ammonia21 - natural refrigeration

ammonia21 aims to foster the worldwide use of ammonia (NH3) in industrial and commercial refrigeration, chilling, and other applications. It is more than a platform to advertise NH3-based technology. Rather it is an interactive tool that will help you stay in contact with the global ammonia community, and be informed about latest progress regarding the natural refrigerant (official industry nomenclature: R717).

[ammonia21-blog]

A look into Russia: reporting from two major events

ammonia21.com will be travelling to Moscow to bring you the latest news from two major HVAC&R events taking place in the beginning of March 2011: Chillventa’s premiere in Russia and the 2011 Climate World Expo. Both events will encompass a trade fair as well as presentations on topical issues for the Russian HVAC&R industry, including on natural refrigerants.

Chillventa Rossija

Building on the success of Chillventa in Nürnberg, Germany, the International Trade Fair for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps will be celebrating its premiere in Russia from 1-3 March 2011. 

ammonia21.com will update you on ammonia products targeted for the Russian market. Moreover, visitors at Chillventa Rossija will have the chance to meet with some ammonia21.com partners, namely:

GEA GRASSO REFRIGERATION: stand 6E16

ALFA LAVAL: stand 6A14

LU-VE SPA: stand 6A22

  LEARN MORE ABOUT CHILLVENTA ROSSIJA HERE

Climate World 2011 Organised by Euroexpo Exhibition Company and the Association of Professional Companies in Industry of Climate (APIC) for seven years already, Climate World Expo has become a significant event for the Russian HVAC&R market. 

The 2011 edition, taking place on 1-4 March 2011, will be presenting recent achievements, developments and trends on the HVAC&R market, with exhibitors ranging from large domestic and foreign manufacturers and distributors, installers, design and engineering companies, to trade mass media and specialised organisations.

The 2011 exposition will be held under the auspices of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, UNIDO Centre for International Industrial Cooperation in the Russian Federation and the Information Policy Committee of the National Association of Builders.

Again, Climate World will not only encompass a trade fair, but also a business programme dedicated to the most topical issues for the HVAC&R industry in Russia. The events of the business programme will be held on the first three days (1-3 March) with each of the days dedicated to specific topics, namely Marketing, Standards & Certification and Ecology & Energy-Efficiency.

  LEARN MORE ABOUT CLIMATE WORLD 2011 HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

Exclusive interview with J. Evans on Improving Cold Storage Equipment in Europe

Intro: The EU funded ICE-E (Improving Cold Storage Equipment in Europe) project will develop a benchmarking tool to assess the performance of a particular cold store against data for hundreds of other stores across Europe. ammonia21.com talked to Project Coordinator Judith Evans of London South Bank University, about what to expect from the project.

ammonia21.com: The ICE-E project will help “European cold store operators overcome reservations to the uptake of new technologies by providing information needed for a knowledge-based selection of refrigeration equipment and for identifying cost efficient paybacks to the refrigerated warehousing business”. Does this mean that the project will focus on facilities with new equipment? How will you account for the age of the various facilities? Evans: The aim is to look at old facilities as well as new ones. Obviously we would like to encourage the best technologies in new facilities, but the majority of energy savings is going to be achieved from improving old facilities. So the idea behind the project is that different cold stores have different problems, an observation we have made when we previously worked with cold store operators. We have also observed that generally the advice given to people tends to be rather generic and not very specific for a particular application. Consequently, the way to improve energy performance is different in different cold stores. Thus, we need more of a bespoke solution rather than a generic solution that says “this is the range of technology that you should apply”. 

ammonia21.com: The ICE-E project partners have put together a first online survey addressed to cold stores in order to collect information on the amount of energy they use. What is the aim? Will there be more surveys coming up (already compiled or under development)? Evans: We are trying to encourage people at the moment to take part in the survey. This is the first major initiative within the project and we need cold store operators to be involved and provide us - anonymously- with some information about the operation and efficiency of their cold stores. 

It also gives the opportunity for people if they wish to sign up for a further survey, which will be a much more detailed audit of their refrigeration plant, which they can be potentially involved in. We are going to select a number of cold stores of various ages, at different locations, with different technologies that we are going to hopefully be able to work with in more detail and spend a couple of weeks auditing and giving them detailed information on how they could improve their energy efficiency.

We are encouraging people to be involved in the survey initially, which will then lead to information on the energy efficiency of cold stores in Europe and from that we can also create benchmarks. What people can do is, they can look at their cold store within the survey and see how their performance compares to others within the survey and they can go back at any time as we are obviously adding more data all the time into the survey. 

ammonia21.com: What is the minimum of responses that you are targeting? Will the survey webpage be continuously evolving then? Evans: We are hoping to get 500 responses to the survey, which is a relatively ambitious number. We are also hoping that at the end of the project somebody – an organisation – will take over the running of the survey because it will be relatively automatic as it is all electronic and accessible via a website. 

