Questions were raised about the ability of refrigeration technicians to make the move
from man-made refrigerants to naturals at the ATMOsphere America Conference in Washington earlier this year.
With almost 200 participants and more than 40 speakers there was plenty of debate surrounding the transition to naturals, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3).
Harrison Horning of the Delhaize Group said not enough credit is given to service technicians, who are entirely capable of coping with other types of refrigeration systems.
“A small amount of training is essential in understanding how to handle high pressures, but the vast majority will have no trouble with a CO2 system,” he said.
Rod Peterson of Sobeys, which has 45 stores operating on CO2 and another 20 making the transition later this year, said installation contractors are embracing it and want to be involved.
“The price of the technology is coming down, and the systems are working better in warmer climates without an energy penalty,” he said.
Peterson admitted that CO2 transcritical technology costs more initially – on average by about 11 per cent – but the benefits include greater cooling capacity and a more efficient heat reject process to heat the store thereby reducing gas consumption.
He said the complexity of a CO2 transcritical system allows for better temperature control.
“Over time there is also cumulative savings on materials used such as copper piping, lower refrigerant costs, maintenance costs and electricity,” Peterson said.
Nina Masson of conference organiser schecco said that after Japan, Canada is now the country with the second highest number of CO2 transcritical stores outside of Europe.
“The US is ranked as the second non-European country, after Australia, in terms of the combined number of cascade and secondary systems,” Masson said.
Participants nominated regulatory barriers as a big problem. For example, Gerard Van Dohlen of the Port Newark Refrigerated Warehouse said ammonia is the best refrigerant but strict regulations have led to higher labour costs.
“In New Jersey, the government has all but banned the use of ammonia by requiring a 24 hour a day operating engineer to be on hand, which costs around $600,000 per year,” he said.
Van Dohlen said the average store leaked about 30 per cent per year, making R22 systems not feasible because due to its current price.
He said air conditioning systems using ammonia chillers in a typical centrifugal chiller are the wave of the future, and can reduce operating charges.
“If you design the ammonia system right, operate it right and manage it safely, it’s a good refrigerant,” he said.
The next step in driving greater acceptance of natural refrigerants is an industry-wide effort to educate customers.
While the HVAC&R industry has made significant headway when it comes to utilising natural refrigerants in an industrial setting, the next step is education, according to the business director of Emerson Climate Technologies, Sam Gladis.
He stressed the importance of knowledge sharing and collaborative projects to improve safety and training.
“Since Emerson’s first ammonia heat pump installation in the United Kingdom three years ago, which reduced the amount of coal needed to run the factory by approximately 50 per cent, Emerson has installed an additional 17 ammonia systems around the globe, 14 of which are located in Europe,” Gladis said.