Sales department 
Transcritical booster refrigeration system
06.08.2022 Share
Refrigeration system on natural refrigerant CO2 with multi ejector Danfoss
The decision to create a refrigeration system operating on the natural refrigerant CO2 (R744) was dictated by global trends in the development of the industry and increasingly stringent requirements for environmental safety and energy efficiency in obtaining cold. CO2 as a refrigerant has excellent thermal properties, which ensure a reduction in losses in pipelines, a reduction in their dimensions and a high heat transfer coefficient. In Europe, the use of natural refrigerants, including CO2, is a mandatory requirement when commissioning new refrigeration facilities. We also note that over the past two years, more and more potential customers in Ukraine are interested in these systems.
In our country, many are still afraid of the concept of “CO2“, so no one has done such projects yet. And when we received a request for the development and implementation of a refrigeration system from our regular client, after long discussions with him and debates “FOR” and “AGAINST”, it was decided to implement the project using the natural refrigerant R744 – CO2 and taking into account the use of all the latest developments to achieve high energy efficiency. This system, operating on the refrigerant R744 – СО2, которую спроектировали и установили сотрудники «РалкоТехник» — уникальный проект, который впервые представлен на украинском рынке.
Advantages of using CO2 as a refrigerant:
· environmental safety (does not have a negative impact on the ozone layer and is non-toxic),
· seasonal energy efficiency (COP comparable to freon units),
· reduction in the cost of the installation kit (smaller pipeline diameter, lightweight supporting structures),
· compactness of installations,
· smaller volume of system filling,
· the cost of CO2 is significantly lower than the cost of freons,
· huge potential for heat recovery for various purposes (hot water supply systems, heating, various technological processes),
· proven savings (use of CO2 reduces operating costs).
These are the main advantages of these systems, but there is also a disadvantage – high operating pressures (in some parts of the system they can reach 120 bar). This scares off some customers. In fact, it is as safe as driving a car with an LPG (methane) system. High pressure determines the advantage СО2 (R744) compared to other refrigerants. The refrigeration capacity of a compressor at a given volumetric capacity when operating on carbon dioxide is higher due to the high density of the gas.
We decided to make a transcritical booster station with parallel compression and an ejector, as the most energy-efficient scheme. The use of transcritical booster systems makes it possible to use the low-temperature circuit as efficiently as possible and reduces capital costs, unlike systems with a separate freon circuit. And the installation of a parallel compressor gave an increase in energy efficiency of about 5%.
The use of an ejector in our installation allows for the most efficient operation of the system even on the hottest summer day (the load on the medium-temperature circuit is reduced, the COP of the system increases).
As practice has shown, this solution allows achieving savings of 15-20% of electricity compared to the classic booster system. Measurements were carried out in various versions (as a classic booster system, as a system with a parallel compressor, and also with a multi-ejector).
The heat recovery system helps save about 40% of energy resources spent on heating. At the same time, the glycol defrosting system of air coolers designed by us is comparable to hot gas defrosting. This solution allowed us to reduce the defrosting time to 5 minutes and completely abandon the use of electric heating elements. This in turn helps our customer save electricity, and the free capacity of the transformer was used to connect technological equipment.
This project was fully calculated and designed by the engineering staff of «RalcoTechnic». And the station was assembled in Ukraine, using only high-quality foreign-made equipment. This system is installed at the customer’s facility – a meat and sausage factory.
The main partner in the implementation of this project is Danfoss, one of the world leaders in the production of high-quality energy-saving equipment for refrigeration systems, components for industry and refrigeration and air conditioning systems. We spent many hours with Danfoss engineers discussing the capabilities of their equipment. Thanks to close cooperation, we managed to achieve high efficiency of the installed equipment.
The partnership also made it possible for equipment from well-known brands Emerson, Thermofin and many others to be present at this facility.
There is now a trend towards reducing the cost of components for systems СО2 (R744).There is now a trend towards reducing the cost of components for systems СО2 (R744), has every chance of becoming one of the main refrigerants in the future. As we can see, there are more advantages than disadvantages. With the growth of energy efficiency and reliability of refrigeration systems using CO2 (R744), the prospects for these units are very high.
Contact us and you will become the happy owner of modern, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions!
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