Natural Industrial CO2 Refrigeration Solutions for Industrial Applications
Up until now, those seeking refrigeration solutions in an industrial setting but with a capacity of under 300kW faced something of a conundrum. The new European F-Gas Regulation is moving end-users away from HFCs which are harmful to the environment. At the same time, the use of industrial ammonia systems is unsuitable in certain applications due to its capital costs and toxicity potential when used in enclosed environments. As a result, customers have been forced into adopting modified commercial, line-assembled CO2 packs, geared towards non industrial applications or HFCs which are subject to phasedown.
Global legislation is putting pressure on industrial users to reduce their environmental impact and the continued use of HFC systems is consequently becoming both less feasible and more expensive over time; the problem is, for industrial processes under 300KW there is no pre-engineered, industrial CO2 refrigeration packaged alternative – until now.
Star Refrigeration have designed a range of eco-friendly industrial CO2 packaged solutions to provide a high performance, resilient and a long term solution for smaller scale industrial applications for temperature controlled storage, food and drink manufacturing, inline freezing and chilling, building services, industrial processes, data centres and leisure and ice applications.
Sustainable and future-proof, with attractive performance and an A1 safety rating, carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigeration systems offer a number of key benefits.
When used as a natural refrigerant, carbon dioxide has a wealth of benefits. CO2 has no effect on the Ozone layer, and has a global warming potential (GWP) of one – which is thousands of times lower than synthetic refrigerants.
Star Refrigeration range of CO2 solutions includes:
- Envichill: single stage transcritical plant for temperature controlled storage applications suitable for temperatures between 0°C and 8°C
- Envicold: single stage transcritical plant for temperature controlled storage applications suitable for temperatures between -22°C and 0°C
- Envifreeze: two stage transcritical plant for food production and temperature controlled storage applications suitable for temperatures between – 40°C and -20°C
- Envichiller: single stage transcritical plant for chiller applications suitable for a range of chiller temperatures
CO2 is a naturally occurring substance, found in abundance throughout our environment; it is in the air that we breathe and the beverages that we drink.
Increasingly stringent environmental legislation sees operators of refrigeration systems under increasing pressure to reduce or eliminate their use of traditional, high-GWP refrigerants.
This is highlighted by the revised EU F-Gas Regulation (517/2014), which will see the availability of HFCs reduced by 79% between the years of 2015 and 2030, whilst simultaneously introducing step-wise bans on the installation and servicing of systems using higher-GWP refrigerants.
In addition, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, agreed in 2016, saw 197 countries across the globe commit to cutting the production and consumption of HFCs by more than 80 percent by the year 2047.
The continued use of HFC systems is consequently becoming both less feasible and more expensive over time; as evidenced by the adjacent refrigerant price evolution chart.
As a low-GWP natural refrigerant, CO2 is unaffected by HFC restrictions; thereby representing a reliable, long term and future-proof solution in which businesses can invest with confidence.
With over 25 years of CO2 experience, Star Refrigeration has an unrivalled track record of providing CO2 solutions to a broad range of industry sectors. With in-house design, project management, M&E and aftercare capabilities, Star delivers total CO2 project solutions for end users.
