Colombia.
The Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Asocolflores) confirmed that it replaced the R22-based system with R290 in a flower cold store, resulting in energy savings of 20%.
Asocolflores used to cool its cold rooms located in the Savannah of Bogotá with R22. In order to minimize their environmental impact while maintaining a high quality of the products, they converted their cold room for post-harvest processing to R290.
The performance of the system was analyzed and the results showed that the R290 provides 10% less cooling capacity, but increases the Coefficient of Performance (COP) and reduces energy consumption by at least 10%.
Some features of the installation are: dimensions: 10. - 10. - 3.3 m (392.4 m³), Installed heat load: 130,000 Btu/h (38 kW); 5HP and 7.5HP condensing units, 4 evaporators (2 for each system), independent electronic control plates, 60 kg of R22 charge.
By converting the system, the technicians ensured that the electrical and refrigeration systems complied with existing regulations to eliminate the risks associated with the flammability of refrigerants and change the compressors to semi-hermetic compressors suitable for hydrocarbons.
The conversion of the system generated energy savings of 20%.
Despite the success of the project, Asocolflores encountered challenges during implementation, such as a lack of standards and funding mechanisms, a shortage of qualified technicians, and difficulties in finding local teams and component suppliers working with R290.
Source: hydrocarbons21.
