Exhibitors arriving in Nuremberg on 13 to 15 October are no longer arguing about whether to move to natural refrigerants. They are showing how fast the move can be made, and at what cost. That single change of question runs through nearly every release we have received ahead of Chillventa 2026, the largest edition of the fair yet, expanded by an additional hall to absorb demand from exhibitors.
Reading the material side by side, six shifts stand out: CO2 is leaving the supermarket rack and moving into small formats; data centre cooling has arrived at a refrigeration fair in force; heat pumps have scaled into the megawatt class; efficiency has moved from the component to the system; retrofit is becoming a market of its own; and behind all of it sits a hard regulatory date, 1 January 2027.
As the official media partner of Chillventa, Refindustry will keep this preview updated until the doors open. Exhibitors: send your press releases to info@refindustry.com and we will add them.
CO2 moves down-market
For fifteen years, transcritical CO2 was a supermarket technology. This edition of Chillventa shows it spreading both down and sideways: into bakeries, butcher shops, single counters and small cold rooms, in packaged units that need no machine room and no specialist rack.
TEKO (Hall 5, stand 5-110) brings the ROXSTAdiscpack, a compact CO2 unit aimed at exactly the sites a classic multi-compressor pack was never built for: small markets, butchers, bakeries and food service. Alongside it runs the ROXSTAcube mini pure, a development of the cube mini line focused on the essentials.
Frascold (Hall 5, stand 5-336) answers the same shift from the compressor side. Its new CO2 Two-Stage semi-hermetic piston range, 11 models in three sizes, is built for single-compressor gas-cooler units serving individual counters, small cold rooms and industrial freezers, the architecture the company says is taking over from the medium and large transcritical and subcritical packs that used to define the segment. First-stage displacement runs from 1.5 to 12.6 m3/h at 50 Hz, discharge-side design pressure reaches 155 bar, and evaporating temperatures go down to minus 50 C. Engineering details include nitrided pistons, anti-friction finishes and, on 4-cylinder models, internal barriers between oil sump and motor. The company is also launching a second range at the show, the ALUMINIUM semi-hermetic screw compressors for ammonia, eight models with motors of 97 to 120 kW, wound in aluminium because copper corrodes in contact with ammonia.
Panasonic (Hall 7, stand 7-337) marks fifteen years of CO2 condensing units, and backs the anniversary with a number the industry rarely publishes: a measured comparison. In tests by Panasonic engineers in Japan, its CO2 units consumed 25.4 per cent less energy in low-temperature and 16.2 per cent less in medium-temperature applications than inverter-controlled R404A units, with total emissions, refrigerant losses plus energy, 67 per cent lower. The company itself notes the caveat: R404A was the benchmark of its day and has not been permitted in new EU systems since 2020. The release closes with a working installation, a 20 HP R744 unit at a farm dairy in Devon.
Epta and Hauser (Hall 4, stand 4-247) present the full store lifecycle under one roof, from plug-in cabinets for small formats to remote cabinets and packs for large sites, on natural refrigerants led by CO2 with propane, air and water-loop options. It is Hauser’s first Chillventa as part of the Epta Group, extending the offer into light industrial applications.
BITZER (Hall 1, stand 1-303) announced new air-cooled ECOLITE CO2 condensing units for medium and low temperature, plug-and-play with capacity control, alongside retrofit-oriented PERFORMANCE, OPERATIONAL SAFETY and CONNECTIVITY kits for its ECOLINE ranges and a new BITZER Arena format for planners, consultants and installers.
Arneg (Hall 9, stand 9-428) brings the same logic to store formats. Its new PRISMA range of transcritical CO2 systems is built for mini-markets and small stores, delivering high performance from a small footprint, for sites where space is the binding constraint. Alongside it, TOWER RING, first shown at EuroShop 2026, lets a single refrigeration unit serve several displays in stores with no room for outdoor units, holding the R290 charge per unit under 150 grams, a number that matters as charge limits tighten. Also on the stand: the new IMOLA promotional island in medium and low temperature versions, the GLOBO CO2 system, an R290 HP chiller, and Ring and Glycol systems. Incold, the group’s cold room company, exhibits opposite on two stands with commercial and industrial cold rooms, the new POLAR panels designed for faster assembly and better sealing, and four rapid roll-up door models built for airtightness in industrial refrigeration.
Data centre cooling arrives in force
Two years ago this cluster barely existed at Chillventa. In 2026, coolant distribution units, liquid cooling and leak testing appear on stands across the halls, and the reason is plain: server heat has become both a cooling problem and a heat source worth money.
Siemens (Hall 7A, stand 7A-116) brings a new Intelligent Valve in stainless steel for coolant distribution units and differential pressure control in liquid-cooled server racks, built for AI-density loads. Next to it, the MVL702 magnetic expansion valve arrives in a 90 bar version for R744, rated for fluid temperatures up to 150 C, which opens applications such as industrial steam generation with high-temperature heat pumps. Climatix controllers gain AI diagnostics and predictive maintenance.
CAREL (Hall 6, stands 104 and 110) shows control solutions for liquid cooling from CDUs to direct-to-chip and immersion architectures, integrating programmable controllers, sensors and edge connectivity for high thermal density environments.
Danfoss (Hall 4, stand 258) covers the same ground from components to systems: scalable data centre cooling, oil-free compressors and coolant distribution units, inside a broader stand built around the argument that the sector should go beyond energy efficiency and decarbonise.
Sanhua (stand 4A-213) gives data centres a dedicated area of its eight-panel stand, built around one argument: its brazed plate heat exchanger range, already used in heat pumps, carries over to high-density liquid cooling, on both R290 and R744.
Eliwell and Schneider Electric (Hall 6, stand 6-118) add the electrical side: PLCs, drives and technologies for data centre cooling and HVAC, alongside Eliwell’s own refrigeration controls.
