Transcript European Advances in Supermarket Refrigeration Leak Reduction

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
Average Retail Space [m²]
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Italy
Spain
Germany
UK
France
European Supermarkets – Business Specifics
USA
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
STEK Regulation (NL)
• 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)
• 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
EU F-GAS Regulation (Draft)
• 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
European Supermarkets – Legislation
European Standardisation
EN 378-2000
• 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
European Supermarkets – Standardisation
European Supermarkets
Location and Severity of Leaks*
• 96% of the total refrigerant loss was
through field assembled joints
•
•
Survey and long term of analysis of
15%
of the leaks were
responsible
for 85%
62 supermarket
refrigeration
systems
of refrigerant
in twoloss
German states.
Charge
from <10
>360flared
kg
21,6%
of allsize
detected
leakstowhere
joints – They are responsible for close to
50% of lost refrigerant
* FKT Study – Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (1999, ILK Drseden)
Emission Results from the field
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*
Annual Leakages from Supermarket Systems [%]
12
10.5
10
9.3
8
6
4
3.2
2.3
2
0
All Systems
Large Systems
All Systems w/o
total loss
Large Systems
w/o total losses
* FKT Study – Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (1999, ILK Drseden)
Emission Results from the field
German Industry Targets*
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Avg. annual Leaks from stationary Systems [%]
small (<10kg)
mid (10..100kg)
large (>100kg)
2003
6.2005
6.2008
FKT Study – Improving Leak tightness of Refrigeration Systems (2003, ILK Drseden)
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