INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
FEATURE cooling requirements and design a system that makes better use of waste energy.
One example is the pasta production line. Instead of letting waste heat from cooling freshly made pasta dissipate, the system captures it via a heat pump and reuses it to provide hot water for cooking pasta upstream. This creates a sustainable closedloop cycle that reduces energy bills while lowering emissions.
GEA stresses that such optimisation is most effective when implemented early in the design phase, which is why its interdisciplinary teams – combining sustainability experts, process engineers and refrigeration specialists – work with customers from the outset. This approach can cut operating costs by nearly a third, while slashing CO₂ and NOx emissions by as much as 90 %. With the use of renewable electricity, emissions can even be reduced to net zero.
The principle has already been put into practice at Wipasz, Poland’ s leading poultry producer. Here, GEA’ s ammonia-based refrigeration systems handle all cooling, while two heat-recovery units and a heat pump supply the site’ s hot water needs, including office heating, leaving the boiler as a mere backup. The result: a significant drop in energy use and a more sustainable operation.
For producers with existing plants, GEA offers Add Better Consulting, a technical sustainability service that helps customers identify potential improvements and translate them into practical engineering solutions, minimising downtime and ensuring a rapid payback.
GETTING TOUGH ON INDUSTRIAL EMISSIONS: COOLING AND CO₂ RECOVERY IN FOCUS
Industrial plants are under unprecedented pressure to curb their environmental footprint. While energy efficiency and decarbonisation strategies often focus on boilers, furnaces or direct fuel consumption, another major lever is hidden in plain sight: refrigeration and process cooling.
GEA’ s work in the area of refrigeration and CO₂ recovery demonstrates how utilities within plants can play a central role in reducing emissions and energy use simultaneously.
Refrigeration systems are essential in industries ranging from chemicals and refining to food and pharmaceuticals. They enable controlled temperatures across a spectrum from ultra-low to moderate, supporting everything from chemical separations to the safe storage of sensitive products.
Yet, because they consume large amounts of electricity and often waste recoverable heat, refrigeration plants also represent a major contributor to both costs and emissions. Integrating CO₂ recovery solutions into these utilities offers a way of addressing both challenges at once. GEA notes that cooling is rarely optimised in isolation. More often than not, chillers, compressors and refrigeration lines are
designed simply to‘ do the job’. The result:
oversized equipment, untapped wasteheat streams and missed opportunities to recycle carbon dioxide from flue gases or process vents.
By re-engineering utilities holistically, plants can capture CO₂ while also reducing net energy use. Waste heat from refrigeration cycles, for instance, can be fed into heat recovery units, generating valuable hot water or process steam. Meanwhile, optimised CO₂ recovery technology prevents greenhouse gases from escaping into the atmosphere, making the cooling plant a net contributor to sustainability goals rather than just a cost centre.
CASE FOR INTEGRATION
The paper( GEA technical paper on‘ Refrigeration and CO₂ Recovery / Utilities’) underlines that tackling emissions effectively requires an interdisciplinary approach – bringing together cooling engineers, process specialists and sustainability experts. This ensures that:
• Refrigeration capacity is correctly sized to match process needs.
• CO₂ recovery systems are seamlessly integrated into utility design.
• Heat recovery loops are incorporated wherever possible, turning‘ waste’ energy into useful process heat.
The combined effect is not only a significant reduction in CO₂ and nitrogen oxide( NO x
) emissions, but also meaningful cuts in operating costs. Plants may achieve a double benefit: lower energy bills and a stronger sustainability profile that resonates with regulators and customers alike.
Where many manufacturers once viewed emission controls as a regulatory burden, solutions like GEA’ s utilities integration show they can become a source of competitive advantage. By rethinking refrigeration and cooling not as stand-alone systems but as platforms for carbon reduction and energy efficiency, companies can meet compliance requirements while future-proofing their operations.
Cooling has long been regarded as a necessary but energy-hungry utility. As GEA’ s technical paper‘ Refrigeration and CO₂ Recovery / Utilities’ makes clear, it is increasingly being recognised as a cornerstone of decarbonisation. By aligning process cooling with carbon capture and energy recovery, manufacturers gain the ability not only to cut emissions but to reshape the economics of their plants.
In short, refrigeration and CO₂ recovery are no longer peripheral utilities: they are front-line technologies in the fight against industrial emissions.
CLA
Sources
1. https:// www. gea. com / en / stories / getting-toughon-industrial-emissions-with-co2-abatementand-carbon-capture-technologies /? utm 2. Future Green Now
3. https:// www. gea. com / en / news / tradepress / 2025 / energy-emission-reduction-nexus /
January / February 2026 COLD LINK AFRICA
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