VIEW THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

Ammonia opportunities in India despite West Bengal ban?

Alarmed by recent leakage incidents, the Indian state of West Bengal is banning the use of ammonia in urban cold stores, encouraging the switch over to HCFC22. Facilities in rural areas may continue with the use of ammonia. West Bengal is one of the two Indian states where most existing cold stores are concentrated.

The ammonia ban decision comes from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, which has directed municipal authorities to stop providing trade licenses to cold stores in urban areas unless they use HCFC22 instead of ammonia. 

Cold storage facilities and ice plants in urban areas of West Bengal - the nation's fourth most populous state - that already hold trade licenses would need to convert their system from ammonia to HCFC22. Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) have been introduced in India as transitional substitutes to chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) until 2040 when they have to be phased out according the country’s obligations under the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer.

The ban was prompted by ammonia leakage incidents that were reported to affect inhabitants in the city of Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah.

In rural areas on the other hand, facilities may still continue with the use of ammonia refrigerant, with the local governments bodies (panchayats and zilla parishads) having to ensure that facilities have the West Bengal Pollution Control Board’s approval.

Register of cold stores underway in West Bengal The board also appealed to all municipalities and district governments to prepare a list of existing cold storages and ice plants located in their respective areas by the end of February.

  READ MORE ABOUT AMMONIA REFRIGERATION TECHNOLOGY HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

First half of 2011 brings award opportunities for ammonia

Applications under the ‘3rd German Refrigeration Awards’, which will be rewarding innovative and climate friendly RAC solutions, are accepted until 22 February. Additional award opportunities for the ammonia community include the IEA’s Rittinger award, an award of international reputation, as well as the UK's first ‘National Heat Pump Awards’. Do not miss the deadlines!

This year, companies and individuals involved in ammonia technology will have the opportunity to excel in different contests around the world and profile their latest innovations and accomplishments.

Germany

For the third year, the German government is holding the ‘German Refrigeration Awards’, a contest that already counts natural refrigerant winners in previous editions. Being part of the German national climate protection initiative, the contest intends to give an impulse to the development, application and combination of highly efficient components, climate friendly refrigerants and innovative concepts.

In Spring 2011, €52,500 will be attributed to the first three places in three categories, with the prize money ranging from €2,500 to €10,000. Companies are invited to submit their applications until 22 February 2011 in the following three categories:

Climate friendly air-conditioning of commercial buildings

Climate friendly use of refrigerating machines in food production

Other climate friendly refrigerant applications

The application documents can be accessed through www.co2online.de/kaelte.

International

The IEA Heat Pumping Technologies Programme is seeking candidates for the ‘Peter Ritter von Rittinger award 2011’. The award recognises deserving individuals or teams that have distinguished themselves in the advancement of heat pumping technologies applications, market development and related dissemination activities with lasting international impact.

  SEE WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES ARE DOING

[ammonia21-blog]

NH3: the basic ingredient in upgrading Montreal’s ice arenas

The mayor of Montreal, Canada has announced that his city will be investing $200 million (€146 million) in the next ten years on modernising nearly three dozen ice arenas, reports the Montreal Gazette. Ammonia-based ice-making refrigeration systems will be replacing systems using Freon, a gas soon to be fully banned under the Montreal Protocol agreement.

The announcement came at the inauguration of the newly upgraded Camillien-Houde arena located in Ville Marie, Montreal, by Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal - a city that had previously announced to spend $90 million (about €66 million) on the renovation of 15 of its 36 arenas.

Since the beginning of 2010, big Canadian cities including Montreal have been reacting to the ban on virgin Freon that became effective on 1 January 2010 and the forthcoming general ban as of 2020 by opening development funds to recreational projects, focusing on the many arenas of the country that are in dire need of renovation. “Most (of the arenas) are 39 years old and the lifespan of an ice rink is 32 years – we’re seven years late” said Tremblay.

Tremblay further noted that the ammonia-based systems are less polluting and that these would be housed outside the arenas and equipped with warning systems should a leak be detected.

Besides the installation of ammonia systems renovation works will also focus on heating and electrical systems.

The renovation works on 3 more ice arenas have been completed, while another four arenas will be undergoing renovation in 2011, including:

Henri-Bourassa arena in Montreal North (completed)

Howie Morenz arena in Villeray-St. Michel-Park Extension (completed)

Jacques Lemaire arena in LaSalle (completed)

Père Marquette arena in Rosemont-La Petite Patrie (planned for 2011)

Pierre “Pete” Morin arena in Lachine (planned for 2011)

Ahuntsic arena in St. Léonard (planned for 2011)

Martin Brodeur arena in St. Léonard (planned for 2011)

  READ MORE ABOUT ICE ARENAS HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

NH3 heat transfer equipment with ultra low charge from Isotherm

The Texas-based company Isotherm is joining ammonia21.com to showcase its expertise in the design and fabrication of heat transfer equipment for industrial refrigeration applications. Its self-developed enhanced heat transfer tubes for natural refrigerants ensure that Isotherm’s ammonia chillers, condensers and other related heat exchangers are the most compact with very low refrigerant charge.