Heat pumps scale into the megawatt class
The range on show this year runs from 3,000 kW of heat per rack, sized for a district heating network, down to reversible units for a shop or a restaurant. At the top end, supply temperatures now reach 95 C, territory that used to belong to boilers.
GEA (Hall 4, stand 345) shows the new version of its RedGenium ammonia heat pump with supply temperatures up to 95 C, driven by the Grasso L XHP screw compressor optimised for ammonia heat pumps up to 95 C and 70 bar. Around it: the CompaX semi-hermetic ammonia screw, a new frame for the V reciprocating package that removes the need for a concrete foundation, a new Outdoor Enclosure for sites without a machine room, and a live compressor maintenance demonstration on a Grasso V 300-2. At the Specialist Forum on 14 October, GEA takes the argument into a second market with a session titled From Waste Heat to Value, which makes the case for treating data centre cooling as a heat supply business.
Fenagy (Hall 1, stand 1-444) brings its H-range of CO2 heat pumps, 500 to 3,000 kW of heat per rack, air- or water-sourced, with supply temperatures up to 85 C, aimed at district heating, industry and heat recovery, including from data centres.
Clivet (Hall 7, stand 7-204) fills the commercial gap with SHEEN PRO, an air-cooled reversible R290 heat pump for the service sector, alongside the CVT9-Y VRF development and the TC3-7 touchscreen controller.
Efficiency moves from the component to the system
The most consistent engineering message of this edition: single components have reached the point of diminishing returns, and the next gains sit in how the parts talk to each other.
ebm-papst (Hall 7A, stand 7A-320) builds its entire stand on that thesis, premiering the AxiBlade.Perform fan series inside the NEXAIRA digital ecosystem of monitoring, reporting and predictive maintenance. The company’s CEO puts efficiency, reliability and digitalisation in one sentence for a reason. Its two forum sessions carry the same logic into practice: a smart fan retrofit format with guaranteed energy savings, and a first-hundred-days review of the ErP26 requirements, both on 14 October.
CAREL answers with RED Pilot, a platform that turns HVAC/R units into remotely managed connected assets, and with a new pRack rack controller: new architecture, extended modularity, Ethernet connectivity and versions for HFC/HFO, subcritical and transcritical CO2.
Eliwell (Hall 6, stand 6-118) shows AIR, its app and cloud platform that automates HACCP reporting and flags anomalies remotely, plus the IDNext controller lines, the new EWHT 600 for temperature and humidity, and the LKDNext leak detector.
RDM (Hall 6, stand 6-327) argues the point from the data side: its forum session on 13 October, Finding Refrigeration Efficiency Through Data, starts from the observation that most operators already collect the data they need and fail to turn it into decisions.
Nidec Drives and Embraco (Hall 4, stand 4-145), sharing a stand, represent the drives-and-motors layer of the same story: variable speed as the default path to part-load efficiency across commercial buildings, refrigeration and heat pumps.
Heat transfer and components
SWEP (Hall 4, stand 4-357) shows brazed plate heat exchangers for CO2, propane and ammonia, including the FI190 for residential heat pumps and the B4TS for high temperature duty. Its forum session on 13 October addresses how EU F-gas requirements are pushing heat pump design from kilowatt low-charge systems to megawatt units, and what that does to distribution and oil management.
Secop (Hall 4, stand 129) reorganises its stand into five application areas and puts a number on variable speed: up to 40 per cent energy savings against a fixed-speed R404A compressor, across the NLV and SLVE series with Core Functions, Multipurpose and Extended electronics. A new counter covers R290 compressors for domestic hot water heat pumps, and the medical cold chain area reaches down to minus 86 C.
KARYER (Hall 8, stand 8-108) shows dry coolers with adiabatic pad, spray or hybrid support that can be run separately as capacity demands, 5 mm coils for CO2 that cut size, weight and refrigerant charge, fruit-storage evaporators optimised for low moisture loss, and a new stainless steel cabinet-type brine cooler working at a 3 K temperature difference.
MITA Cooling Technologies and Frigofluid (Hall 4, stand 4-225) put water on the efficiency agenda. The PAD-XL W adiabatic cooler, configurable to 20 fans and 2,500 kW across 11.6 metres, wets its adiabatic section only when strictly necessary under PLC control and recovers water without chemical treatment. Frigofluid shows its RW chiller on R32 alongside. From 2026 the group also runs its own climatic test chamber, a quiet but telling investment: performance claims that can be verified.
NDL Industries (Hall 4A, stand 4A-413) extends its CO2 valve and fitting programme to 150 bar ball valves in stainless steel and UL-certified CO2 copper fittings up to 2-5/8 inch, the small hardware without which no transcritical system ships.
Sanhua (stand 4A-213) rounds out the component picture with a stainless steel line, REVO refrigeration controllers, and a standard controller for CO2 condensing units developed jointly with Reftronix (Hall 6, stand 6-210).
The 2027 clock
Every pattern above has the same deadline behind it. From 1 January 2027 the EU quota for hydrofluorocarbons placed on the market roughly halves in a single step, and GWP limits at equipment level take effect on the same date. The UK runs its own timetable, with its own quota step in 2027. We will publish a separate breakdown of what changes in 2027 for equipment manufacturers and importers.
The exhibitor list reflects the moment: AFS Cooling (Hall 6, stand 6-127), a quota and compliance desk, exhibits at a refrigeration fair, offering EU and GB quota authorisations, statutory reporting and refrigerant sourcing for OEMs and importers. When compliance trading takes a booth next to compressors, the regulatory calendar has become part of the industry’s hardware.
This preview is updated continuously ahead of the show. Send your Chillventa 2026 press releases to info@refindustry.com.