At the Seafood Expo Global in Brussels from April 20-22, German manufacturer Ziegra showcased its industrial and commercial ice machines using CO2 and hydrocarbons respectively, but questioned the 150-gram charge limit leaving a gap in their product range. Working with Skaginn, Icelandic manufacturer FROST, who traditionally use ammonia in their refrigeration systems for fish processing, are also looking into CO2 as a viable industrial solution.
Ziegra’s eco-friendly ice makers using CO2 meet a range of industrial requirements from bakeries, meat processing, vegetable transport to fish processing plants. At the Seafood Expo, area sales manager at Ziegra, Martin Klages, said the company’s CO2 ice machines covered a production range of 350kg to 10 ton/day, while their new propane systems are capable of 30-110kg of ice output/day.
“For the bigger capacities we are using CO2 and we would like to keep heading in that direction,” Klages said.
R744’s higher evaporation temperatures are ideal in that they result in more ice production at lower energy input. German built, Ziegra’s CO2 ice machines are reliable, with the evaporators perfectly designed to handle the high pressures inherent in CO2 systems. Ziegra also guarantees service and supply of spare parts for a minimum of 15 years.
“The efficiency of CO2 is good, we are looking to develop a bigger (2.5 ton) machine over the next two years. We found a supplier at the last Chillventa, so we put our evaporator and assembled an ice plant with 100% CO2. This is one of our big plans for the next few years,” Klages explained.
Ziegra sells its CO2 systems all around Europe, including the food retail sector in Romania. Its ZBE 550 EV CO2 comes in a narrow cabinet and is capable of producing macro ice, standard and micro ice. The ice chips are produced at a temperature of -0.5°C and never freeze together, even after long-term storage.
The direct evaporation system comes with five products in the range – the ZBE 350/550/750/1000 and the 1,200, all of which produce the stated amount of kilograms of ice over a 24-hour period of production. The pump operation systems cater for larger industrial requirements and come in UBE 1,750/2,500/5,000/10,000 models. Both the direct and pumped systems are capable of connecting to a central refrigeration plant.
For the first time, Ziegra also displayed its new propane (R290) ice machines (pictured) for smaller applications. Klages said they were on the market but that the 150g hydrocarbon charge limit in Europe was still a major barrier for the company to market the range further.
“The 150g charge limit translates to around 200kg of ice per day, so if that’s to increase, the limit has to go. I don’t know how to change the rules, but the rules were made 15 years ago. We don’t like our customers to incur the extra safety costs, so we like to sell a machine and you can put it anywhere,” Klages said.
“For supermarkets everyone is using CO2 and for the smaller units (propane),we have them available, but there is a gap in between. A lot of the compressors we saw at Chillventa are limited in charge and this is a problem for us. If other companies have this same problem in a few years then something must change.”
Ziegra’s propane machines come with the same 15-year guarantee and are available in four models: the ZBE 30-10, 70-25, 110-35 and the 70-100. Each model produces the stated amount of ice per day (30/70/110/70) and all fall under the 150g charge limit, which means no extra onsite safety costs are incurred.
On his travels in 2013, Klages came across a small yet innovative Czech company, Sinop, who were already marketing their propane-fuelled beer chiller at the time. “They had already developed a propane beer chiller and we hadn’t even thought about that solution so we were very impressed. They produced very small equipment and propane compressors and that changed everything for us,” Klages said.
Ziegra were convinced to develop hydrocarbon technology for a partner in the medical diagnostics sector but Klages said they 'have now developed the technology for everybody'.
Icelandic refrigeration manufacturer FROST also made their natural refrigerant presence known at the Expo. The company has worked in partnership with Skaginn for over 10 years and has been developing ammonia solutions for fish processing plants for over 30 years.
Working mostly in Europe (predominantly Scandinavia) but on big factory vessels with clients in the Canary Islands, the west coast of Africa, Canada and Russia, FROST said they were now also looking at CO2 for their large two-stage screw compressor automatic pelagic freezers, which have a capacity of 10,000 ton/day.
“This system could be installed with CO2 because one of its disadvantages is that it uses a large amount of ammonia in the system and of course that can be risky if you’re installing close to villages or inside the village. We’re talking about several tons of ammonia,” said FROST Technical Manager Sigurdur Bergsson.
“We are seriously considering CO2 systems together with Skaginn in large marine applications.”
With direct expansion technology, Bergsson said cascade (NH3/CO2) systems were also a solution, confirming the company was planning a test installation of such a system with Skaginn later in 2015 or early 2016.
Created with flickr slideshow.
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By James Ranson
Apr 22, 2015, 17:18
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