Isotherm was established in 1999 by Zahid Ayub, one of the pioneers in the field of Ammonia Enhanced Heat Transfer. Its forte lays in the production of advanced heat exchangers for optimum capacity. To create Isotherm’s unique advantage in compact products with ultra low charge, the company’s research and development team has developed enhanced heat transfer tubes for natural refrigerants such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. Isotherm is now joining ammonia21.com as bronze partner to showcase its ammonia spray evaporators and other interesting ammonia projects and products.

Reaction

“Because of global environmental issues and lack of viable alternatives to HCFCs and HFCs we strongly believe that ammonia21.com’s emergence on the international scene is absolutely timely and that it has a strong role to play in the foreseeable future,” says Zahid Ayub, president of Isotherm.

READ MORE ABOUT AMMONIA HEAT TRANSFER HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

New Gold Partner Alfa Laval: smart solutions for ammonia

The global provider of specialised products and engineering solutions for cooling, heating, flow and separation is joining ammonia21.com as Gold Partner. Alfa Laval’s heat exchangers, condensers and air coolers particularly suitable for ammonia demonstrate its expertise in improving performance and reducing refrigerant charge.

For the last 125 years, Alfa Laval has been providing customers with solutions that help them to re-use and protect natural resources such as energy and water in industrial processes. Now, the company is joining ammonia21.com as Gold Partner to present its wide product range working with the natural refrigerant ammonia. 

Ammonia products from Alfa Laval at a glance

Some of the ammonia products that will be featured and added to the ammonia21.com product database over the coming months are the following:

AlfaBlue BNM/BND: Industrial range of air-cooled ammonia condensers. Suitable for both vertical and horizontal air flow. Capacities 20 to 1,200 kW.

Alfa-V ANV: Industrial range of air-cooled ammonia condensers in V-shape design for air conditioning and refrigeration applications. Capacities 97 to 1,682 kW.

Fincoil Solar ZA/ZZ: Industrial range of heavy-duty air-cooled ammonia condensers. Suitable for both vertical and horizontal air flow. Capacities 66 to 948 kW.

Alfa Igloo: Industrial air coolers mounted inside an insulated casing. Suitable for mounting outside the cold room. Capacities up to 292 kW (ammonia, pumped system).

AlfaNova: Fusion-bonded plate heat exchanger: The first plate heat exchanger in the world to be made completely of stainless steel – made possible by the unique active diffusion bonding technology patented by Alfa Laval

Semi-welded heat exchangers: The semi-welded heat exchangers are available in six models, particularly suitable for ammonia duties. Capacities 35 – 10,500 kW (10 – 3,000 TR)

(READ MORE ABOUT ALFA LAVAL SMART SOLUTIONS HERE)

[ammonia21-blog]

GCAP’s podcasts about ammonia refrigeration

The private industrial ammonia technical school Garden City Ammonia Program (GCAP) is publishing an interview series with industry experts on hot topics for ammonia as refrigerant as well as other natural refrigerants. 15 episodes have been published online so far and can be downloaded for free as podcasts.

The US-based training facility GCAP provides with its “CoolCast” online audio files, industry insights on the latest national and international news and trends about ammonia, CO2, natural refrigerants in general, boilers and new technologies in the industry mainly in form of an expert interview.

"We’re very excited about how successful the podcast has been so far. Every episode we record, we learn a little more and get a little better. I can’t wait to see what we have accomplished with it in 5 years. The “CoolCast” is about one thing. Getting free ammonia refrigeration training right into the hands of the operator. We are promoting ammonia operator safety, the natural refrigerants, and refrigeration maintenance excellence. We wanted a way to get the word out even if you are not able to make it to Garden City. With this new platform, we’re striving to improve operator knowledge throughout the industry," says Craig Ward, Voice of "CoolCast.com".

"We are just getting started and there is a lot more on the way. We want our listeners to get involved. CALL US! Ask questions, we are here to help in any way we can," he adds.

Targeted to operators and enthusiasts around the world, the CoolCast program has a growing community and 15 episodes have been produced and published to the GCAP CoolCast website so far.

List of selected episodes and topics

Episode 2: Randy and Jeremy visit Mycom in Japan to see the Newton 3000 system that uses ammonia and CO2

Episode 3: Gary Smith and the One Plan Coalition - President of ASTI (Ammonia Safety Training Institute)

Episode 7: CO2 and the Natural Refrigerants

SEE FULL LIST AND GCAPs PODCASTS HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

What does 2011 bring to the most climate active US State?

