4.4 Hydrocarbon Chillers for Industrial Applications

In recent years, hydrocarbons, known mainly for their application in commercial display case refrigeration, have found growing employment in industrial chiller applications.

For example, Secon, a German manufacturer, was founded in 2010 with the aim of manufacturing chillers solely on the basis of natural refrigerants and became one of the first companies to develop production-ready hydrocarbon chillers.91

Throughout the German-speaking region, Secon has become a key player in this expanding market segment.

In addition to manufacturing a range of propane (R290) chillers, Secon utilizes propene (R1270) and isobutane (R600a) refrigerants in its products and offers subcritical CO2 refrigeration systems and machines with air-cycle technology. The manufacturer has many industrial customers for its hydrocarbon-based chillers, including a German brewery92 and a large German retailer.93

Secon’s industrial hydrocarbon chiller range in capacity from less than 100kW (28.4TR) to more than 500kW (142TR).

Hydrocarbons are considered highly feasible in all temperature ranges except low-temperature applications (-15 to -30°C/5 to -22°F), where its use is possible but not necessarily the best choice, according to Joachim Schadt, General Manager at Secon.94

Another major hydrocarbon chiller producer is Spanish manufacturer INTARCON.95 In February, the company announced several new propanebased products in its new industrial product catalog for 2022–2023. Intarcon also produces R290 industrial refrigeration monoblocks for large cold storage facilities and workrooms, such as the Superblock R290.

Italian OEM Euroklimat produces large-capacity R290 chillers. Last year a French dairy chose three R290 chillers from Euroklimat for a cheese production site.96 The of the units have a combined cooling capacity of 330kW (93.8TR), while the third has a cooling capacity of 158kW (44.9TR).

On the smaller-capacity side, Italian process-cooling and air-conditioning manufacturer MTA released a series of air-cooled industrial chillers using R290 refrigerant in March of this year. Called the TAE N Mini series, the chillers come in four models, with cooling capacities from 1.7kW (0.48TR) to 4.4kW (1.3TR) and water outlet temperatures ranging from 0°C (32°F) to 30°C (86°F).97

The MTA chillers can serve a wide array of process cooling applications, including food and beverage, wineries, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lasers and machine tools. Using “an extremely low refrigerant charge,” the chillers can be installed indoors, said MTA.

Competing with CO2, NH3

Look for hydrocarbon chillers to increasingly compete with CO2 and low-charge ammonia systems for market share in the industrial space.