10 // Market
PIONEERS OF CO2 Italy-headquartered SCM Frigo began producing hybrid CO 2 systems back in 2004. Today, it is reaping the benefits of its early-adopter status as the market for CO2 transcritical systems takes off. – By Andrew Williams
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icola Pignatelli, managing director of Italy-headquartered multinational OEM SCM Frigo, is proud of the role the Beijer Ref-owned company has played in bringing to market CO 2 transcritical refrigeration systems around the world. SCM Frigo’s natural refrigerant journey began in 2004, when it designed its first hybrid CO 2 systems. “Initial demand came from Scandinavia, where supermarkets immediately started to go for natural refrigerants,” Pignatelli told Accelerate. “These systems were subcritical hybrid systems,” Pignatelli explains. “We started with CO 2 transcritical systems immediately after that. The market began to demand CO 2 transcritical in 2006 – and we were ready.”
Returns were modest at first. “The business improvement didn’t come immediately,” Pignatelli admits. “CO 2 was more the technological choice of a few companies in Europe, one of which was SCM Frigo. In the beginning, I wouldn’t say that the business grew because of CO 2 ,” he says. The market began to pick up as end users became more familiar with the technology. “Then it started to help the business very much. When supermarkets started to approach CO 2 , they were looking for players who had already been using it for a few years,” Pignatelli explains.
Nicola Pignatelli, managing director, SCM Frigo
Accelerate Corporate // Special Edition: 2018-2019