Ammonia refrigeration : what can we expect in the future ?

Ammonia is the long-time refrigerant of choice in industrial refrigeration systems; but that may come to an end if the industry does not innovate. A number of things call for a change – for instance, in no specific order: safety, simplicity and efficiency just to mention a few. Ammonia is a very efficient refrigerant, probably the most efficient we have at our disposal. However, if the general perception is that ammonia is a dangerous technology, and we do not do anything to change this – even more than we have done over the past years - we may well see the end of this great refrigerant. As for the entire refrigeration industry, the number of qualified craftsmen is decreasing. At the moment, a good qualified technician can get a new job within hours if he wants to, and the salaries increase due to the situation. We have been witnessing how companies “steel” workforce from competitors just by spreading the word of good compensation packages and conditions. One way to overcome the challenges with the lack of craftsmen is to simplify the systems, so the customer or owner only need one switch to turn on and off the system. The rest is taken care of automatically. Also, the service intervals need to be significantly increased without compromising the safety and reliability of the system.