60 // Market
I.T.C. Group shows the way in Thailand Apichit Lumlertpongpana, Managing Director, I.T.C. Group
I.T.C. Group is a leading manufacturer and supplier of refrigeration systems to the industrial sector in Thailand. Until recently, the company has focused mainly on the use of ammonia, but now it is also developing innovative CO 2 systems – for which the company sees significant potential in Southeast Asia. — By Devin Yoshimoto
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stablished in 1982, Thailandbased I.T.C. Group has long been developing and manufacturing ammonia-based refrigeration systems for the country’s freezing and cold storage industry. Led by Managing Director Apichit Lumlertpongpana, the company looks to the future to guide its R&D. It is now looking into using CO 2 technology to help its customers reduce the amount of ammonia charge in their facilities, or even to replace ammonia altogether: with transcritical CO 2 . Accelerate Asia spoke to Lumlertpongpana about the I.T.C. Group’s most recent efforts in this area and the potential for natural refrigerant technology in the region. // Accelerate Asia: Can you please provide some background on the main types of
refrigeration system and refrigerant I.T.C. has been working with over the past 10-15 years? Who have been your main customers? Lumlertpongpana: I.T.C. Group is one of the leaders in turnkey design and contracting in Thailand's refrigeration industry. With our installations, 98% use ammonia as the refrigerant. The largest installation in one plant used 46 sets of ammonia screw compressor packages. This plant won first place in the 2008 ASHRAE Technology Awards. Our main customers are mostly in poultry and seafood processing, and fruit and vegetable facilities. To date, only two of our installed plants used CO 2 . The first CO 2 installation was at our I.T.C. office, which used a cascade R507/ CO 2 brine system for a thermal ice storage application in 2015.
Accelerate Asia // September 2018