Dorin announces first industrial CO2 compressors
Italian compressor manufacturer Dorin, which is celebrating its 100th year of business in 2018, showcased its first CO2 transcritical compressors for the U.S. industrial market at the AHR Expo last month.
“Our feeling is this will be a reliable alternative to ammonia,” said Giovanni Dorin, marketing director. “Ammonia has issues with security and safety.”
“Especially in the U.S., we got very good feedback about CO2 entering the ammonia field,” said Giacomo Pisano, Dorin’s sales manager, CO2 compressors.
The new semi-hermetic reciprocating compressors, marketed under the CD500 line and orginally mentioned at Chillventa 2016, feature six cylinders, 50-80 HP and displacements of 40-60 m3/h. Like the two-year-old CD400 line, the CD500 compressors are designed such that the manifold is outside the crank case, rather than inside, and the two are separated by a pocket of air. This allows the CO2 gas to cool before being discharged by the compressor, lowering temperature of the oil inside the crank case and increasing efficiency and reliability, he said.
“This [design] is totally unique in the market,” Dorin said.
The high capacity of the CD500 line means fewer compressors are needed for an application, reducing costs, added Pisano.
Dorin sold the first 30 CD500 compressors in 15 days last June; the units are now available globally.