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Eco-friendly transport refrigeration

Transport of refrigerated and chilled products like food is on the rise worldwide. Whether goods are transported on the road, by train or ship, the cooling temperatures must be maintained exactly. Many transport refrigeration units contain fluorinated refrigerants acting as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These substances need to be replaced by refrigerants having less impact on the climate.

14.01.2021

Natural refrigerants for transport refrigeration

Increasing volumes  of frozen or chilled products are being shipped not only in Europe, but also worldwide. The means of transport are refrigerated vehicles, containers or ships. At ambient temperatures ranging from minus 40 °C to plus 40 °C the refrigeration systems need to be able to maintain the required freight  temperatures.

Transport refrigeration systems not only consume energy, but are also a source of refrigerants’ emission into the atmosphere while in operation and due to maintenance, repair and accidents. Most transport refrigeration systems use fluorinated refrigerants that are greenhouse gases and thus enhance the global warming. In transport refrigeration considerable savings could potentially be realized not only in energy consumption but also in regards to the refrigerant.

In the UBA report titled "Avoiding Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases – Prospects for Phasing Out", there is more information available concerning various refrigerated cargo systems in refrigerated vehicles, refrigerated containers and ships, as well as on the replacement of the currently used refrigerants by climate friendly refrigerants.

Links

  • Reefer with CO2-refrigeration
  • Chilling fish with compact CO2-system at sea
  • Three new large ships with CO2-refrigeration systems
  • Cruise refrigeration with CO2 (2018)
  • 2000 reefer containers cooling with CO2 in operation
  • Tests with CO2-cooled shipping containers in Colombia
  • First order of reefer containers with refrigerant CO2
  • CO2 transport refrigeration system in field test
  • Transport refrigeration unit with propane developed
  • thematic page: Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases

Publications

  • Nachhaltige Kälteerzeugung – Untersuchung der Energieeffizienz natürlicher Kältemittel in Transportkälteanlagen
  • Avoiding Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases
Article:

Tags:
 partly halogenated hydrofluorocarbons  refrigerant  transport refrigeration  CO2 refrigeration technology  container traffic  fluorinated greenhouse gases  F-gases Top

The UBA’s motto, For our environment (“Für Mensch und Umwelt”), sums up our mission pretty well, we feel. In this video we give an insight into our work.

The UBA

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Source URL (modified on 14.01.2021):https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/topics/climate-energy/fluorinated-greenhouse-gases-fully-halogenated-cfcs/application-domains-emission-reduction/eco-friendly-transport-refrigeration