OPTIMISING INDUSTRIAL CO2 SYSTEMS

There is now a wide range of equipment choices facing the designer of industrial CO2 refrigeration systems. Secondary loop, cascade and transcritical plants all have their place and can offer unusual benefits to the designer and the operator of the plant. Most research work, particularly on transcritical systems is looking at small systems for domestic and commercial applications. Some of these findings can be scaled up to industrial plant, but in other cases better designs become more appropriate. In a few cases the small scale solution simply does not apply to large scale plant. This paper addresses the particular challenges of designing industrial systems and offers insight into ways of using existing equipment. It also suggests some ideas for future development to capitalise on the advantages offered by carbon dioxide.