Award winning industrial heating and cooling system based on HFO-1234ze(E) chiller

An inverter high efficiency centrifugal chiller using HFO-1234ze(E) as the refrigerant, which was specially developed for low-temperature use for brine specification models, is the heat source for a beverage manufacturing unit in Japan. The installed chiller has a rated refrigerating capacity of 520 kW. In addition to upgrading the heat sourcethe cooling system design was newly modified through the use of a waste heat recovery heat exchanger, whereby cooling water and brine undergo heat exchange. This enhanced the responsiveness to load fluctuations of production equipment, enabled standby operation when the load factor is low, and reduced the number of stops and starts. Compared to the original system, these innovations together resulted in an energy saving and CO₂ emission reduction of 34.7%.

The project received an Excellence Award in the Refurbishment Equipment category of the 40th Excellent Energy Saving Equipment Awards of the Japan Association of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Contractors (JARAC) for its advancement of energy saving. The new JARAC Award was presented in recognition of the energy saving and reduced CO₂ emissions, resulting in an improved COP.

HFO-1234ze(E) is widely used for centrifugal chillers due to its technical performance, A2L classification and ultra-low GWP of 7 (F-gas value) or 1.37 (AR6 value).

Source: Refrigeration Industry and manufacturer’s information