eurammon, one of the conceptual sponsors of the Chillventa 2008, received more than 100 planners, operators and builders of refrigeration facilities from around the world, who attended its English speaking lecture series on “Refrigeration Applications with Natural Refrigerants”.

Presentations mainly focused on the natural refrigerants ammonia and CO2 (R744), covering various cooling, refrigeration and heating applications, policy trends, technical challenges, safety, and cost issues. Rob Lamb, Sales Director at UK manufacturer Star Refrigeration, presented “Recent Developments in Carbon Dioxide Cooling in Data Centres & Buildings”. Lamb acknowledged the high potential of CO2 in other applications than supermarkets, such as the world’s first CO2 solution for blade server cooling developed by Star and Trox. Also elaborating on CO2 transcritical heat pumps and air handling units, Lamb concluded: “CO2 is spreading in terms of where it can be used. I am sure that we will see CO2 in more applications in the future.” Dr. Michael Kauffeld, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, focused on the current status of supermarket refrigeration in Germany and concluded that in countries with restrictive laws on the use of HFCs, R744 systems already achieve high energy efficiency. Still existing price differences between CO2 and HFC installations might soon be reduced by stricter requirements under the F-gases regulation.

eurammon also took the Chillventa as an occasion to publish an English speaking magazine about natural refrigerants. Entitled “Refrigerants by Nature”, it showcases outstanding refrigeration projects in various industries, presents new components and systems using ammonia, and explores the political and legal conditions governing the use of refrigerants, reveals the entity’s press release.