7.2 Low-Charge Ammonia

Background

Ammonia was first used as a refrigerant in the 1850s in France. By the early 1900s, the basic design of the vapor compressor refrigeration system, using ammonia as a refrigerant, was established and has served since then as the backbone of the industrial refrigeration industry.115

But given its potential toxicity, efforts have been made over the past two decades to reduce the amount of ammonia used. The first concrete prototypes of systems with low and ultra-low charges were realized in the late 1990s, typically as a result of niche-level experiments performed at universities and R&D laboratories.

In 2001, Nestlé, which began using ammonia in place of CFC and HCFC systems in the 1980s, opened the world’s first large NH3/CO2 cascade system to use compressed CO2, in Hayes, U.K.116

Beginning in 2015, modern low-charge systems began to be installed in Europe with the first installation of low-overfeed penthouse package systems. The following year saw the first installation of a low-charge central system.99

Since then, companies like Star Refrigeration, GEA, Mayekawa, Zudek and TEKO have been marketing low-charge units of various kinds and dimensions throughout Europe.

The Market Today

The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), whose members are third-party cold-storage operators, captures refrigerant usage information from members through its European Productivity and Benchmarking Research (EPBR). The EPBR carried out in 2019 on the 2018 business year reported that 79% of the respondents use ammonia only as refrigerant while 8% use ammonia and others.

GCCA has noted an increase in low-charge ammonia systems among members but does not offer a breakdown of these systems as a portion of total ammonia systems. However, according to interviews with OEMs, it is estimated that around 80% of all low-charge ammonia installations currently in Europe are for cold-storage facilities. As of June 2019, ATMOsphere estimated the number of industrial sites of all types using low-charge (below 1.3kg/kW or 10.1lbs/TR) ammonia systems in Europe to be 2,200, according to data collected from OEMs.

Based on updated information and input from relevant experts, the number of industrial sites with low-charge ammonia in June 2021 in Europe was estimated to be 2,450.

In 2022, based on a survey of key OEMs, the number of industrial facilities with low-charge ammonia systems as of September was estimated to be 2,850.