Arneg presented CO2-based transcritical systems

Date: 29 October 2021

The Ozone Secretariat and the OzonAction programme of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have launched the Sustainable Cold Chain Virtual Exhibition, a virtual exhibition on technologies and approaches for cold chain sustainability. The aim is to highlight the primary importance of the cold chain in increasing food preservation, reducing food waste and global warming, as well as preserving the ozone layer.

The exhibition was launched on World Ozone Day 2021 and is currently being promoted as part of the 33rd Meeting of Montreal Protocol members to reduce food waste and develop sustainable cold chains, which is taking place these days. It will remain active in the coming years, periodically enriched with the latest technological innovations, and can be accessed by clicking here.

The platform displays the best technologies currently available in the cold chain, with the prerequisite of using ozone-friendly refrigerants with low global warming potential, and the need to demonstrate an improved path to energy efficiency. The exhibition divides the products and technologies presented into different categories to cover the entire cold chain from production to sale of the food product.

The Booster refrigeration system, representing Arneg's offer of CO2-based transcritical systems, is included among the technologies that support the cold process in the point of sale, within the Supermarkets category.

The transcritical booster system uses refrigerant R-744, increasing the performance of CO2 through parallel compressor technology, heat recovery and ejector technology in refrigeration cabinets at convenience stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets. The rejected heat of the system can be used to heat the food store, avoiding the use of methane for heating.

While the price CO2 refrigerating systems is still higher than conventional refrigerant-based technologies, it is balanced by the significantly lower cost of gas. The use of energy saving solutions such as parallel compressor makes CO2 competitive compared to the other technologies also in warmer climates.

In which country/region it is used - South Africa and Europe