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Asia-Pacific // Technology
Pushing Natural Refrigerants in Southeast Asia With plans to convert its entire portfolio to hydrocarbons and CO2 by 2022, OEM Sanden Intercool Group is targeting its home market in Thailand and the region
— By Devin Yoshimoto and Jan Dusek
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hailand- based Sanden Intercool Group, a Thai-Japanese joint venture company and one of the largest global manufacturers of commercial refrigeration equipment, aims to have its entire product range using natural refrigerants, in particular hydrocarbons and CO 2 , by 2022. The goal stems from both environmental concerns and customer demands, par ticularly for hydrocarbons in Southeast Asia, as well as technical and regulatory advancements. "Most of our global and regional accounts — meaning beverage, beer, soft drink, dairy and ice cream makers — are actively supporting green refrigeration, either by mandating low- carbon footprint equipment, or by advising the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants," said Alex Panas, commercial director for Sanden Intercool Group. Indeed, over the past few years, major multinational brands in these product
Accelerate Magazine // September 2019
Production line conversion categories – many of which are customers of Sanden – have made specific commitments to phasing down the use of HFCs in their equipment. For example, Dutch-British transnational consumer goods giant Unilever decided to end use of f-gases and adopt hydrocarbons in its freezer cabinets in 1999. Atlanta, Ga.-based Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company and investor in plug-in cooling equipment, has aimed since 2008 to make all new cold-drink equipment HFC-free by 2020. In addition, Dutch multinational brewing giant Heineken is a major user of hydrocarbon equipment, adopting it for all beer fridges since2013. And Beverage companies Diageo and Group Castel are both investing in green refrigeration for all of their equipment in Africa. "I think that these are the opinion leaders that will drive further this change in the industry," said Panas.
Already more than 70% of the company’s equipment sales is available with hydrocarbon systems, said Panas, adding that nearly 100% of the company’s sales to Europe and Africa have been hydrocarbon equipment in the last few years. Get ting to this point, however, required a significant investment in the development of green refrigerant product configurations as well as in the conversion of the company’s production lines to be compatible with them. This change has been supported by German International Cooperation Agency GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusamenarbeit) in Thailand. The process began around three years ago and will be completed this August. “GIZ Thailand is supporting all the phases for the migration to green refrigerant in the country,” said Panas. "This includes the necessary investments for the production of hydrocarbon-based equipment through cooperation with manufacturers, as well as regulatory and