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EUROVENT KÄLTE KOLLOQUIUM: Third presentation
"Sustainable transport cooling with natural refrigerants (R1270 / R744)."
Want to find out more about natural refrigerants and transport cooling? In this presentation, ECOOLTEC Grosskopf GmbH explore refrigerants past, present and future, while also explaining the trade-off between stability, flammability and toxicity. Find out more about the ‘dream team’ for transport cooling, namely the chiller, evaporator and generator.
About the EUROVENT KÄLTE KOLLOQUIUM
Over two days, from 4th - 5th June 2024, operators, planners and manufacturers explored reliable refrigeration systems for the cold chain, "From Farm to Supermarket," in Wiesbaden, Germany. A comprehensive technical programme took delegates from theory to practical, with a mix of seminars and excursions, perfectly blended to encourage learning, discussion and networking in inspiring surroundings.
Organised by Eurovent Certification and COOLPLAN, with media partners CCI and KKA, day-one was hosted at the historic Kloster Eberbach. The extensive technical programme scrutinised the latest trends in refrigeration, decarbonisation and boldly tackled issues such as underperformance and its impact on food quality and energy efficiency.
Day-two put the theory into practice, with the chance to go explore cold food chain technology in its natural habitat, with excursions to a green farming market and NH3/CO2 logistics warehouse.
The presentation
"Sustainable transport cooling with natural refrigerants (R1270 / R744)."
The third presentation on day-one at the Kloster Eberbach was given by Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Süß, CTO from ECOOLTEC Grosskopf GmbH. Jürgen started with a short introduction to the company before getting straight into the ‘eternal refrigerant discussion,’ and refrigeration’s impact on climate change. A quick explanation of the food cold chain followed, including systems cooled with and without F-gases.
Emphasising many areas of the food cold chain can use natural refrigerants, Jürgen then took delegates back in time to their school science lessons, with a humorous overview of the periodic table. With nine elements suitable for refrigerant molecules, he next explained the trade-off between stability, flammability and toxicity. He explained how carbon likes to mingle with every element, but when going to the left of the periodic table it will meet hydrogen and become flammable, but when going down the table, it becomes more toxic. Covering refrigerants past, present and future, Jürgen made the pointed remark that we have come full circle - natural refrigerants have always been there and that F-gases are but a temporary solution.
Next, safe approaches to using flammable natural refrigerants were discussed, along with the ‘dream team’ for transport cooling, namely the trinity of a chiller, evaporator and generator. After going over the system components in detail, Jürgen discussed the advantages, experiences and barriers to market entry. His final comments were on further measures to increase system efficiency and performance, before answering question from the audience.