4 - 8 July 2022 - Eurammon Symposium 2022
“Natural refrigerants will play an important role in creating a sustainable future for our planet.” That was the key finding of the eurammon Symposium 2022 as Rob Lamb of Star Refrigeration Ltd., chairman of the Steering Committee of eurammon e. V. put it. The 5-day online event took place from 4 to 8 July and was attended by more than 500 participants from 29 countries across the world. These included representatives from governmental organisations, NGOs, training institutes, and industry.
The first day included an innovative use of ammonia. Johan Kaltoft from MAN Denmark presented an important new application area with high sustainability potential. He explained the important role that ammonia (NH3) could play in the future as a sustainable fuel for ship engines. Thanks to the carbon- and sulphur-free molecular composition of NH3, burning it in an engine creates zero CO2 and SOX emissions. Further, ammonia can be produced solely from renewable sources. Kaltoft is convinced that equipping the world’s high seas merchant fleets with ammonia engines would make a significant contribution to climate protection.
The highlight of the second day was a panel discussion where well-known experts answered questions from symposium attendees. A lively session quickly developed in which many aspects of the day’s topic “Policy and regulations” were explored and discussed.
Day three was dedicated to “Natural refrigerants for the cold chain”. Three presentations provided an insight into the latest technological developments using natural refrigerants including energy saving system designs and performance monitoring of temperature-controlled storage facilities. Vincent Grass provided an end user perspective from Nestlé Switzerland in a presentation on “Heat pump integration in a plant-based meat solution factory and needs to achieve decarbonisation”. According to Grass, Nestlè is working hard to decarbonise its processes and utilities. That means “not solely to reduce our fossil fuel usage but also to improve and optimize the energy being used. Integrating heat pumps and pumping the energy around rather than dumping it into the atmosphere helps us as well to save resources (energy and water) and build more resilience.”
When talking about the future of natural refrigerants, the education and training of young technicians shouldn´t be ignored. That is why eurammon addressed the important topic of education. Juan Carlos Rodríguez from the Spanish Asociación de Empresas de Frío y Sus Tecnologías (AEFYT) presented a 3D training tool for ammonia plants. “The use of Virtual Reality applications for training and education is the answer to the fact that young generations learn in a different way”, he said. “With the help of our collaborators we realized the first Virtual Reality training application for ammonia refrigeration systems.” The presentation was made possible, because eurammon and several eurammon members are involved in this project.
Heat pumps were a core topic at the symposium. Alexander Cohr Pachai from Johnson Controls Denmark reported on the results of the eurammon Technical Committee’s efforts to provide members with quality case studies demonstrating the benefits when using natural refrigerants. The committee members had developed an Excel spreadsheet that makes it easier for companies to get meaningful information for heat pump applications. Franz Sperl from Güntner then presented best-practice solutions for air-source heat pump applications. According to Sperl: “modern heating concepts take multiple heat sources into account and air-source heat collectors offer a huge potential to reduce investment costs, e.g., by reducing the amount of geothermal boreholes required.”