Cold Link Africa September/October 2017 | страница 21

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
US: FIRST PROPANE COLD-STORAGE
SYSTEM TO BE INSTALLED?
Newark Refrigerated Warehouse plans to
install what may be the first cold-storage
refrigeration system in the US to employ
propane as its primary refrigerant. The
system will serve two existing buildings
and an additional building that will be
constructed when the new refrigeration
system starts operating.
The company originally planned to
replace the R22 currently used at its
facility with low-charge ammonia systems.
However, that idea fell through after the
state of New Jersey abandoned a plan to
relax its stringent requirements for
ammonia operations. It then considered
using R32 as a primary refrigerant, but
decided on propane because of
impending regulatory pressures on HFCs.
So, Newark Refrigerated Warehouse is
applying to the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) for permission
to use propane for refrigeration under
the EPA’s Significant New Alternatives
Policy (SNAP) programme.
If approved, the propane system will
contain 500kg of propane, which will be
confined to a small one-storey engine
room attached to one of its two cold-
storage buildings. The original building
has 12 freezer rooms and four medium-
temperature rooms, with a total capacity
of 880kW; the second building has one
freezer room with a 1 055kW capacity.
The propane will be used to cool a
calcium chloride brine solution, which will
serve as a secondary refrigerant. To
ensure safe operation with a flammable
refrigerant, the engine room will be IIAR-2
compliant with fully automated controls,
and all electrical panels will be located
outside the room.
SUPERMARKET REFRIGERANT
RETROFITTING
Within a project started in September
2014, the Dutch international retailer
group Ahold decided to retrofit 175
Ahold supermarket (out of 6 600 shops)
refrigeration systems from R407F and
R507A to R449A, resulting in an 8%
increase in energy efficiency.
Developed by Chemours as Opteon
XP40, R449A is an alternative to R404A/
R507A in new and existing commercial
and industrial refrigeration systems. It is a
non-flammable HFC/HFO blend, but it
has a GWP of 1 397.
Besides, Honeywell recently
announced that the 15 000th
supermarket has retrofitted its
refrigeration systems with R407F. During a
long-term test conducted by ASDA, a
supermarket chain in the United
Kingdom, R407F consumed 9% less
energy than systems using R407A, and
around 14% less than systems running
R-404A in medium temperature. R407F is
a non-flammable blend of HFCs, but has
a relatively high GWP of 1 824.
Honeywell expected over 2 000
supermarket refrigeration systems to
convert to R448A refrigerant by the end
of 2016. R448A is a non-flammable HFC/
HFO blend with a GWP of 1 273.
As a comparison, according to
shecco, R744 (CO 2 ) was installed in
around 7 000 supermarkets worldwide,
mainly in Europe (over 5 500), early 2016.
QUEBEC ARENAS REFRIGERATION
SYSTEM UPGRADE PROJECT
For the modernisation of arenas
refrigeration systems still using HCFC-22
(and a few CFC-12) in Quebec
(Canada), the Ministère de l’Éducation,
du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) has decided
to subsidise projects based on ammonia,
CO 2 , and new HFC or HFO refrigerant
blends with a GWP lower than 700. The
total investment represents CAD86-million
(EUR61-million).
According to the Quebec arenas
inventory, there are 425 arenas and 75
curling centres, of which 62.4% use
HCFC-22 refrigeration systems, 30%
ammonia systems, and 1.3% still use
CFC-12 systems. According to the
Ministry, the renovation programme will
eliminate the arenas’ ODS emissions, and
should reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions by 97–100%. CLA
Despite the success of the project,
Asocolflores encountered challenges
during implementation, such as a lack of
standards and funding mechanisms, a
shortage of qualified technicians, and
difficulties in finding local equipment and
component suppliers working with R290.
According to the National Ozone Unit,
“The Colombian flower industry requires
about 31.1 million kW of cooling
capacity. Some 99% of the installations
use R22 and the other 1% use R134a, so
there is immense potential to convert
those to R290.”
Quebec (Canada) is retrofitting curling
centres and other arenas still using outdated
refrigeration systems.
Source: IIR
This Informatory Note has been
prepared by Michel Feidt (secretary
of IIR Commission E2), Jean-Luc
Dupont, and Alexis Oger (IIR head
office). IIR members can consult this
note at www. iifiir.org.