Case Histories

Carrefour Italy have chosen Rivacold as their main partner for the development and production of the refrigeration plant for their North-West Logistics Center of Rivalta, Turin.  The concept of this plant has been developed with technical innovation and energy efficiency in mind, utilising carbon dioxide (CO2) as the refrigerating fluid held at a constant temperature.   

The system uses forced circulation of liquid CO2, meaning compared with traditional indirect fluid systems such as those with propylene or ethylene glycol it offers many advantages. It is especially beneficial for larger capacity applications involving long pipe runs between the plant and areas to be refrigerated. Benefits include:

• reduced refrigeration capacities and smaller pipe sizes;
• low energy consumption for pumping;   
• no temperature variation to the evaporators;
• no problem of oil return;  
• no toxic fluid kept in the circuit, as is constantly in a liquid state;
• high efficiency thermal exchange.

Other main partners in the project are AlfaProjekt, who created the general concept of the plant thanks to their knowledge of the implemented technology and the general contractor Arredo Frigo Cold Line who were responsible for installation of the plant.

Rivacold manufactured the complete system with built-in supporting frames designed and customised for the specific location of install. The system consists of two screw compressor packs operating on R134a (providing a total capacity of 800kW) and a pumped CO2 station using technologically advanced solutions for improved efficiency, developed in collaboration with Alfaprojekt.

The two packs are dedicated to refrigerate CO2 in its liquid state, which is held in a receiver located as part of the pump station. This process is entirely managed by a software designed by Rivacold (based on Carel electronics). Two pumps, both inverter driven guarantee maximum safety and continual operation in the event of a pump failure. The CO2 in its liquid state arrives to evaporators without undergoing any expansion then returns to the receiver tank to supply the circuit again. In order to assure that the CO2 in the circuit is kept in its liquid state the saturated gas naturally forming in the heat exchangers is condensed through 8 plate heat exchangers (4 across each pack) giving heat to the R134a that is being expanded by high efficiency electronic valves.

Rivacolds latest pumped CO2 system enlarges our portfolio of environmentally friendly green solutions and confirms thanks to over 50 years’ experience in design and manufacture of refrigeration systems our ability to offer all our customers a complete and professional service right from initial concept to manufacture & install support on site.