In the medieval city of Edinburgh, Scotland world experts will gather, from the 21st to 24th August 2016 to review and discuss latest technology trends in applications using natural refrigerants.
The 12th Gustav Lorentzen Natural Working Fluid Conference, hosted by the UK’s Institute of Refrigeration’s (IOR), will feature presentations from the leading international innovators and researchers in refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump technology. Selected keynote speakers will also be looking at strategies to increase the market share of natural refrigerants
Director of the USA’s Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Alexander von Bismarck, will talk about where all the commercial, industrial and different refrigerant sectors globally are moving in terms of natural refrigerants.
Prof. Guangming Chen of the Ningbo Institute of Technology, China, will be looking at the opportunities for natrefs once phase down in China begins.
Also, Ray Gluckman, an advisor to the European Commission, will both be looking at the barriers to entry that exist in the market for European manufactures and how solutions can be found.
The keynote speech will be delivered by Terry A’Hearn, Chief Executive of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, about the Scottish efforts to promote alternatives to HFCs.
The best natural refrigerant?
In honor of Gustav Lorentzen’s contribution to the field of natural refrigeration, an international conference has been held in his name for the last 12 years in different locations every year.
Bruce Smeaton, who works for the consultancy wing of Star Refrigeration – Star Technical Solutions, will be the first to speak at the break out session.
He will be answering the question, “What is the best natural refrigerant and what is the best systems?”
The conference will also serve to analyse how the traditional separation between light commercial, commercial and industrial in the last few years has been closing in thanks to natural refrigerants’ solutions. The supermarket sector, especially, has become a battleground with ammonia, hydrocarbons and CO2 all competing with their own or combined solutions to replace fluorinated gases.
A victory for CO2?
A majority of case studies at the conference will showcase research that is being done with CO2 – Mr. Lorentzen refrigerant of choice – in the main workshops. Specific sessions on heat–pump and supermarket applications, for example, will be based on research papers focusing on CO2, with a strong focus on energy efficiency gains.
About half of the 140 conference papers submitted focused on R744 technology to some extent.
Among the highlights, Carrier will be giving a demonstration of their CO2 refrigeration transport units, whereas Brakes Brothers will deliver a short course on Ammonia Safety with Low charge Refrigeration Systems
Industry leaders such as Emerson, Danfoss, LU-VE, Bitzer, Epta and Star refrigeration, along with others will also be showcasing cutting-edge natural refrigerant technologies at the event.
Several side workshops will focus on safety and market trends, including a keynote presentation by shecco.
R744.com will be reporting from the conference in the coming days.
The full programme is available here.
