#FRIGAIR2018
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
measures up against the rest of the They also produce a series of white
world. Various expert speakers delivered papers and host various webinars — all
short, 10-minute presentations on the to educate the market and further the
opportunities and challenges of natural ‘natural’ cause.
refrigerants in South Africa and from the
He spoke on why they wanted to
rest of the world. The talks touched on come to Africa and promote the uptake
training in South Africa as well, and looked of natural refrigerants here as well. He
at end-user experiences with natural explained that the Kigali Amendment to
refrigerants, before concluding with an the Montreal Protocol is putting pressure
impressive panel discussion on the way on all countries to phase down ozone
forward for natural refrigerants in South depleting substances (ODSs) at a faster
Africa and Africa as a whole. rate. “This is a golden opportunity for South
The agenda included an impressive mix
Africa to leapfrog from ozone depleting
of high-profile speakers from South Africa substances to natural refrigerants
and internationally: without going to the middle step first,” he
•
Alvaro De Oña – COO and head of
media, shecco
•
•
explained, referring to HFCs.
South Africa is currently busy phasing
Kenneth Bank Madsen – globa out HCFCs, trailing a tad behind many
application expert (Food Retail) of of the other signatories of the Montreal
Danfoss Protocol. The country is not set to
Grant Laidlaw – president of start phasing out HFCs until 2024. But
the South African Institute for De Oña made the point, as so many
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning had before, that it made sense to skip
(SAIRAC) straight to more environmentally friendly
refrigerants, as we know that this is where
This is a golden
opportunity for South
Africa to leapfrog
from ozone depleting
substances to natural
refrigerants without
going to the middle
step first.
– Alvaro De Oña, shecco.
Visitors came from all walks of industry to attend the first ATMO FRIGAIR event, from left:
Rangani Lishivha (Energy Partners); Fulufhelo Makhethakhetha (Riff Raff Trading); Engedzani
Mundalamo (Transnet); and Rhulani Baloyi (CRS).
the world is headed.
THE HISTORY OF REFRIGERANTS
A history of refrigerants De Oña was
followed by Kenneth Bank Madsen of
Danfoss, who took the audience through
a brief history of natural refrigerants,
highlighting significant milestones. His
presentation took a historical walk through
CO 2 development in particular, bringing us
up to recent times. He spoke about what
is new, and asked the questions, “What
now? What will the future bring?”
He looked at challenges for the future
and emphasised that we need to work
•
Alex Kuzma – head of engineering,
Woolworths
•
Malcolm Moore – group project
manager at In2Food
•
Obed Baloyi – director of
Waste Policy and Information
Management, Department of
Environmental Affairs
•
Wynand Groenewald – technical
director of CRS.
on bringing down the cost of training. It
wasn’t just about the challenges, though;
he also looked at “solutions for the future”,
giving insight into what is happening with
natural refrigerants across the world.
He explained that globally, the
barriers for flammable refrigerants are
finally being removed and that policies
affecting the market are constantly
being revised. Madsen urged everyone
Lydia Matthäus-Wiltink (left) with Jocelyn Kettle of CRS, who helped organise the event.
SWITCHING TO NATURALS
STRAIGHT AWAY
The event was kicked off by De Oña who,
as chair of the session, welcomed everyone
to the momentous occasion with the help
of Groenewald. He asked visitors to stand
up and introduce themselves to someone
they haven’t met before — it was a
‘networking’ event after all.
Once everyone settled down again,
De Oña gave a brief introduction
about shecco and the ATMOsphere
brand. shecco is a Belgium-based
company that has been active in the
global HVAC&R industry for over 15
years, promoting the uptake of natural
refrigerants through innovative solutions
and market development. They publish
various Accelerate magazines across the
world and also own the popular websites
R744.com, hydrocarbons21.com, and
ammonia21.com (among others).
Standing up to shake hands – officially making it a ‘networking’ event.
COLD LINK AFRICA • July/August 2018
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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