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End User

ATYPICAL SECONDARY SYSTEM PERMACOLD’S SECRET SAUCE

Steve Jackson, PermaCold Engineering

Steve Jackson, president and senior managing partner of PermaCold Engineering, Portland, Ore., participated in the industrial end users panel discussion at ATMOsphere America in June to provide a contractor’s perspective. However, PermaCold is not your average contractor. Under Jackson’s leadership, the 24-year-old company, a full-service industrial refrigeration contractor, takes a decidedly environmental approach to industrial refrigeration, using as its slogan “Our Planet – Our Responsibility.” “Environmentally sound engineering is the future of industrial refrigeration,” he said at the ATMOsphere America session in San Diego. “I've been saying that for 25 years and for 25 years I've been right.” (See “Our Planet – Our Responsibility,” Accelerate America, November-December 2016.) In a business where cost and the bottom line take priority, Jackson has been able to use his environmental approach by tying it to ROI and dollar savings, what he calls “our secret sauce.” He shows end users how to reduce, not just

energy consumption, but ammonia charge, refrigeration load, water and sewer usage, piping and materials, and maintenance. “Everyone uses ROI but we really dig deep,” he said. “And we have never had one of our ROI’s turned back for being inaccurate.” In one example, a customer was reluctant to pay the $2 million price for five ammonia condensers, given only $100,000 in annual water savings, and preferred a less expensive system using old technology. “I said ‘I don't want to sell you something that's wrong for you or the planet,’” Jackson said. So, he reexamined the potential cost savings and discovered that the annual savings were actually $410,000 based on additional water, sewer, chemical and energy reductions; the sale was then consummated. Moreover, with additional LED lighting installations, more efficiencies were gained by the customer. “The first year in operation, we moved $1.1 million from operating costs to the bottom line,” he said. “That changed the face of PermaCold, and we now look at every project that way.”

Gerard von Dohlen, president of Newark Refrigerated Warehouse, Newark, N.J., operates in a state, New Jersey, that heavily regulates ammonia, making it impractical for operators to use. Like many others, Dohlen has employed R22 instead, but has been seeking a replacement for it. He started back with ammonia, but with concessions from the state, which later fell through. He then considered propane, but local fire marshals nixed that idea, and he is now looking at R507A; a cascade CO 2 system is also a possibility. Whichever refrigerant von Dohlen uses, he has devised an unusual industrial system that limits the primary refrigerant charge by using a secondary cooling agent that consists of a brine solution and air – what he calls an “air conditioning style refrigeration system.” “I don’t want to put any refrigerant in the occupied space,” he said. In essence, the primary refrigerant cools a 30% calcium chloride brine solution in an Alfa Laval plate-and-frame heat exchanger. The brine (at -14°F), in turn, is pumped into a Kathabar conditioner, where it cools air (about 0°F) coming from the freezer room. The cold air (-10°F) is then blown back into the freezer room. The brine serves another purpose – absorbing moisture from the air, as well as dust and bacteria; this removes the need for a defrost system. “It’s that simple,” said von Dohlen. “There’s virtually no maintenance and it doesn’t break down. There’s no refrigerant involved; you don’t need any refrigeration experts." CM+MG

Gerard von Dohlen, Newark Refrigerated Warehouse

Accelerate America 

  August 2017