The annual Atmosphere Europe conference brought natural refrigerant suppliers together with end-users and policy makers to discuss industry progress. Andrew Gaved was there to hear the debate.

In its five years of existence the Atmosphere conference in Brussels has provided information, networking and debate for the movers and shakers in the natural refrigerant sector, both those whose job it is to develop the technology and those who specify.

In the past few years delegate numbers have steadily increased because of two interconnected factors. The technology itself and the industry to support it has come on apace, as particularly for the commercial sector it has acquired a critical mass.

And in parallel, end user customers have become more willing to take the plunge into naturals, driven by CSR imperatives and, in the case of supermarkets, by the need to be seen by the public as in the environmental vanguard.

For the pioneers, not only has this meant moving away from much of the conventional techniques of HFC refrigeration towards the high-pressure world of carbon dioxide or the low-charge necessity of hydrocarbons, this also initially meant keeping faith with a not-quite-mature infrastructure.

Supermarket refrigeration managers across Europe all have tales of poor component availability – including the refrigerant itself in the early days – and they express a shared concern over the ability of the servicing industry to maintain their anticipated natural refrigeration estate in the future.

But the fact that the 2013 conference had a record attendance was in no small measure due to the changing landscape of legislation which looks highly likely – some would say certain – to see natural refrigeration techniques thrust to the forefront of the industry. If the most stringent of the current proposals on the table for F-gas gets accepted, it could see a relatively rapid shift to lower-GWP gases, as end users seek long term solutions (see News).

But the reality is that in Europe, natural refrigeration, particularly CO₂, is now starting to gain serious traction in the supermarket sector. Conference organiser Shecco revealed research that shows European installations of transcritical CO₂ have more than doubled in the past two years, from 1,331 in 2011 to 2,881 this year.

Leading the field is Denmark, which has passed legislation restricting HFCs, with a massive 712 transcritical installations. Second is the UK on 441 sites.

The UK’s CO₂ estate has risen 65 per cent in the past two years, an impressive expansion, but dwarfed by Germany (whose environment department takes a much more hands-on approach than our own Department of Energy & Climate Change), which has expanded its CO₂ estate by 150 per cent to 429 stores.

A further 1,568 CO₂/HFC cascades are in operation in supermarkets in the Europe, along with 16 CO₂/NH₃ cascades, bringing the total volume of CO₂ installations to well over 4,000 in 2013. To put this in perspective, the total number of European CO₂ installations just seven years ago was only 105.

Shecco’s research also revealed that the UK claims the second largest number of firms working in the natural refrigeration supply chain, with 54, second only to Germany, which claims 66.

End users

The supermarkets are clearly planning for an expansion of their work with natural refrigerants, in anticipation of a tightened F-gas regime.

Megan Helstedt of Delhaize Group, representing the Consumer Goods Forum, said the CGF was pressing forward with a ‘transition plan’ to help the early adopters share best practice with the rest.

Approximately half the CGF’s 400 members have not yet signed its commitment to ‘work towards natural refrigeration ‘so the forum has outlined a plan to encourage progress, including identifying 50 manufacturer members that need help in making the next step.

She said supermarket solutions for warmer climates remained a hurdle: “We believe there is momentum here, the question is how to do this quickly.”

CGF manufacturer members who have led the charge towards naturals shared their progress. Heineken’s Maarten ten Houten reported the firm’s ambition to reduce refrigeration carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2015, via a range of energy efficiency moves and use of R600a where technically and legally feasible; hydrocarbons now comprise 68 per cent of the new equipment fleet.

Its latest draught beer keg, the ‘David Green’, claims a huge 50-70 per cent reduction in energy over conventional 20 litre beer coolers.

Fellow drinks giant Red Bull now claims 100 per cent procurement of hydrocarbon equipment outside of Japan. Spokesman Juergen Brenneis said that from the firm’s point of view, an HFC ban would enable it to make faster progress: “Around 60,000 of our coolers go into small stores which don’t care what refrigerant they put in. An HFC ban would solve that.”

The two companies, together with Coca-Cola, have collaborated on the Refrigerants Naturally group, which has committed to being 100 per cent HFC-free on new equipment by 2015. Clearly there is still work to do with their supply chains.

There were words of caution too from the supermarket end users.

First and foremost the industry needs clarity as soon as possible. Paul Alway, refrigeration manager with retailer Marks & Spencer, said: “The end users share the frustration of not having certainty on F-gas.”

German co-operative store group Edeka Sudwest revealed that its move towards CO₂ was incentivised by a one-off government grant of E120,000 for opening a new store on naturals.

Dutch group Royal Ahold reported that thanks to a prefabricated plant room its Next Week Open strategy sees shops remodelled, complete with upgraded refrigeration, in only eight days. Engineering manager Michel de Rooij also revealed Ahold’s leakage rate is down to 6.6 per cent across the estate.

On home turf, Mr Alway revealed that M&S was trialling transcritical systems to replace its CO₂ cascade configuration. “The current system is quite complicated, but it is energy efficient and reliable.

The simpler we make it the better – and I can’t get the cost of pumped CO₂ down to that of transcritical, because that is where all the development is.”

Mr Alway is to build his own store-size trial installation by the end of the year, to optimise the transcritical set-up, particularly for its bespoke Brooklands display cases.

But there is also a feeling that the natural refrigerant supply chain needs to keep working for better and better solutions, particularly the cost base.

John Skelton, UK head of refrigeration for retailer Sainsbury’s, said he had worked with the supply chain to help build up a supporting infrastructure for CO₂, but the lack of cost-effective natural solutions for his convenience stores was in danger of stalling his ambitious carbon reduction plans.

He has committed to opening 250 stores with CO₂ by next year, and is currently on 167. “It is easier to get the right cost point on the bigger stores, but what is holding me back are those convenience stores.

Around 120 convenience stores a year are being opened, so that is something we need to change and pretty quick. I want the support from the supply chain.”

But Mr Skelton reiterated his concern about the ability of the contracting workforce to meet the end-users’ goals:

“I still think there is a gap in the UK at least for CO₂ training and I worry about the competency levels in the industry. If some of the F-gas proposals come to pass, I wonder how the industry will be able to meet the challenge.”

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