Reviewing new refrigerant options for industrial refrigeration systems.

In the light of the Kigali Amendment, while focusing on the EU F-gas regulation, most manufacturers of industrial refrigeration equipment are under pressure to find new refrigerant alternatives for many types of applications, to enable a phase-down of the well-known HFC refrigerants with high Global Warming Potentials (GWP). The 2014 UNEP RTOC assessment report1 estimated the market value for large industrial refrigeration installations as well as the proportion of R717 used as refrigerant in these installations. The latter is at 90-95%, with some variations that are related to the continent where the installation has been established. For small industrial refrigeration installations, the proportion of R717 is estimated to be between 5 and 25%, once again related to the continent where the equipment is operating. The rest of the market applies a number of different refrigerants, including HCFC-22, HFC-134a and R404A/R507A. With the introduction of the EU F-gas legislation, there has been an increased interest in CO2-based systems and in systems based on a combination of CO2 and other refrigerants in cascade. Furthermore, new refrigerants with lower or very low GWPs are now entering the market. This paper will consider options for industrial applications on sites with large-scale cold production, including breweries, dairies, abattoirs and meat processing factories. Cold store systems are defined as industrial systems, but supermarket and hypermarket systems are considered commercial systems. This paper will particularly consider which refrigerant options can come into play in industrial applications applied for food preservation with temperatures below 0°C.