Carrier Transicold committed to CO2
Transport refrigeration specialist Carrier Transicold has restated its commitment to CO2 as the optimum refrigerant for customers.
While the company recently announced lower GWP options for R134a in its PrimeLINE container refrigeration units, the company says it still views CO2 and its natural-refrigerant NaturaLINE refrigeration unit as the optimum way to protect against future price rises, availability and environmental compliance.
Willy Yeo, Carrier Transicold’s director of marketing, global container refrigeration, said the R513A option is intended for customers who want to continue acquiring PrimeLINE units at this time. However, he emphasised the benefits of its NaturaLINE solution. “Fleets that want to use a more sustainable refrigerant and also want to hedge against price and availability issues associated with synthetic refrigerants should first consider Carrier Transicold’s natural-refrigerant NaturaLINE unit,” he said. “The NaturaLINE unit offers efficiency, quiet operation, tight temperature control, a deep frozen capability that goes to -40ºC, and uses carbon dioxide, an ultra-low GWP refrigerant.”
The NaturaLINE unit’s combination of efficiency and use of an ultra-low GWP refrigerant reduces carbon emissions by 28% compared to earlier models.
With a GWP of 1, CO2 refrigerant takes refrigerated container customers to an end-state, bypassing the need for intermediate solutions such as R513A, which will be subject to phase outs within the 15-year lifespan of refrigeration units purchased today.
Explained Yeo, “Forward-thinking shipping lines will seek solutions that go beyond interim solutions with GWPs that, while half that of those they replace, are still hundreds of times greater than CO2 – especially when natural-refrigerant solutions such as CO2 exist today and are unaffected by HFC phase downs.”
The launch of the NaturaLINE product in 2013 marked the world’s first marine container refrigeration system using CO2 refrigerant.