São Paulo – Brazilian company Plotter Racks, which specializes in industrial refrigeration, has installed its new refrigeration equipment based on R290 propane, an alternative cooling fluid, around a month ago for the first time in Bahamas supermarket chain in a store of Bahamas supermarket chain in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais.
The 100%-natural sustainable material doesn’t harm the ozone layer, and its impact on the global warming is negligible. The equipment was developed in partnership with the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The initiative is part of the Brazilian Program for the Elimination of HCFC coordinated by the MMA and implemented by UNIDO in Brazil. HCFC are the hydrochlorofluorocarbons that contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer.
Plotter Racks has been operating for 22 years, is based in Curitiba, Paraná, and exports equipment to some countries in Latin America, such as Chile, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Venezuela, Peru, and Colombia. The company is interested in widening its foreign sales. This new product hasn’t been exported yet.
“We’ve actively searched out new market, but I believe it’s an organic growth. This year, we hired an exports manager, and we do want to grow, and we have been waiting for the payoff of what we did last year. Our new propane-based equipment is sustainable both in energy consumption and gas and pollution reduction,” the company’s sales and marketing manager Alexandre Cavagnoli told ANBA on the phone.
Cavagnoli explained that the medium-temperature refrigerators – those for dairy, meats, and cold cuts – currently used in supermarkets are all based in PBH fluid, as it has a higher volume and is cheaper, available in the whole world. “It’s a fluid that contributes to the greenhouse effect, aggravating the global warming,” he said.
In turn, propane is a 100%-natural cooling fluid that keeps the impact on global warming to a minimum and cuts the potential of ozone depletion. The new technology is intended to be installed in small- and medium-sized facilities, such as markets and supermarkets.
“The dairy display remains the same; what changes is the equipment in the engine room, which needs a lot less power. What makes our company stand out is that we always deliver more efficient systems,” the manager said.
Additionally, the new equipment favors the environmental and have a better performance and lower energy consumption. “It really helps in all respects, contributes to society and doesn’t harm the environment at all, although the deploying cost is a little higher, but the power consumption is lower later,” Cavagnoli explained.
Lockdown
The Plotter Racks representative reported that clients have been waiting for this launch, but the new coronavirus crisis has postponed projects. “We kept producing and installing the projects we had been hired for, but we are otherwise in standby. Our plant is sill working, we are still receiving order. As for the propane-based equipment, our clients are valuating, but it’s a quite new project – they’re assessing it; it usually takes some time to stick, I don’t know whether this is caused by the crisis. But it’s a shame this is happening now because we can’t even take the clients to visit our plant,” he said.
Brazilian Program
HFCs are traditional refrigerant fluids that deplete the ozone layer and are largely used in commercial refrigeration equipment and air-conditioners. UNIDO reports that, according to the goals established by the Montreal protocol, the goal of the Brazilian program is eliminating these fluids from the industrial process in the refrigeration and air-conditioner sector in Brazil and substituting them for sustainable alternatives.
The Propane Chiller Project by UNIDO and Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment gave technical and financial support to the development of the pilot equipment and the industrial conversion of Plotter Racks plant.
After the installation of an assembly line able to produce refrigeration equipment with R290 propane in 2019, Plotter Racks developed the first prototype of the equipment in early 2020. After successful tests, the company started producing the new refrigeration equipment.
“The new equipment developed by Plotter Racks in partnership with our project uses propane as a cooling fluid. Propane is a natural fluid cheaper than synthetic fluids currently used in this kind of equipment, which is a competitive edge for companies. The new technology also adds an environmentally highly positive factor: besides not harming the ozone layer, it has virtually zero global warming potential, which means it has no negative impact on the climate. It is especially beneficial for the supermarket sector, which has a high demand for refrigeration equipment, UNIDO national consultant Sérgia Oliveria was quoted as saying in a press release to ANBA.
UNIDO national refrigeration specialist Edgard Soares was quoted as saying that the new refrigeration equipment has both energy efficiency and low payback. “A compact system that uses as little refrigerant fluid as possible was created, keeping an adequate refrigeration capacity. The innovative technology uses new components that will have increasingly lower production costs once it’s produced in larger scale. It’s an economically competitive and environmentally sustainable equipment,” he said.
The Brazilian Program for the Elimination of HCFC coordinated by the MMA and implemented by UNIDO integrates Brazil’s actions in the industrial sector towards meeting the goals established together with Montreal Protocol. In force since January 1989, the protocol is designed to phase out the production and consumption of numerous ozone-depleting substances. Brazil joined the international treaty in June 1990.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda