Page 19 - Climate Control News Magazine Feb 2019

Natural Refrigerants
The first HFC/CO2 cascade refrigeration system was installed in Australia by Coles in 2005.
HFC TAX TO BEGIN 2021
France is serious about making the transition away from HFC's providing plenty of tax incentives to ensure companies seek out alternatives.
France’s HFC tax, officially adopted on December 30, will enter into force in 2021. Companies can already get a 40% income tax discount to make the transition away from HFCs.
According to the 2019 Finance Bill, France will support the adoption of HFC alternatives from January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2022 by making the 40% tax discount applicable for the next four years.
France isn't the only country in the European Union to introduce a tax. For example, Spain introduced a tax of its own in 2014.
However, last year the the Spanish refrigeration association known as AEFYT lodged a complaint with the European
Commission claiming that the tax on HFCs infringes free market principles.
AEFYT’s complaint claims the tax, known by the acronym IGFEI, violates European Union legislation. The complaint alleges that the IGFEI generates distortions in competition between Spanish companies and those of the other EU member countries.
to stay
the system gas cooler outlet temperature to off- set the limitations of the low critical tempera- ture of CO2.,” the report said.
“These systems are now well established in major supermarket groups and are starting to be employed by smaller independent supermarket operators.”
Leading supermarket contractor AJ Baker has installed CO2 trans-critical systems across 14 sites with seven in Perth, one in Brisbane, two in Sydney and 4 others as of March 2018.
"The key lessons have been that system gas cooler outlet temperature control is imperative for energy efficient operation in higher ambient temperatures zones, and that adiabatic coolers can deliver energy savings not previously possi- ble in hotter months,” the report said.
“A combination of the focus on alternative re- frigerants, dedicated efforts to reduce losses of refrigerant, the shift to cascade systems with
much smaller HFC charges, and the adoption of some CO2-only trans-critical systems, have all contributed to reduce demand for bulk refriger- ant in supermarkets.”
As a result of these trends, and particularly the surge in investment in cascade and CO2-only trans-critical systems, the CHF3 Report predicts that a significant portion of high GWP refriger- ants will be removed from the supermarket sec- tor by 2030, with around 35% of systems operat- ing entirely or in part on CO2.
SUPPLY CHAIN
According to the CHF3 Report, the supply chain for CO2 is very complex with multiple steps, comprising many resellers, and suppliers some- times going direct to end users, or with end users purchasing CO2 from further up the supply chain at the wholesale level as part of a project or new development.
Expert Group collects sales data from many of the supply chain participants and estimates the average sales volume over the last three years is approximately 120 tonnes per annum.
Although aggregate supplies of CO2 were esti- mated to be 120 tonnes in 2016 the installed base of equipment suggests that a portion of this gas is carried in the supply line, and on site as back- up supplies in manifolded cylinder pallets (i.e. Manpacks) to cover catastrophic failures (i.e. compressor failures or ruptures of gas lines).
While designs of CO2 systems are improving, owners and suppliers of CO2 refrigerant report the systems occasionally suffer gas line or seal failures and lose their entire charge, as CO2 systems have very high operating pressures. These factors lead to the current estimate of a relatively small refrigerant bank of CO2 refrigerant of around 127 tonnes.
It should be noted that whilst a loss of charge is very inconvenient for the end user, the envi- ronmental impact is relatively insignificant as the refrigerant has a GWP of 1.
It is expected that with the now extensive base of installed CO2 refrigerant technology in enterprises with full-time engineering sup- port, the technology and the expertise to de- sign and operate them will continue to evolve rapidly and be employed in a wider range of ap- plications in the cold food chain, including large food processors.
CO2 systems are also being used in truck and automotive air conditioning, small refrigerated vending machines and merchandisers, hot water heat pumps and for refrigerated containers known as reefers. One such new small scale ex- ample of a CO2 application is the EcoCute tech- nology, widely available in Europe and Japan, that uses CO2 refrigerant technology on hot wa- ter heat pumps to achieve high efficiencies and lower running costs.
In Europe and the US some end users and manufacturers of CO2 equipment are predicting CO2 will increasingly enter the industrial arena and are expecting ammonia systems to face in- creased competition from CO2 trans-critical systems in the industrial sphere, while foresee- ing strong growth in ammonia heat pumps (i.e. low-charge packaged ammonia systems).
Recent innovations developed by equipment suppliers include demonstrations of micro-cas- cade air-cooled condensing units available in ca- pacities as small as 2.5 kWr and upwards.
These units offer hybrid refrigeration (HFC- 134a/CO2) systems for use in smaller sites and have potential for application across a broad range of commercial refrigeration applications.
CLIMATE CONTROL NEWS FEBRUARY 2019
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