Organic Manufacturer Keeps Cool with Refrigeration System

Organic Manufacturer Keeps Cool with New Green Refrigeration System

Two environmentally focussed Kiwi businesses, EcoChill and Ceres Enterprises, have come together to create the first ‘green-rated’ cold storage facility in New Zealand.

Manufacturing novel refrigeration systems for supermarkets, coolstores and processing plants, EcoChill uses natural gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), propane and water as the coolants. With such a passion for keeping New Zealand cool and green, it has now helped Ceres Enterprises with their new ‘green home’.

“When first researching refrigeration solutions for our organic produce, we came across EcoChill and it felt such a natural fit,” says David King, Director at Ceres Enterprises. “Our brief to EcoChill was to create a cool room with a volume of over 2550m3, capable of operating down to -20C.”

Matthew Darby, owner of EcoChill, says: “Traditionally, a system of this size requires a significant quantity (30+ kg) of synthetic greenhouse gases, posing massive global warming potential, and significantly more electrical input (for defrosting).”

“What EcoChill created is a system that not only meets the operating requirements but uses 80% less refrigerants with no electrical defrost requirements whatsoever. In addition, the refrigerant used is a natural substance, so no synthetic greenhouse gasses are used at all.”

“Replacing the synthetic gases with natural refrigerants such as propane and CO2, while using technology to manage the safety issue, can reduce the downside of refrigeration,” explains Darby.
“When you take some of that global warming potential away by using refrigerants inside and make it use less power to do that, you’ve got a two-fold benefit to the end user.”

Together, EcoChill and Ceres Organics have created an environmentally friendly, energy efficient refrigeration system that complements the Green Star philosophy.

For more information about EcoChill’s refrigeration systems, visit www.ecochill.co.nz

ENDS

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