Cooling Matters: Why CO₂ is the Natural Choice The evolution of Panasonic’s CO₂ Cold Chain Series

24/06/2022


Businesses across the world are working hard to successfully deliver technologies to tackle climate change, developing solutions that are efficient, deliver benefit, yet use alternatives to conventional refrigerants. The process of CFCs replacement is accelerating all over the world and phasing out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) has become an international responsibility.

This year’s World Refrigeration Day, June 26th, supported by Panasonic Heating & Cooling Solutions, focusses on the theme ‘Cooling Matters’ and Panasonic is committed to expanding its portfolio of refrigeration solutions using the natural refrigerant CO2.

The story started with the company introducing its first ever CO2 Cold Chain unit for retail application in Japan back in 2010, and in Europe in 2017. Now, Panasonic is proud to have a whole range of innovative refrigeration solutions, including the most recent introduction of its medium- and low-temperature 4HP units, launched at the start of 2022.

As a natural refrigerant, CO2 has many advantages over other substances, such as:

·       Very good heat transfer coefficient

·       Relatively insensitive to pressure losses

·       Very low viscosity

·       Low environmental impact


Due to its preferable performance in heating and cooling, CO2 has become a hot research topic worldwide. Indeed, it is one of the most promising natural refrigerants and is expected to become one of the ideal refrigerants of the 21st century.

Panasonic’s growing range of high-quality refrigeration solutions, powered by the natural refrigerant CO2 (R744), now provides cooling capacities from 2kW to 16kW. The units are an ideal solution for a variety of refrigeration applications including chilled cabinets, cold-rooms and freezers in food retail, hotels, convenience stores, gas stations, healthcare (such as pharmaceutical laboratories), industrial (food processing etc.) and warehouses.

The solution utilises natural CO₂ refrigerant which is not toxic or flammable like various alternatives and has a ODP of 0 and GWP of 1, making it an extremely attractive refrigerant from an environmental perspective as only natural substances are released into the atmosphere in case of leakage. It also has heat recovery capabilities for additional sustainability.

To find out more about Panasonic’s CO2 Cold Chain series, please visit www.aircon.panasonic.eu.