Scale was the unique characteristic of the Pick ‘ n Pay Distribution Centre refrigeration project , being probably the largest such project of the past 12 months and the largest distribution centre in the southern hemisphere .
PROJECT
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
This year ’ s largest DC project approaches completion By Andrew Minnaar Pr Eng , AMC Engineers , edited by Eamonn Ryan
Scale was the unique characteristic of the Pick ‘ n Pay Distribution Centre refrigeration project , being probably the largest such project of the past 12 months and the largest distribution centre in the southern hemisphere .
The development covers 36ha of state-of-the-art infrastructure and is currently being commissioned . It is part of a larger project to position the Eastport Logistics Park , near OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng , and the broader R21 area , as South Africa ’ s prime logistics hub as allied industries and businesses seek proximity and rational integration into the country ’ s leading logistics ecosystem .
However , the complexity of the HVAC & R project stemmed less from its size as in having multiple different cold rooms , multiple different temperatures and multiple different smaller areas each with different considerations . This is a big distribution centre with large areas catering to massive amounts of product .
THE CONSULTING ENGINEER ’ S DESCRIPTION
The facility is one of the largest , if not the largest , chilled distribution centre in South Africa . The overall site is 360 000m ², of which 150 000m ² is distribution area . Of that , 45 000m ² is the chilled distribution area and forms the portion of the development that AMC was involved in . For this project AMC completed the design , tender and site supervision of the Refrigeration , Insulated Structures as well as the HVAC to all ancillary buildings .
The ammonia plant is a 7.2 MW installed refrigeration plant with a total of 9.2 MW of heat rejection to the evaporative condensers .
The plant is divided into two suction regimes , namely minus 8.75 ° C and + 3.25 ° C , to optimise energy efficiency . The -8.75 ° C system is a 4.5 MW chilled glycol system supplying the 2 ° C rooms with cooling , while the + 3.25 ° C system is a 2.15 MW plant supplying the 14 ° C and chocolate box rooms with cooling .
The additional high stage capacity is utilised to economise the medium ( -8.75 ° C ) plant by means of open flash economising in the high stage vessel . A liquid subcooler is installed on the high-pressure liquid feed
All photos by AMC Engineers
Primary and secondary hot water heat recovery pump sets .
26 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za COLD LINK AFRICA • May 2023