Case study

Delhaize New Fresh 2

Zellik, Belgium

NH3/CO2 refrigeration for new Delhaize distribution centre in Zellik

The Delhaize Groups key position in the food industr y is the result of gradual growth that goes back more than 140 years. Continuing this growth, Delhaize decided to expand its existing distribution centre in Zellik in 2007 with an additional 150,000m of loading and unloading bays and a warehouse. This will be operational in 2009. The new building consists of an automated warehouse with the northern and southern loading and unloading bays continuously refrigerated at a temperature between +1C and +3C. In order to make best use of the storage space, a technical corridor had to be installed above it to accommodate the refrigeration installation. The new building had to be refrigerated using a cooling system running on the natural coolant ammonia. The volume of ammonia had to be limited to the machine room and the condensers. Cold transport had to occur through a secondary cooling medium such as glycol or CO. Delhaize works hard to limit its energy consumption and this is also evident in the new, environmentally friendly depot. The depot roof is equipped with 6,000 m of photovoltaic cells that generate 306 MWh each year. A cooling system based on NH/CO rather than glycol will also go some way to helping the environment. The depot is also insulated extremely well and 12,000 m of water will be recuperated in a reservoir each year.

Challenges
The entire 150,000m new building needed to be air conditioned. The warehouse and the loading and unloading bays needed to be refrigerated at a temperature between 1C and 3C. Everything needed to be carried out as redundantly as possible. Delhaize feels very strongly about the environment and the surrounding area and therefore wanted a solution that was as energy efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. A comparison between glycol and CO also had to be taken into consideration.

Three SAB193L compressors produce the refrigeration.

Johnson Controls Solutions

Following analysis, it appeared that a NH3/CO2 refrigeration installation would be more energy efficient than a NH3/glycol installation. Not only can evaporation take place at -8C instead of -10C, which limits the energy costs (15% annual savings), but the one-off capital outlay is also significantly lower. Tie all of these systems together through a central monitoring station via a Johnson Controls Metasys building management system to facilitate cost savings and accelerate project installation. Following the specifications, Johnson Controls Industrial Refrigeration BELUX installed a machine room that works with a natural refrigerant that does not have an impact on the environment or contribute to global warming; namely ammonia. Furthermore, it was decided to limit the refrigerant to the machine room, in order to eradicate product contamination risks and personnel safety risks. CO2 was chosen as a secondary refrigerant in order to transport the cold to where it is required. This CO2 is cooled to a liquid via a thermosyphon system (separator with two NH3/CO2 plate heat exchangers underneath) by evaporating ammonia. To cool the warehouse, Johnson Controls Induref installed eight air handling units in the technical corridor above, each with a capacity of 100 kW. The loading and unloading bays were fitted with 36 coolers ranging from 17 kW to 50 kW. To compress the ammonia, Johnson Controls used three SABROE SAB193L screw compressors. One of these compressors is frequency controlled, which more easily enables the customer to react to the supply and demand of cooling without having to compromise on efficiency. In total, the compressors provide 2,438 kW at -8C/35C. Two BAC CXV309 axial evaporative condensers condense the ammonia. A cooling unit was also installed to cool the CO2 buffer tank during a standstill. Everything is controlled by S7 PLCs. Various touch screens enable easy control of the installation. The existing WINCC supervision system was expanded, enabling the customer to store and analyze histories if required and to manage alarms linked to the installation.

The NH3/CO2 separators with the CO2 pumps underneath.

Air handling units in the technical corridor above the warehouse provide the required cooling.

Results
The customer now has a more reliable, energy efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration installation based on NH /CO. Compared to a NH3/glycol installation, Delhaize saves 924 MWh of energy each year and the capital outlay was + 5% lower than for the NH3/glycol solution. Opting for a NH/CO installation enables Delhaize to make savings both in terms of investment and exploitation.

CASE STUDY DELHAIZE ZELLIK INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION BELGIUM CSST-09-096DU by WB