At Frigair 2018, Shaun Hadfield, operations director at Commercial Refrigeration Services (CRS), spoke to shecco’s Andrew Williams about what may well become the southern hemisphere’s largest CO2 transcritical installation when it is commissioned in Sacramento, California in the coming months.
“The rack behind us is for a company called In2Food – it’s for their food processing facility.” said Hadfield.
The In2Food Group (Pty.) Ltd., which has extensive operations in South Africa and Australia, is the largest supplier of fresh and chilled food products to supermarket chain Woolworths. Boasting over 1,000 product lines, it also targets the export market – notably supplying UK retailer Marks & Spencer.
“This particular installation has over 3 MW of cooling. We’re hoping that it’s going to be the largest in the southern hemisphere,” Hadfield said.
“We should be on site in around August, and we hope to commission the system in November,” he said.
Having enjoyed success with its commercial CO2 installations, CRS is now looking to make its mark on the industrial side. “We’re finding that CO2 is quite a user-friendly gas” for industrial, Hadfield said.
“The return on investment that CO2 is able to offer has made it that much more plausible for end users.”
Shaun Hadfield, CRS
South Africa market to continue to grow
CRS is optimistic that CO2 transcritical systems will become more popular in industrial applications in its native South Africa. “The return on investment that CO2 is able to offer has made it that much more plausible for end users,” Hadfield said.
Frigair 2018 is taking place at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg from 6-8 June.
