German Brewery Chooses R290 Chiller for Production Site

March 04, 2022

A German brewery has chosen a Stratos VP10 propane (R290) chiller from Secon for a production facility, according to a company post on LinkedIn.

The chosen R290 chiller has a 350kW (99.5TR) capacity at -4°C (24.8°F) flow temperature and 35°C (95°F) ambient temperature, Secon said, adding that the system is currently undergoing a test bench run before installation to ensure that it lives up to the company’s stringent quality standards. The name of the brewery has not been disclosed.

Secon has been manufacturing a range of R290 chillers since its inception in 2010. In addition to R290, Secon also utilizes propene (R1270) and isobutane (R600a) refrigerants in its products and offers subcritical CO₂ (R744) refrigeration systems and machines with air-cycle technology.

Hydrocarbons offer “an energy-efficient solution for almost all applications and will make an ever greater contribution to the sustainable reduction of direct and indirect CO₂ emissions,” Secon said about the company’s choice to focus entirely on natural refrigerants, speaking before the first Virtual Trade Show in 2020, where the company exhibited its R290 chillers.

“Furthermore, the use of hydrocarbons can also avoid the use of new synthetic HFO refrigerants, which, as emitters of TFA [trifluoroacetic acid], are just as questionable as HFC refrigerants!”

Secon has many industrial customers for its R290 chillers, one of them being a large German retailer, which chose three air-cooled liquid (brine) chiller units for a storage warehouse near Berlin. The three units have a combined 900kW (255.9TR) cooling capacity at -2°C (28.4°F).

The three chillers chosen by the retailer have equal cooling capacities, and each chiller has two low-charge refrigeration circuits with around 8kg (17.6lbs) of R290 per circuit. The system also includes a hydraulic module with a 2,500 (660gal) storage tank and secondary pumps.