Natural Refrigerants – Hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbon refrigerants are natural and non-toxic and have minimal global warming potential, their use in new equipment is becoming popular as an environmentally friendly and cost effective refrigerant.

Hydrocarbon refrigerants are a smart and responsible choice, but the uptake locally has been slow to filter through and as such there is a skills gap within the service sector.

The use of hydrocarbon refrigerants such as R290 and R600a has been embraced with open arms by the manufacturers of self-contained commercial refrigeration cabinets, majority of which are overseas, this has been driven in part by the tough EU legislation to control and limit the use of HFC refrigerants due to their environmental impacts.

Again – locally we have been slow to acknowledge and take action to address the impending HFC phasedown. The middle market – contractors, equipment suppliers, customers seem happy to maintain the status quo and go with what is easy.

However – two standout sectors in the refrigeration sector locally are leading the way in this space, such as the supermarket refrigeration industry and their pioneering and widespread use of carbon dioxide CO2 as a refrigerant in large scale refrigeration plants.

The other standout sector locally where you will find natural refrigerants is in new self-contained refrigeration display cabinets, such as freezer cabinets, refrigerated display cabinets, wine coolers, commercial kitchen refrigeration and the like – due to the import of these units from overseas.

MNK Technical Services have extensive experience in service and repair of hydrocarbon refrigeration systems, we have been fortunate to be involved in this space for some time and have been able to consolidate our skills and lessons learnt.

If your business is on the lookout for new self-contained refrigeration cabinets then climate friendly and energy efficient natural refrigerants should be a natural choice !

Our partners at Federal Hospitality have an extensive range of refrigerant cabinets that use hydrocarbon refrigerants here