At the highly acclaimed 1st IIR International Conference on the Cold Chain and Sustainability, Star Refrigeration presented a unique insight into the application of ammonia heat pumps.
The first example related to the "world's largest natural heat pump for district heating," a project being commissioned for the town of Drammen in Norway. Working in partnership with Norwegian cooling specialists, Norsk Kulde, Star have devised a system that uses no R134a, instead using natural refrigerant R717. In addition, the system is expected to require 15% less electrical energy, further enhancing the environmental performance of this world leading solution.
Previously existing district heat pumps in Scandinavia are rumoured to leak R134a in such large quantities that one site alone contributes a global warming effect equivalent to driving over 4 million miles in a family hatchback!
It was with this in mind that the Star/Norsk Kulde team set out to devise a zero GWP solution...
The second example is the deployment of this same system as a district cooling system. In warmer countries, district cooling is increasingly being recognised as a more sophisticated and environmentally sustainable solution than a plethora of small cooling systems. The Star Refrigeration system, conceived in conjunction with global infrastructure experts Ramboll, will also recover all the waste heat from the district cooling process and harness this to deliver fresh drinking water.
A copy of the slides can be downloaded at slideshare.net.
For further information, see our previous news story It's never been done before!