Blupura leads in hydrocarbon showcase at Venditalia

For the first time hydrocarbons21.com reporters attended Venditalia, held from 3-6 May 2015 in Milan, Italy, to find out about the use of natural refrigerants in the vending machine sector. When it came to showcasing hydrocarbon technologies Blupura stole the show, exhibiting their recently launched BluSoda water cooler.

With Italy being one of the leading European markets for vending machines hydrocarbons21.com reporters attended VendIialia 2015, organised alongside the TuttoFood trade fair in Milan, to gather insights on the latest market and technology trends for this light commercial refrigeration sector. Whilst hydrocarbons are not currently being considered as an alternative technology for spiral vending machines, R290 and R600a technology would be found on show at the booths of BluPura, Pepsico and Cof.

First time exhibitor Blupura sets it’s sights on the water vending machine market

Exhibiting for the first time at Venditalia, Blupura, an Italian manufacturer of high-end water coolers, exhibited their Fontemagna and City Vending water machines, alongside units designed for the office, domestic and hospitality sectors. The outdoor City Vending machine is suitable for all outdoor places and supplies chilled still and sparkling water in almost unlimited quantities. The Fontemagna Vending supplies 150 litres of water per hour and works with a customised RFID (Radio-frequency identification) technology card.

Until now we focused our manufacturing on high end water coolers for offices and food retail but we have now also added a line of water vending machines - all products use natural refrigerants R290 and R600a. We are growing a lot and have just moved factory to expand our production lines to keep up with growth,” said Luca Costantini, Sales Director & Co-Founder of Blupura.

The newest model on show was Blupura’s BluSoda water cooler, the smallest of the Blupura water chillers, designed for homes and offices.

Germany and Northern European countries such as Denmark and Sweden are Blupura’s main markets for their water coolers, whilst for water vending machines the main growth market is Italy. Costantini is optimistic that the latter will soon be introduced to new markets.

PepsiCo booth displays R290 drinks dispensing system

PepsiCo, a member of the Refrigerants, Naturally! intiative, which is committed to phasing out HFCs’ in refrigeration equipment, is investing in R290, R600a and R744 in point of sale cooling appliances. The end user had on display an R290 drink dispensing system from Celli S.p.A., one of the leading Italian companies in the sector. Called the Cube Postmix, the under counter unit is compact and environmentally friendly.

Also on display was an R290 drinks cabinet from Iarp, although the Iarp company booth did not showcase any natural refrigerants.

Cof, part of the ISA group exhibits vertical hydrocarbon cabinets

The Isa Group, which has three brand names, ISA, Cof and Tasseli, was also present at Venditalia, and had on show their Cof SD 298 R290 and the single door R600a UBC 374 cabinets.

What is the futrue for hydrocarbons in the European vending machine sector?

Within the next five years most of the exhibitors at Venditalia will need to develop alternative technologies in order to comply with the EU F-Gas Regulation, which bans R404A and R134a in vending machines as from 2020 and 2022 respectively. However, hydrocarbons are not yet seen as a realistic option for European spiral vending machines according to most exhibitors.

Although vending machine manufacturer FAS began testing a hydrocarbon spiral vending machine, they were unsatisfied with the results and instead switched their R&D focus to the development of a CO₂ prototype, exhibited at Venditalia 2014.

This is in stark contrast to Japan, where R290, alongside CO₂ vending machines, are already the norm.