EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
recovery for steam generation or heating
of water.
Compliance with regulations and
health and safety standards has in recent
years been given more attention by plant
operators.
Ilana Koegelenberg, deputy manager
market development, shecco, stated
that globally, the acceptance of natural
refrigerants is on the increase. “In 2008
there were 140 installations of trans-critical
CO 2 systems. Ten years later, there are
20 000 and by September 2019 there were
30 000 installations globally. Trans-critical
CO 2 applications have mainly been in
supermarket stores with a small growth in
the industrial sector. In ammonia, there
has been significant growth in low charge
installations being driven by regulatory
requirements, safety and energy
efficiency. Europe is predicted to have
the highest future growth in low charge
ammonia systems.”
Research by shecco has found
that globally, 3.2 million refrigerated
display cabinets are now operating on
hydrocarbons and a further 2 500 plus
installations are using hydrocarbon water-
loop technology.
An increasing number of consumer
brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi,
Heineken and Red Bull are choosing
hydrocarbons for their point of sale
equipment. These brands have in excess
of eight million units in service and report
energy savings of between 10 and 20%
when compared to previously used
HFC equipment. The energy savings are
attributed not only to the refrigerant
charge, but also to new invertor
technology and approved controls. The
updated IEC 60335-2-9 standard which
increased the allowable charge of
hydrocarbons to 500 grams, will most likely
stimulate larger installations.
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Several projects across the globe are
underway to promote natural refrigerants in
the food cold chain sector.
BENEFITS OF TRANSITIONING
“The change from HCFCs is not just
about meeting local and international
agreements but also has far reaching
benefits for refrigerant users,” said
Bernd Kaltenbrunner from Eurammon, a
European non-profit initiative for natural
refrigerants. Europe has ammonia
refrigeration installations that have been
operating for centuries.
Before addressing the benefits, he
referred to the forces driving a swing from
HFC refrigerants in Europe. “EU regulation
EN517/2014 requires automatic leak
detection, record keeping, prevention of
emission of fluorinated greenhouse gases,
regular leak tests at intervals according
to the tonnage of CO 2 equivalent of
the charge. Compliance with these
requirements adds to operating costs and
is considered to be on a par with the safety
requirements of ammonia installation.
“The green peace movement and
public demand have driven a change
towards natural refrigerants. The spiralling
cost of synthetic refrigerants has driven
change. The phase-out of R22 in the
supermarket chain groups in 1994 has
driven the change towards low GWP
refrigerants.” Safety when it comes to
natural refrigerants is a concern but with
experience, knowledge and training, it can
be overcome, he added.
The size of ammonia plants has
increased manifold without any fatalities
in Europe due to ammonia leaks. Many
features have been added to improve
efficiency and utilise space in cold stores
with floor area of 36000m 2 and 18m in
height. Defrost systems are used to keep
doorways free of ice, mobile racking, and
automatic alarm systems, for instance.
Other natural refrigerants, R290, CO 2
and combinations have all seen similar
developments and are widely used with
very little risk.
The available expertise and skills in
natural refrigerants encouraged some
operators to swing towards CO 2 , propane
and ammonia. He recalled a CO 2 plant
that had operated from 1904 to 1997 with
an average COP of 3.36. Kaltenbrunner
showed many examples of new natural
refrigerant installations that had benefitted
by lower energy usage, lower maintenance
cost and lower priced refrigerant.
MAKING IT WORK
All role players have a role to play: the ball
is in our court to extend the quality of life on
our planet.
Baloyi wrapped up the Workshop and
thanked all delegates for attending and
those who had done presentations and all
the needed preparations. Many delegates
and presenters had travelled from far and
he wished them a safe journey home.
He also undertook to follow through
on the challenge that government, who
own many office buildings, hospitals,
clinics, mortuaries, cold rooms and official
residences, to take the lead and convert
these to green cooling and air conditioning
with high energy efficiencies. CLA
LEARNING FROM INDUSTRY
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Austria placed a ban on disposables in 2007. The pricing of refrigerants In Austria peaked in 2018 and has levelled off. It is difficult
to address illegal imports as evidence is not very good and borders with neighbouring countries are not well controlled.
Honeywell have developed and tested a range of HFOs as building blocks towards low global warming and energy efficient
air conditioning, chillers, solvents, foaming agents and commercial refrigeration. Many case studies have been done in
Europe. R448a have been tested in supermarket installations in Europe and has shown an improved energy efficiency of 5 to
10% versus R404A.
Woolworths South Africa installed the first sub-critical system in October 2009. This was part of the stores 2020 goals of a good
business journey towards improving energy efficiency and reducing their carbon footprint. The systems are reliable and simple
and have proven to work well in high ambient conditions. Presently, Woolworths have over 90 stores that operate on CO 2
trans-critical.
Association of Refrigeration and Businessmen (SOSIAD) in Turkey, conducted a number of low carbon emission refrigeration pilot
projects, these have resulted in a 48% saving in energy between R448A and R22 systems.
References:
1.
Maria Puriner a representative from the Austria Environmental Agency
2.
Evonne Liyai-Malefo, Honeywell
3.
Alex Kuzma, Woolworths
4.
Kivanc Aslantas, SOSIAD Association, Turkey
COLD LINK AFRICA •
March/April 2020