The 1st of January 2011 marks a significant cut-off date in California, US, whereby measures aimed at reducing the impact of refrigerant leakages from stationary sources using refrigerants other than ammonia and CO2 come into force. 2011 will also see progress in developing standards to reduce direct and indirect emissions from new commercial refrigeration systems.

On 1 January 2011, California’s ‘Refrigerant Management Program’, a regulation to minimise leaks of environmentally harmful refrigerants from stationary sources, took effect. 

As a result of the regulation, facilities such as supermarkets, cold storage warehouses and food processing plants that make use of commercial and industrial systems with more than 50 pounds of a refrigerant that is an ozone depleting substance (CFC, HCFC) or any compound with a global warming potential (GWP) value equal to or greater than 150 will be subject to refrigerant leak inspection, repairs, required service practices and record keeping requirements. 

Depending on the type and size of refrigeration systems, leak inspection requirements will vary from continuous leak monitoring to quarterly or annual leak inspections. Refrigerant leaks will have to be repaired by a U.S. EPA certified technician within 14 days of leak detection, while in cases where systems cannot be repaired, a retrofit or retirement plan will be required.

The ‘Refrigerant Management Program’ also includes certain prohibitions, recordkeeping and reporting requirements for wholesalers, distributors and refrigerant reclaimers of all high global warming refrigerants except ammonia and carbon dioxide.

The new rule implies compliance costs for all large facilities using refrigerants other than ammonia or CO2. Nonetheless, CARB expects that the leak detection, monitoring and repair requirements will reduce the need to buy costly refrigerant to refill systems, thus leading to average savings of about two dollars per metric ton CO2 equivalent reduced. 

Moreover, the rule is estimated to lead to emission reductions of 8.1 million metric tons CO2e in 2020, an emissions equivalent to the energy used by 1.5 million homes per year.

READ MORE ABOUT DEVELOPING NEW STANDARDS FOR NEW REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS

[ammonia21-blog]

Improving Cold Storage Equipment in Europe

With the cold chain accounting for about 2.5% of global emissions through direct (refrigerant leakage) and indirect (energy consumption) effects, an EU funded project has been launched that will develop a benchmarking tool to assess the performance of a particular cold store against data for hundreds of other stores across Europe.

Funded by the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation, the ICE-E (Improving Cold Storage Equipment in Europe) project aspires to help European cold store operators reduce their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, though providing a ‘Free Cold Store Energy Adviser’.

Overcoming reservations to the uptake of new technologies

The project partners estimate that cold store operators can realise energy savings of 30-40% by optimising usage of their stores, repairing current equipment and retrofitting with energy efficient equipment.

However, without sufficient information on the achievable savings, cold store operators are often reluctant to install new equipment. 

ICE-E therefore seeks to overcome reservations to the uptake of new technologies within the cold storage sector.

Take the survey to facilitate the development of the tool The ICE-E project partners have put together an online survey addressed to cold stores in order to collect information on the amount of energy they use. The survey can be accessed by clicking here. 

READ MORE ABOUT COLD STORAGE EQUIPMENT HERE

[ammonia21-blog]

Carbon Trust refrigerant roadmap highlights retail applications of ammonia

The latest phase of the Carbon Trust Refrigerant Roadmap project will build on earlier work to produce a Code of Conduct for carbon reduction with commercial refrigeration systems used by retailers.

The first part of the Carbon Trust Refrigerant Roadmap highlighted a number of future technologies that could have possible application in both industrial and retail sectors, including potential for ammonia.

Findings of that report identified challenges that must be overcome before ammonia can be fully commercialised at the retail level, but outlined good potential for the refrigerant.

Concerns with leakage or component failure

Researchers praised ammonia for being both an environmentally benign and efficient refrigerant, noting that it has been used extensively in large vapour compression systems. Reasons for the application of the technology in the industrial side versus retail side were mostly centered on safety concerns.

As such, the report found that the most likely application of ammonia is in applications where the risk to workers can be minimised via confinement to the plant room and several levels of fail-safes. Retail applications, in their mind were likely to be limited due to potential risk to the public through leakage or component failure.

Potential for retailers

However, researchers did note that ways to use the gas in small hermetic or semi-hermetic compressor systems to reduce the system charge and therefore the risk of leakage are being developed, with several compressor concepts being tested in recent years, including a hermetic ammonia scroll compressor.

This, coupled with a shift toward ‘safer’ distribution systems as well as the use of leak-tight integral cabinets could present efficiency potential as well as increased system reliability for retailers – further opening up the possibility of ammonia as a primary refrigerant in the future.

  READ MORE ABOUT CARBON TRUST ROADMAP ON AMMONIA21.COM WEBSITE