GEA helps customers tackle F-Gas refrigerant legislation challenges

Overview of the regulations

In concrete terms, this means that HFCs may continue to be used, but will become less and less available over the coming years and their use in commercial and industrial refrigeration will be subject to the following restrictions:

• From January 1, 2020, the use of “virgin” HFCs with a GWP value of ≥ 2500 in new stationary refrigeration systems will be banned. With a GWP value of 3920, R404A falls under this ban, as does R-507, unless the operating temperature is below -50 °C. As a further consequence, the use of HFCs with a GWP value ≥ 2500 for the maintenance and servicing of refrigeration systems with a filling quantity equivalent to 40 t CO2 or more (that would be around 10 kg R404A) is prohibited from January 1, 2020.
• From January 1, 2020, the use of HFCs with a GWP value ≥ 2500 in new hermetically sealed cooling units for commercial use is prohibited. In 2022, the GWP value may then amount to a maximum of 150.
• As of January 1, 2022, HFCs with a GWP value ≥ 150 are prohibited in new hermetically sealed cooling units with a capacity of 40 kW or more, with the exception of the main circuit of cascade systems whose refrigerant must have a GWP value below 1500.
• From January 1, 2022, it is no longer permitted to place cooling units for commercial use with the refrigerant R134a on the market. By 2025, further products, such as stationary refrigeration systems or mono-split air conditioners, with particularly climate-damaging F-gases will gradually be withdrawn from the market. 
• By the year 2030, the GWP-weighted HFC quantity that may be placed on the market annually will be reduced to exactly 21% of its current value. Possible consequences of this "phase-down" could be price increases or a shortage of refrigerants.
• Until January 1, 2030, however, under certain conditions, reprocessed and recycled fluorinated greenhouse gases may still be used for the maintenance or servicing of existing refrigeration systems. This would limit the service life of the R404A system to around 15 years if the refrigerant were not to be replaced.  

Example of a GEA cooling solution in food industry

There is a good example how GEA helps its customers with its expertise in the cooling business. In the UK, GEA has already installed a large ammonia-based system for a major food manufacturer and retailer with mechanical and absorption cooling, contributing to the supply of one of the most energy efficient frozen food distribution centers in Europe. A customer coming from the food industry, wanted to build a new cold store. The question was what refrigerant to use. The refrigerant should be economically and ecologically sensible. The strength and expertise of GEA is the total design of a plant. And so GEA created a solution with ammonia. 

Robert Unsworth, Head of Sales (Refrigeration) for GEA UK explains the design of this state-of-the art plant design: The ammonia absorber in the system returns its heat to a common condensation system, which allows recovery for both underfloor heating and defrosting. This significantly reduces other associated waste streams such as cooling tower water, chemicals, waste water, fans and pump capacity. Heat is also recovered for underfloor heating by subcooling ammonia, which not only provides free heat but also improves compressor efficiency.

 ”Typically, in a food storage environment, up to 90% of energy consumption is used for refrigeration; while this operation has a refrigeration capacity equivalent to 12,000 household freezers, the system consumes less than a third of the energy consumed by the two cold stores it replaces in size comparison. In addition, water and chemical consumption has been reduced by 86%, equivalent to the annual water savings of eleven Olympic swimming pools”. Unsworth believes food manufacturers should not delay switching to cooling systems that can reduce their emissions and power bills, citing an ammonia plant (especially a centralised one) as significantly more efficient than cold stores using greenhouse gases. Or, as he put it, the difference between driving an old car belching out pollutants because it gets you from A to B, when you have been offered a shiny new Hybrid model with twice the miles per gallon (km/l). 

Unsworth highly encourages manufacturers to act now, explaining, “If cold stores, factories or freezers are using any of the gases that will be banned from the end of 2019 or latest 2030 – depending on the type of system – a leak could prove devastating as companies may not be able to mitigate the issue in time to avoid extended down time in production. GEA offers customers a total solution, which when coupled with a heat pump, means fewer boilers are required for generating heat and that this heat, or energy, can be reused instead of being wasted.” A heat pump is a much more environmentally friendly and economical solution than conventional heating alternatives. Industry, municipalities and homeowners have been using it for heating applications for many years. The food industry is now increasingly recognizing the significant financial and environmental benefits of using heat pumps in production processes, especially those that require heat for preparation and subsequent cooling. "GEA, one of the world's leading suppliers of high-tech refrigeration equipment and solutions, is here to help companies comply with the new legislation to reduce CO₂ emissions and to leverage the energy savings that heat pump technology affords. If you are forced to invest as a result of changes in legislation, then adding a heat pump gives you a return on investment and the opportunity to recover these costs to your business more quickly" Unsworth explains.

Find out more:

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Industrial Refrigeration & Heating

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