FRANCE – The R450A or Honeywell N13 refrigerant with low GRP in a CO2 CASCADE cooling system test was an outstanding success

The AUCHAN macro market in the I´llocommercial centre at EPINAY SUR SEINE, near PARIS, uses the new R450A refrigerant in its CO2 cascade system instead of R134a. With a RPG equals to 601, R450A is considered as the “must-have” equipment to replace R134a in CO2 cascade cooling and systems.

The test helps to show the new concept used for the refrigerant unit based on low energy. It has been realised with a AUCHAN team in partnership with cooling systems companies such as AXIMA REFRIGERATION and HONEYWELL. This test was particularly focused on the rating of the system capacities by integrating a unit based on N13. They were installed near a CO2 refrigerated distribution circuit supplying cold room freezers in a store. The system includes a high pressure floating and a floating speed controller integrated with negative CO2 platform compressors and positive N13 compressor on the heat recovery units.

A thorough evaluation has been conducted by the project team since the opening of the store AUCHAN EPINAY in October 2013. It confirmed the benefits of energy efficiency R450A / CO2 system after a comparison with the R134a / CO2 following energy consumption standard of Auchan Group.
The temperature of the compressor discharge head is less than that of R134a systems at 110 ° C. The oil temperature is also lower than that of R134a systems at 55 ° C.

“With the tests and the results of the refrigerant N13, we are now confident that we can offer even more environmental benefits for the industry,” says CEDRIC LEROY from AXIMA REFRIGERATION “The refrigerant choice is fundamental to our strategy to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions and for maintaining and improving energy efficiency”, he concluded.