european advances in supermarket refrigeration leak reduction christoph meurer solvay fluor gmbh,...
TRANSCRIPT
European Advances in Supermarket Refrigeration
Leak Reduction
Christoph Meurer
Solvay Fluor GmbH, Germany
Agenda
• European Supermarkets
• Business Specifics
• Refrigeration Specifics
• European Legislation and Standards
• Emission results from the field
Market Structure Germany
Sales Area Nr. of stores
Other Food retail < 4000 ft² 36.332
Discounter ≈10.000 ft² 12.770
Supermarket 4.000-15.000 ft² 9.230
Cons. market 15.000-50.000 ft² 1.682
Hypermarket > 50.000 ft² 681
European Supermarkets – Business Specifics
European Supermarkets
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
Italy Spain Germany UK France USA
Average Retail Space [m²]
European Supermarkets – Business Specifics
European Supermarkets
• Shops are generally smaller
• Deviations in business structure from country to country
• Discounters are gaining popularity –
especially in GER
European Supermarkets – Business Specifics
European Supermarkets
Conventional Multiplex Low-Charge Multiplex
European Supermarkets – Refrigeration Specifics
European Supermarkets
• Accessability of pipework key design criteria for Supermarket chains
• Leak test methods are being optimised (pressure drop tests overrated / new detectors find leaks < 5g/anno)
• Nr. of flares reduced
• Total pipe length reduced
European Supermarkets – Refrigeration Specifics
European Supermarkets
• Capacity of refrigeration packages
relatively small typical GER
supermarket:75 kW medium / 35 kW low
• Discounter markets (GER) usually operate
with plug-in freezers for low temp and
distributed systems for medium temp
European Supermarkets – Refrigeration Specifics
• Design Criteria
• Pipes shall be joined by welded or brazed joints
• Flares joints shall not be used
• Detailed requirements for relief / safety valves
(usually blowing to low pressure side not ambient)
• Systems > 300kg shall be located in machinery
rooms (min. compressor racks)
• ….
European Supermarkets – Legislation
STEK Regulation (NL)
STEK Regulation (NL)• Service Criteria
• Systems with charge > 3kg shall be inspected
annually
• Systems with charge > 1000kg shall be under
constant supervision
• Logbooks must be kept for all systems > 3kg
charge
• Refill / top up only permitted if leak is identified
European Supermarkets – Legislation
European Legislation
• Service / Maintenance regulation framework
similar to NL STEK
• Mandatory service intervalls:
• charge > 3kg every 6 months
• charge > 300kg every 3 months
• Legal Base for that part is „Protection of the
environment“ member states may install
additional requirements
EU F-GAS Regulation (Draft)
European Supermarkets – Legislation
European Standardisation
• No flared joints for pipes between 9mm
and 19mm
• Flared joints shall not be used to connect
TXVs
• Operating party must keep logbooks of
refrigerant consumption
EN 378-2000
European Supermarkets – Standardisation
European Supermarkets
• 96% of the total refrigerant loss was through field
assembled joints
• 15% of the leaks were responsible for 85% of
refrigerant loss
• 21,6% of all detected leaks where flared joints –
They are responsible for close to 50% of lost
refrigerant
Location and Severity of Leaks*
* FKT Study – Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (1999, ILK Drseden)
Emission Results from the field
Survey and long term of analysis of62 supermarket refrigeration systems
in two German states. Charge size from <10 to >360 kg
German Tightness Study*
• 0,16% of brazed joints had leaks
• Systems with substantial leaks over long
periods had leaks in unaccessible parts of
the system
* FKT Study – Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (1999, ILK Drseden)
Emission Results from the field
German Tightness Study*
* FKT Study – Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (1999, ILK Drseden)
Emission Results from the field
10.5
9.3
3.2
2.3
0
2
4
6
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10
12
All Systems Large Systems All Systems w/ototal loss
Large Systemsw/o total losses
Annual Leakages from Supermarket Systems [%]
German Industry Targets*
Avg. annual Leaks from stationary Systems [%]
FKT Study – Improving Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (2003, ILK Drseden)
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10
2003 6.2005 6.2008
small (<10kg)
mid (10..100kg)
large (>100kg)
Statistics from NL
• Overall leakage rate < 4.5% (2000)
• Leackage rate per sector
• AC < 1%, Process < 1%, industrial < 5%
• Fishing industry 80% … 200%
• Tremendous reduction (50%) of refrigerant
market in spite of economical grow
• Elimination of odd-jobbers/fly-by-nighters
• Increased fleet efficiency (service)
Summary
• Business Structure in Europe different from
US
• Means for leak reduction are often simple
• Some areas (NL/GER) have demonstrated
that very tight DX systems are possible
• Target values of 2% leak p.a. are realistic
• EU legislation will address the issue