site visits and training proved
interesting and an eye-opening
revelation as to the momentum of the
swing towards natural refrigerants in
Europe and the innovation in overcoming
the safety and operational constraints.
The knowledge and experiences gained
during the visit will have far reaching
benefits towards the growth of natural
refrigerants in South Africa. CLA
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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