INTERNATIONAL NEWS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
New IIR update on the world of refrigeration daintree . net
The 67th International Institute of Refrigeration ( IIR ) newsletter has gathered snippets of refrigeration and cold chain news from across the world to provide expert insight into the global playing field — what ’ s happening ?
World industrial refrigeration equipment market to grow to USD36.25-billion
The global industrial refrigeration equipment market was valued at USD24- billion in 2015 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of slightly above 7 % between 2016 and 2021 .
Key application segments of the industrial refrigeration equipment market include food production and processing ; beverage production ; chemicals and pharmaceuticals ; energy ( gas production ); logistics ( storage warehouses ); and petrochemicals . Food production and processing was the leading segment , accounting for over 24 % market share in 2015 .
North America , Europe , Asia Pacific , Latin America , the Middle East , and Africa are the key regional segments of the market . Demand for industrial refrigeration equipment was highest in Asia Pacific . However , Latin America and the emerging countries have also shown promising growth during the past few years .
US cold chain figures
According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service , there were 118.08 million cubic metres of gross refrigerated storage capacity in the US on 1 October 2015 . This is a 3 % increase in refrigerated warehouse capacity in the US since October 2013 .
Public refrigerated warehouse capacity accounts for 75.28 % of gross refrigerated capacity in the US , which is a slight decrease ( 0.59 %) from 2013 .
According to the American Truck Association , the American refrigerated trucking industry hauled 520.1 million tons of freight in 2015 , equalling 5 % of all truck freight ( 10.35 billion tons ). Also , refrigerated freight generated USD14.3- billion in revenue , equalling 1.9 % of all truck revenue ( USD748.9-billion ).
G7 urges phase down of HFCs under Montreal Protocol
During the G7 meeting in Toyama , Japan , in May 2016 , ministers and high representatives recognised the importance of mitigating emissions of short-lived climate pollutants , including black carbon , methane , ground-level ozone , and HFCs . On measures to address fluorocarbons , they welcomed the decision in Dubai by the parties to the Montreal Protocol to address HFCs , and supported adoption of a Montreal Protocol HFC phase-down amendment in 2016 . They also recognised the importance of implementing concrete measures to minimise emissions throughout the lifecycle of HFCs and other fluorocarbons , including through the management of equipment and appliances that use these substances during their operations and at the time of their disposal .
CEM launches Advanced Cooling Challenge
The Clean Energy Ministerial ( CEM ) is a forum of the world ’ s major economies and leading clean energy investors
The global industrial refrigeration market is expected to grow rapidly . japan . go . jp
Global leaders meet during G7 last year .
working together to accelerate the global transition to clean energy . In June 2016 , the CEM launched the Advanced Cooling Challenge ( AC Challenge ) at CEM7 in San Francisco , California .
The AC Challenge ’ s founding members include the United States , India , China , Canada , and Saudi Arabia . The AC Challenge aims to inspire governments and industry to make , sell , promote , or install super-efficient air-conditioner or cooling solutions that are smart , have low global warming potential ( GWP ), and are affordable . Improving the average efficiency of air conditioners sold in 2030 by 30 % could reduce emissions by up to 25 billion metric tons of CO 2 over the lifetime of the equipment and reduce peak electricity demand by as much as 340 – 790 gigawatts .
The Standards and Labelling Programme being implemented has already improved the average efficiency of room air conditioners in India by more than 20 %.
Low charge ammonia systems for the cold chain
In their presentation during the IIR International Cold Chain Conference 2016 ( ICCC2016 ) that took place last year in New Zealand , R Lamb stressed that the phasing out of ozone depleting refrigerants and increasing legislative pressure on the use of HFC refrigerants have resulted in greater interest in the use of ammonia for temperature controlled storage / distribution and food production worldwide . He presented ‘ Modern , low charge ammonia systems for the cold chain ’.
Ammonia systems have traditionally had large cooling capacities and tonnes of refrigerant charge . With more end users now considering the switch to ammonia , concerns have been raised over its toxicity and flammability , and this has led to the development of low charge solutions for both chill and low temperature applications . Advances in evaporator technology have enabled reductions in refrigerant charges of more than 30 % by moving from pumped circulation to direct expansion operation for large distributed ammonia systems . Further reductions in charge are possible for cold storage applications by moving to smaller , air-cooled packaged solutions located close to the point of cooling . These charge reductions are achieved through elimination of vessels and shorter pipework .
Overall operating cost for these aircooled packages is equal to or better than that of evaporative solutions , when accounting for water and chemical usage . For chill and food processing applications , improvements in compressor and fan efficiencies mean that modern ammonia chillers can mitigate the efficiencies associated by using secondary cooling and heat rejection technology . The use of variable speed reciprocating compressor technology helps improve chiller efficiency compared to fixed-speed screw compressor designs .
Carbon reduction opportunities for supermarkets
At ICCC2016 , a paper by J Evans et al . stressed that refrigeration is the largest load in a supermarket , accounting for
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