CO2 applications: First commercial CO2 system in Latin America

Last April Verdemar supermarket chain inaugurated its fifth store in the suburb of Jardim Canada, Nova Lima -Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is the first Latin American supermarket that uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant. Its Skyrack Breeze, developed by Plotter and Racks, is a cascade using CO2 in the low-stage system with direct expansion linked to the island and freezing rooms, while propylene glycol supplies cold temperatures to the medium temperature cold rooms and display cabinets. In the high-stage system, a highly reduced charge of R134a is used for the cooling of both Propylene glycol and CO2 condensation. Its potential emissions are approximately 6 times lower than those of traditional systems, using R404A for instance. The store has other sustainable features such as heat recovery, condensing temperature reduction systems and variable frequency and electronic regulation systems. www.R744.com