Carrier Refrigeration

Turning Point | ContainerLINE November 2019 Anticipating continued environmental trends with a keen eye on the future needs of the container shipping industry, Carrier Transicold developed its NaturaLINE ® refrigeration unit to help shipping lines move away from high-GWP refrigerants. The NaturaLINE unit takes advantage of carbon dioxide (CO 2) as a refrigerant, which is classified by ASHRAE as refrigerant R-744, with an ultra-low GWP of 1. Since the introduction of NaturaLINE, the regulatory climate around the world has changed with regard to refrigerants. In Europe, the F-gas Regulation became effective in 2015, and while it did not single out container refrigeration systems, it has affected refrigerants used in containers. One consequence of the F-gas Regulation is that the refrigerant used in the majority of traditional container refrigeration systems — R-134a, with a GWP of 1,430 — has been phased out of other applications in Europe, causing its pricing to shoot upward, while its availability has decreased in that region. Likewise, the pricing of R-404A, also used in some refrigerated containers, has risen dramatically in Europe. The refrigerant issue is not confined to Europe. Ships and their containers travel the world, and while refrigerants are available elsewhere, other policies and regulations are affecting the usage of high-GWP refrigerants. For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) As new refrigerated containers are added to global fleets and aging units need to be replaced worldwide, fleet owners face increasingly important purchasing decisions. Owners of forward-thinking fleets know that phase-outs of container refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP) will eventually affect their choices – if they haven't already. Turning Point phases down certain high-GWP refrigerants in the United States. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol calls for a phasedown of mid-GWP and high-GWP refrigerants on a global basis. Refrigerant Alternatives The push toward lower GWP refrigerants puts refrigeration system manufacturers and their customers in transition. As older systems are replaced, buyers need to consider new, more sustainable alternatives. Container shipping lines and leasing companies alike have already discovered the advantages of the NaturaLINE system. With thousands of units in service, the NaturaLINE unit remains the container industry's leader when it comes to low GWP, but its advantages go well beyond GWP, including energy efficiency, quiet operation, tight temperature control and the ability to achieve minus 40 degree Celsius temperatures, a capability that can create new opportunities for shipping line customers who prefer colder temperatures for their shipments. Although various natural and synthetic refrigerant alternatives have been proposed by others over the past several years, no container refrigeration unit has yet been introduced that rivals 7

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