Japanese restaurants inspire new green refrigeration innovation

CIMCO Refrigeration Inc., Southern California Edison (SCE) and Mayekawa Manufacturing Company had Japanese restaurants in mind when they began their collaboration on a new line of research natural alternatives to chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants.

The two companies recently installed a high-efficiency industrial refrigeration system – known as the NewTon refrigeration system – at a food manufacturing facility in Irvine, California, which caters to Japanese restaurants, according to a joint news release. The system is expected to facilitate energy savings of as much as 20 to 50 percent, reducing the facility's environmental impact, researchers said.

By using ammonia and CO2, the NewTon system is able to “achieve a higher level of efficiency and energy savings than normal refrigeration systems on the market today,” said its developers. Mayekawa will be in charge of monitoring the refrigeration system in real time and SCE will “gather and analyze the performance data on both the NewTon and the existing refrigeration system, which can alternate operation at the Imuraya USA plant.”

“Reducing the carbon footprint and decreasing overall energy consumption is of significant value to commercial and industrial consumers and to the surrounding electric grid, especially during times of peak demand and warm, summer days,” CIMCO Vice-President of U.S. Operations Jose Mergulhao said. CIMCO oversaw the complete installation of the system in June.

Research is expected to be completed on the system by the end of 2016, with the first update to be issued in 2017.

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