IIR member news: Star Refrigeration

The UK company Star Refrigeration has announced the launch of a new subsidiary, Azane Inc., to manufacture and supply their “low-charge ammonia” Azane technology in the US.
UK company Star Refrigeration announced the launch of a new subsidiary Azane Inc., to manufacture and supply their “low-charge ammonia” Azane technology in the US.


The industrial refrigeration group developed a unique technology to meet the environmental and legislative challenges faced by the cooling industry as Europe started the phase-out of ozone depleting refrigerant R22. This technology is being introduced to the US market at a key time, just as the US refrigeration industry begins to see the effects of the EPA’s R22 phase-out program (the ban comes into force in 2020).


All Azane packages use the natural refrigerant ammonia and are designed to operate with as little as one tenth of the traditional refrigeration system charge. The design uses patented technology to deliver the lowest ownership cost by minimizing running costs over 25 + years.


According to Derek Hamilton, US Business Development Manager at Azane, “The advent of ‘low charge ammonia’ means that ammonia is now being considered in applications which were typically the domain of ‘commercial’ systems. These commercial systems often use the HFC refrigerants. Some users of HFC systems may be reluctant to switch to an ammonia system because of safety concerns, however the reality is that ammonia systems in general are very safe and the low-charge, packaged approach alleviates these concerns further by using the minimum amount of ammonia and ensuring that it stays within the refrigeration system.”