ALTERNATIVE REFRIGERANTS


Ammonia: a green alternative


J&E Hall safety and environmental manager Malcolm Coates explains why training and the right preparation is important before installing ammonia systems.


A 42 December 2017


mmonia is a versatile, eff ective and effi cient natural refrigerant. The F-Gas stepdowns now make it the refrigerant of choice for many installers and end- users. Ammonia is a green alternative to more commonly- used industrial refrigerants and there are excellent reasons for choosing it for an application.


Primarily, it is a natural refrigerant which does not deplete the ozone layer and has excellent thermodynamic qualities which give it a wide temperature range. Like any refrigerant, ammonia has to be treated with respect but it has a fi ne safety record and is used in many applications in the food processing and drinks industries. This includes facilities involving meat, poultry, dairy, brewing and soft-drink production, where cooling is a necessity.


But new technologies in cooling are extending its range of admirers and it has been employed successfully in large cold stores, where the scale and range of cooling can be enormous.


Ammonia has been around since the beginning of time and I have every confi dence that it has hundreds of years of use to come in refrigeration. The benefi ts are many. With zero ozone depletion and zero GWP it is a future-proof alternative to high GWP HFCs which are being phased out under the F-Gas stepdowns.


It has fantastic thermodynamic properties, is widely available and can be employed at very low temperatures – as low as -40°C in some instances. It is cheap to buy and use, which means it can make a signifi cant impact on energy bills.


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