Food retailer ALDI SÜD has long believed in environmental protection and sustainability, which is why the company is installing refrigeration systems featuring BITZER reciprocating compressors for transcritical CO<sub>2</sub> applications in its stores.
There’s a good reason why CO<sub>2</sub> is the refrigerant of choice for supermarket applications: it’s future-proof whilst offering high energy efficiency and low global warming potential. ALDI SÜD came to this conclusion back in 2006 and thus began consistently switching its refrigeration systems at its stores to the environmentally friendly refrigerant. 1,350 stores have since been equipped with reciprocating compressors for transcritical CO<sub>2</sub> applications.
[caption id="attachment_12093" align="alignnone" width="470"]<img class="wp-image-12093 size-medium" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; background-color: initial;" src="https://refindustry.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/aldi-bitzer-470x350.png" alt="" width="470" height="350" /> Erik Bucher (Director Sales Refrigeration at BITZER) presenting the model of a reciprocating compressor and a certificate to Jens Strassburg (Director Store Operations Management at ALDI SÜD).[/caption]
Erik Bucher (Director Sales Refrigeration at BITZER) presenting the model of a reciprocating compressor and a certificate to Jens Strassburg (Director Store Operations Management at ALDI SÜD).Erik Bucher, Director of Refrigeration Sales at BITZER in Sindelfingen, was recently able to present the 100,000th CO<sub>2</sub> compressor produced by BITZER in Schkeuditz near Leipzig to ALDI SÜD. ‘We’ve maintained a long-standing partnership based on trust with ALDI SÜD,’ says Bucher. ‘I can confidently call our customer a pioneer, as they are also partly responsible for the fact that installations with CO<sub>2</sub> as a refrigerant are now one of the most common standards in the EU.’
Jens Strassburg, Director Store Operations Management at ALDI SÜD, says: ‘We’re always on the lookout for solutions that will allow us to operate our display cabinets and refrigeration systems more efficiently, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using the right refrigerant, and minimise our impact on the environment.’ ALDI SÜD’s activities are shaped by long-term, sustainable thinking. ‘We’ve dedicated ourselves to operating with a focus on the future,’ Strassburg adds. ‘Even if that means we have to invest more for a certain period of time. However, energy savings ultimately serve as proof of a short amortisation period and high investment security.’
The high energy efficiency of BITZER reciprocating compressors for transcritical CO<sub>2</sub> applications makes it possible. Designed for operation with frequency inverter, they offer flexible, efficient and stepless capacity control. This is particularly important when it comes to the capacity characteristic of CO<sub>2</sub> systems: stepless capacity control can minimise suction pressure fluctuations and cycling rates, which in turn reduces energy costs and increases the life cycle. It can also boost the quality of the products requiring cooling and the cooling process.
‘We’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with ALDI SÜD in the years to come,’ says Erik Bucher. And Jens Strassburg adds: ‘We highly value BITZER as a partner – particularly in this day and age, when there are so many changes and so much is going on in refrigeration. We need a partner we can rely on with decades of experience, to ensure our operations are more sustainable in the future.
