Held on 22 June 2012 in Schauffhausen, Switzerland, the symposium aimed to highlight some major developments relating to ammonia and other natural working fluids in supermarket refrigeration in Europe.

No single solution for supermarket cooling

While the UK retailer Sainsbury’s and Swiss-based supermarket chain Migros presented R744 as the best solution for their stores, Janos Winter from QPlan advocated the use of ammonia/CO₂ cascade systems and Josef Riha from thermofin GmbH came out in favour of the increased use of propane.

Nevertheless, what all of them agreed on is that more attention should be paid to training to increase the level of knowledge regarding servicing and maintenance of the systems using natural refrigerants. Conrad-Cornelius Moeller from Teko pointed out that from the technical perspective there is absolutely no reason why refrigeration in supermarkets should not be completely converted to naturals. The main reason why some retailers still opt for synthetic gases is that they are more familiar with handling of those refrigerants.

Natural refrigerants in GCC countries

Shifting the focus from Europe to the Middle East, Mr Balakrishnan Surendar, Chief Editor of the Climate Control Middle East magazine based in Dubai, outlined the situation regarding the use of natural refrigerants and new trends in the fast growing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates). Ammonia has been used widely in this region for decades, especially in the food industry and for process cooling. Given the toxic and hazardous nature of the gas, Mr Surendar highlighted that better education and awareness raising is needed.

He drew attention to the future application and development possibilities for natural refrigerants particularly in the food sector, in district cooling systems and turbine inlet air-cooling (TIAC) in power stations. He concluded by saying that the Middle East and North African countries (MENA) always keep an eye on the trends and legislative developments in Europe and USA. As such, whilst they are the recipients of technology related to residential, commercial and industrial applications, they are affected by it rather than influencing it.

About eurammon

Established in 1996, eurammon is a joint initiative by companies, institutions and individuals committed to increasing the use of natural refrigerants, including ammonia. Their objective is to boost general awareness and acceptance of natural refrigerants, to promote their use in the interests of a healthy environment, and to contribute to the development of a sustainable approach to refrigeration.