The global transcritical CO2 refrigeration market was valued at $4.9 billion in 2014, and is forecast to reach $30.7 billion by 2020, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.2 per cent from 2015 to 2020, according to a report published by MarketsandMarkets.
Globally, Europe is the dominant market for transcritical CO2 systems. It is expected to reach $26 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 42.1 per cent during the forecast period of 2015 to 2020. This substantial growth is due to the phasing down of HCFC and HFC refrigerants.
The installations in this region are mainly contributed by Denmark, where the highest number of transcritical CO2 systems has been installed. Denmark has a market share of 33.5 per cent in 2015 and this is expected to reach 33.9 per cent by 2020. According to the report, industry experts believe that the global refrigerant market is going through a revolution and carbon dioxide has a lot of potential to become the future refrigerant for commercial and industrial purposes.
Globally, the domestic heat pumps segment has been the largest end-user of transcritical CO2 systems, with more than 4 million units of ECOcute-based heat pumps installed across the globe. However, the commercial use of transcritical CO2 heat pumps is still in the growing phase. The biggest commercial application for transcritical CO2 systems is the supermarkets segment with 72.4 per cent of market share in 2015.
The North America region is the fastest-growing market and has the potential to become the largest market for transcritical CO2 systems in the near future.
Experts believe that the payback period for a transcritical CO2 system is estimated to be less than three years. The report stated that, apart from the affordable installation cost, other properties of transcritical CO2 systems, such as better cooling capacity and improved heat rejection process, give an edge to these systems over other natural refrigerants.