EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
See you at the
SAIRAC Dreosti Memorial Lectures
The SAIRAC June 2019 Dreosti Memorial Lecture will be presented by Dr Volkmar Hasse on the topic:
‘Design, maintenance, and conversion of systems to R290 as an alternative refrigerant with very low
GWP and as practical as R22’.
DR GUIDO DREOSTI
Dr Guido Dreosti, founding president of
SAIRAC. Died 7 September 1997 at the age
of 92.
A
t the inaugural meeting of
the South African Institute of
Refrigeration held at Hotel
Bordeaux in Cape Town on 17 July
1951, Dr Guido Dreosti was elected
the founding president. The initial
membership was 41, with Dr Dreosti
being allotted membership number 1.
He was president for the first five years
and again in 1957/58 and 1962/63.
In 1962, the institute widened its scope
to include air conditioning and became
the South African Institute of Refrigeration
and Air Conditioning (SAIRAC). Since 1951,
until February 2019, 4 538 persons have
joined SAIRAC.
Dr Dreosti was a true scientist and had
a wide range of interests pertaining to the
food industry, particularly fish and fruit and
its preservation by means of refrigeration.
His qualifications had an engineering
flavour to them and culminated with a
doctorate in engineering physics from the
University of Utrecht in Holland in 1930.
Milestones in his career include:
• Research into the pre-cooling of fruit
for the South African export industry
from 1930 to 1940.
• Director of the Fishing Research
Institute, Cape Town.
• Technical adviser to the Perishable
Products Export Control Board (PPECB).
• Research professor at the University of
Cape Town.
Dr Dreosti published over 300 papers
on subjects in the fields of refrigeration,
dehydration, canning, and so forth. He
made a lasting and valuable impact on
humankind and left the world a better
place.
SAIRAC launched the Dreosti Memorial
Lecture in 1998 in memory of and to
honour the outstanding achievements and
leadership of its founder. The Dreosti lecture
exemplifies the objective of SAIRAC to
promote the unrestricted dissemination of
knowledge and information.
22
THE MEMORIAL LECTURE TOPIC
Dr Volkmar Hasse.
Few would argue against an urgent
reduction of whatever contributes towards
global warming. With much relevant,
factual evidence of a global increase in
average temperatures, the causes of this
trend need to be addressed.
Many synthetic refrigerants are a major
contributing factor towards stratospheric
ozone depletion in some cases, as well as
having major global warming potential
(GWP) when allowed to escape from
refrigeration or air-conditioning systems.
Some systems may be ‘greener’ in terms of
energy consumed to operate but with a
refrigerant that is harmful to the environment,
or vice versa. How does one evaluate each
solution and compare with others?
To aid the evaluation, a standardised
method of calculation was developed to
calculate the potential impact of a system
at the design stage. This is known as the
total equivalent warming impact (TEWI)
index.
Consider the huge numbers of
applications making use of R22 currently. Is
it feasible to replace all these applications
with CO 2 as refrigerant? It is possible, but
economic and practical factors need to
be considered.
CO 2 (R744) is an alternative and a
very good one at that. It does require a
high level of skill to build the systems and
operate it safely. Being an alternative, it
means replacing an existing R22 installation
completely.
What if it were possible to replace the
R22 with an alternative refrigerant without
changing the entire installation? With some
minor modifications to existing R22 systems,
this is indeed possible. We are able to see
this from global research and applications
— R290 can indeed be used to retrofit R22
systems.
This application of R290 is not new.
With the discovery that CFCs like R11 and
R12 were contributing handsomely to the
stratospheric ozone depletion, alternative
synthetic refrigerants were developed with
a much lower ozone depletion potential
(ODP) to lower the environmental impact.
(R22 being a primary example — but R22
still has a small ODP.) In some cases, the
shift to hydrocarbons (HC) was made
decades ago. Looking specifically at
domestic appliances and light commercial
refrigeration systems, most of these systems
are produced today using R290 or R600a
as refrigerant.
Yes, there absolutely are matters
that need to be resolved to reduce risks
when it comes to the flammability of
R290. Others have done so to a large
extent already for us to learn from and
expand upon.
From the lectures to be presented by Dr
Hasse, detailing all aspects around the use
of R290, we trust you will be in a position to
benefit from the relevant information and
to equip you in the design, maintenance,
and potential conversions of systems to
R290 as an alternative with a very low GWP
and as practical as the currently used
refrigerants in many ways.
Dr Hasse retired in February 2018. His
last position held was senior programme
director, GIZ: Low Carbon Urban
Development Programme, China. career span nearly 40 years (1978–2017)
as government advisor in several German
economic cooperation partner countries
through international cooperation projects
in the role of:
• Negotiation and implementation of
sustainable environment measures,
including technology transfer and
applied integrated environmental
protection projects.
• Advice to transfer environmentally
friendly technologies, including related
policies and regulation, and economic
aspects for urban and industrial
climate protection, on substances that
deplete the stratospheric ozone layer,
and in agricultural pollution prevention.
• Energy management systems for
greenhouse gas emission avoidance
in industrial and urban environments
and ozone friendly technologies in the
sectors of refrigeration, air conditioning,
and insulation foam production.
• Specific experience in agriculture
in plant production, horticulture,
plant protection, soil and irrigation
management, agricultural pesticide
management, biological pest control,
and agricultural biodiversity.
His strengths and competencies
Obtaining a PhD in Applied Biology
from the University of Giessen, Dr Hasse’s This included an eight-year period
leading and managing a complex
global environmental programme
DATES AND VENUES
SAIRAC Johannesburg Centre
Date: Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Time: 18:30 for 19:00
Venue: The Country Club Johannesburg, Cnr Woodlands Drive and Lincoln Street,
Woodmead
Enquiries: Mariet Pieterse: +27 (0) 82 772 1694 | [email protected]
SAIRAC Durban Centre
Date: Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: Durban Country Club, 101 Isaiah Ntshangase Road, Durban
Enquiries: Taryn Ching: +27 (0) 82 376 7007 |[email protected]
SAIRAC Port Elizabeth Centre
Date: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Venue: Beach Hotel, Beach Road, Port Elizabeth
Enquiries: Celia Blignault: +27 (0) 83 320 3386 | [email protected]
SAIRAC Cape Town Centre
Date: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Time: 18:30 for 19:00
Venue: Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, Muldersvlei Road, Elsenburg
Stellenbosch District. GPS coordinates for Elsenburg: 33.845259 S 18.834722 E
Enquiries: Geno Demaio: +27 (0) 82 559 7584 | [email protected]
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
COLD LINK AFRICA • May 2019