“Propane and flammables are used to some extent in plug-in type display cabinets, but for larger stores it is completely CO2,” Frigadon’s managing director, Björn Skattberg, told R744.com at the Fruit Logistica tradeshow in Berlin.
Frigadon was at Fruit Logistica – Germany’s largest tradeshow for the fruit and vegetable sector – to show off the next generation of its environmentally friendly hydrocarbon chillers. But Skattberg was keen to talk about the company’s CO2 condensing units for low as well as medium temperature applications.
Contrary to the US or Canada, where open display cases in supermarkets are the norm, in Scandinavia the majority of supermarket cabinets have doors. Moreover, during the night other power-consuming devices, such as lights, are switched off, leaving just the refrigeration equipment running.
The advantages of CO2 for colder or northern climates are incontestable: it runs continuously overnight and can provide heat, hot water and air conditioning as well as refrigeration if needed – like others in the business, Frigadon is working hard to improve the efficiency of CO2 installations in high ambient temperature conditions, Skattberg said.
Also among 2,700 exhibitors and 65,000 visitors gathered in Berlin for the three-day event earlier this month was Eric MacGregor, managing director of Versatile Refrigeration. He was keen to stress that while the industry was currently working hard to ensure that CO2 systems work as effectively in warmer climates as they do in colder ones, firms such as the Coca-Cola Company are already proving that the technology can be successfully deployed all over the world.
Moreover, MacGregor said more new techniques and technologies to address these climate challenges were in the pipeline.
