Can carbon dioxide and ammonia work together? Apparently so, according to Mark Tomooka of Mayekawa in the US.
In his conference presentation, Tomooka described the company’s NH3/C02 solutions for the supermarket industry, in which ammonia charge is kept below 250 pounds.
One system was installed in a SuperValue store in the town of Carpinteria in California in 2012 that is described as the first “all natural” supermarket in the US.
Tomooka said the Carpinteria project proved a low-charge ammonia system can be competitive with other systems.
"This store is seeing efficiency gains of 13 to 30 per cent,” he said.
He said there are signs the market for natural refrigerants in the US is maturing.
These signs include the development of standards such as the Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL) approval for C02 transcritical compressors and a pending update to ASHRAE standard 15, which will include C02 transcritical options.
CIMCO Refrigeration presented a case study demonstrating a successful ammonia/CO2 refrigeration system deployment at Canadawide, one of the country’s largest distributors of fruit and vegetables.
The system has saved Canadawide nearly 20 per cent in maintenance costs, with even more significant reductions in operating costs.
Danfoss vice president of public affairs, Robert Wilkins, said no single refrigerant is suitable for all applications.
“But in order for industry to move forward, there are several critical factors that need to be addressed and aligned – investment cost, lifecycle cost, complexity, risk, market readiness, technical ability, environmental consciousness, standards and legislation,” he said.
Marc-Andre Lesmerises, CEO of Carnot Refrigeration in Quebec, Canada, outlined the company’s path to increased product development since 2007.
“Today there are an estimated 83 R744 CO2 transcritical systems running in Canada,” Lesmerises said.
R744 applications are also entering other markets such as distribution centres and ice skating rinks.
According to Lesmerises, an estimated 80 per cent of all ice rinks in Quebec will soon be retrofitted with CO2 systems.