The good , the bad and the ugly of refrigerants Compiled by Eamonn Ryan

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO ₂ are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

The choice of refrigerant ( and technology ) has become complex . In the HVAC & R industry , issues related to working fluids in many applications are ongoing . There are of course many different applications : chemical companies , manufacturers of equipment , distributors , environmental organisations , politicians and the public all make use of refrigerants .

Refrigerants play an essential role in cooling . Refrigerant gases used in all refrigeration systems are classified as natural or synthetic . Ammonia , carbon dioxide and propane ( though less so in South Africa ) are the most widely used natural refrigerants due to their excellent thermodynamic properties .

While useful , refrigerants are considered to be a significant contributing factor in global warming and so advancement in technology has brought about the initiation of environment-friendly refrigerants .

Regular Cold Link Africa contributor Andrew Perks writes ¹ : “ It was noted in a recent Global Cold Chain Alliance webinar in Cape Town , in an open discussion on ‘ manage the moment ’, that plant operator errors account for on average 80 % of all the incidents recorded . The engineer from the site that had the incident was quite open and shared the impact to the site with the escalating circumstances related to turbulent variable wind direction moving the released ammonia around the site so much that they had to relocate to different assembly points three times during the incident . This not only escalated the incident but made it very difficult to maintain order with those affected that were being evacuated .

“ You just have got to get those procedures in place and do regular training . It ’ s all about training , training and then some more training . While you may send your technical staff for SAQCCGas training , you still need to comply with current regulations that require an annual site incident response training / evacuation plan that complies with SANS 1514 ,” says Perks .

So , what do we do about getting prepared for your worst nightmare ?

“ It was agreed ( in the discussion during the webinar ) that having an up-to-date emergency plan is the first step . Thereafter , you need to undertake yearly site incident response / evacuation training exercises to get your emergency teams up to speed which also keeps you in line with the MHI regulation ’ s requirements . It ’ s important so that in the event of an incident there are no surprises .”

As Perks says in the article , “[ h ] indsight is an exact science ”, however in practice nothing is as valuable as having hands-on experience when dealing with potentially dangerous refrigerants such as ammonia . Nonetheless , despite the risks Perks

© Eamonn Ryan Cold Link Africa emphasises that there are many advantages to using ammonia due to the fact that it is extremely efficient and holds the potential to solve future energy requirements . As ammonia is a natural refrigerant it will not damage the ozone layer and is a clean source of energy .

“ Lest you have forgotten , ammonia ’ s chemical formula is NH3 . That is one particle of nitrogen and three parts of hydrogen . It ’ s the hydrogen that makes ammonia hazardous but it ’ s also the hydrogen that makes it useful as an energy source . As ammonia , all the particles are bound together , so it is easy to transport – as illustrated in the images within this article ,” writes Perks . “ The fact that hydrogen is one of the lightest gases we know after helium allows us , with the correct process , to split ammonia into its base components . Starting to make sense ? So much so that we now have an ammonia energy industry . Back in the day who would have thought this to be the reality of today ?”

Perks goes on to highlight the fact that there are various ‘ green ’ ammonia projects which are currently being undertaken across the globe which will open up a multitude of possibilities for using ammonia as a fuel source . In fact , such ‘ bunkering ’ studies have been underway for decades to find ways of using ammonia experimentally to fuel cars and ships . One of the advantages identified by Perks is that the only emission produced by cars using ammonia is water vapour , making it extremely clean as a fuel source .

“ A couple of years ago , the Ammonia Safety & Training Institute ( ASTI ) took the decision to develop training programmes for use in the ammonia energy industry . ASTI realised that the skill set required in the ammonia energy industry is quite different to the ammonia refrigeration industry in that

Students on one of OTTC ’ s ammonia courses .

Isolde Dobelin , director of Open Trade Training Centre ( OTTC ).

the level of prior knowledge is negligible for those attending the training courses . In order to cope with that , ASTI developed a course ‘ ammonia 101 ’ for the energy industry . At Perks Enterprises we believe that we are in the unique position along with ASTI to bring this specialised safety training for the ammonia energy industry to South Africa .”

“ The fact is that we are developing a new ammonia industry in Gqeberha – projected to come online in 2025 and at full capacity in 2026 means that we need to be in a position to supply this type of training and certification . The project is said to be looking at filling up to 10 000 jobs when completely operational . The need for safety and operational training is therefore massive .” “ One of the problems with the current training programmes in South Africa is that we really only have a skills programme for artisan training . You have to start somewhere but we also need to add those specific skills required to actually operate in the field ,” writes Perks .

CAREL KNOW-HOW IN NATREF SOLUTIONS Euroshop , held in Düsseldorf from 26 February to 2 March , was all about demonstrating how to improve the performance of refrigeration systems while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint of the applications these solutions are integrated into .

CAREL in particular had three main tools on demonstration ² .

The first tool available to the commercial refrigeration market is the use of natural refrigerants , considered the most future-proof alternative for reducing the harm caused to the environmental by synthetic refrigerants . Specifically , CO ₂ and propane are the most widely-used in retail applications .

To help its customers , especially OEMs , reduce the considerable research and development required , CAREL can now supply complete HeosBox units for semi plug-in cabinets operating on CO ₂

. The same

Refrigerants are useful but are considered to be a significant contributing factor in global warming and so advancement in technology has brought about the initiation of environment-friendly refrigerants .”

– Andrew Perks .

Cold Link Africa March / April 2023 | Page 19

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO ₂ are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

The good , the bad and the ugly of refrigerants Compiled by Eamonn Ryan

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO ₂ are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

COLD LINK AFRICA • March / April 2023 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za 19

Cold Link Africa March / April 2023 | Page 19

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO 2 are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

The good , the bad and the ugly of refrigerants Compiled by Eamonn Ryan

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO 2 are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

COLD LINK AFRICA • March / April 2023 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za 19

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO ₂ are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .

Recently , new HFC refrigerants ( named HFOs ) with low GWPs have been appearing on the market . Of all refrigerants applied today , ammonia and CO ₂ are the oldest that have been used since the 19th century .