Carrier Refrigeration

As part of its sustainability initiatives, one of the United Kingdom's leading supermarket retailers is tapping the environmental advantages of Carrier Transicold's NaturaLINE™ container refrigeration unit through a novel application for ground transport of chilled and frozen goods. The two-year trailer trial is a worthy application of the NaturaLINE unit's natural refrigerant technology and dovetails with Sainsbury's program to reduce its overall carbon footprint, which includes converting all of its more than 1,000 stores to natural refrigeration by 2030. Natural refrigerant-based stationary commercial refrigeration systems, such as Carrier's CO2OLtec™ system, have an ever-growing presence in European supermarkets. As the Sainsbury's trial demonstrates, there is interest in carrying natural refrigerant technology through to transport operations. "The new carbon dioxide technology has much less of an impact on climate change, and we hope it will play a big part in helping us reduce our carbon emissions," said Nick Davies, Sainsbury's head of Transport Operations. "We will be monitoring its performance closely, and if successful, in line with our replacement plan, it could help us save over 70,000 tons of CO2 compared to the current refrigerated trailer fleet." Although refrigerated shipping containers are starting to take advantage of NaturaLINE technology, which was commercially released in 2013, this is the first time one has been mounted to a box trailer for a strictly overland application. "The Sainsbury's trial is indicative of the European community's interest in green solutions and natural refrigerants," said Kartik Kumar, managing director-Europe, Middle East and Africa, Global Container Refrigeration. "Not only are shipping lines evaluating the potential of natural refrigerants in their operations, but many of their end-user customers already consider them essential for their retail businesses to improve environmental profiles and respond to consumer demand." "To be able to work closely with Sainsbury's, one of our largest customers in Europe, in testing how the concept performs on the road is a unique opportunity to advance Carrier Transicold's natural leadership in environmental technologies," Kumar said. "It's also much better news for the environment." Major UK Supermarket Chain "Lands" a NaturaLINE ™ Unit for Trial 5 Carrier Transicold's new NaturaLINE ™ unit is a terrific example of how environmental interests and smart engineering can merge to create a sustainable solution without compromising performance. The unit delivers energy efficiencies on par with Carrier's PrimeLINE ® unit, a leader in its own right. Additionally, by using the natural refrigerant carbon dioxide (CO2), with a global warming potential (GWP) of one, NaturaLINE technology is up to 3,900 times better than conventional synthetic refrigerants. Non-ozone-depleting, CO 2 has excellent thermodynamic properties and is non-toxic, non-flammable, cost-effective and widely available. It's also protected against phase-outs, taxes and any future F-gas regulations. It's the ideal natural refrigerant for the container industry. "One could argue that CO 2 is as logical as it is a natural choice for the next generation of container refrigeration systems, regardless of OEM," said Jim Taeckens, senior product manager, Carrier Transicold. "However, some within the industry are evaluating alternatives such as hydrocarbons, including R-290, more commonly known as propane. That has generated a number of questions from concerned customers." Propane as a refrigerant is not new. It is used in certain commercial and industrial applications, vending machines, and even in many European household refrigerators. Like CO2, it is non-ozone-depleting and has excellent thermodynamic properties. Its GWP, while more than 300 percent greater than CO2, is still small compared to synthetic refrigerants. "In spite of its advantages, propane has a rather significant, if not obvious, disadvantage for containers," Taeckens said. "It's classified by the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration Engineers (ASHRAE) as A3, meaning it is highly flammable. "In containers, propane could pose risks not found in other applications. For example, a household refrigerator works in isolation with a small refrigerant charge – no more than 150 grams," Taeckens said. "In contrast, a container system has a much larger charge, and on a ship hundreds of units will be stacked together in close proximity. In a container yard, there could be thousands of units stacked together. Neither of these situations is acceptable." "Using the ISO 5149 Safety and Environmental Standard as a reference, if propane leaks into a 40-foot container, the gas would be 8.5 times the permissible refrigerant concentration limit, which is based on the lower flammability limit of propane, and 34 times what's allowed after applying a safety margin," Taeckens said. "Those amounts double if the leak occurs inside a 20-foot container. "Although propane has certain advantages as a refrigerant, it's got a significant 'minus' when it comes to container safety," Taeckens said. "Safety isn't a 'minus' to be weighed equally against all other factors when considering refrigerant suitability. Use of flammable refrigerants for container applications is simply a 'non-starter.'" From that perspective, CO 2 remains the best natural choice without compromises. Refrigerant Reality Check

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