German food retailer METRO AG continues to roll out transcritical CO2 systems with ejectors in its European stores, with 14 locations using the technology, and 10 more planned for 2019.
The program is part of METRO AG’s “F-Gas Exit Program,” which aims to phase out f-gases in all METRO Cash & Carry stores worldwide by 2030 through the deployment of CO2 refrigeration systems.
Out of its 769 Cash & Carry (sometimes called Makro) stores in 26 countries, METRO installed transcritical CO2 systems in 95 and CO2 cascade in 108 as of May 2019.
In recent months, the retailer has been improving the efficiency of its transcriticalinstallations by including ejectors in 15 stores – 14 in Europe (most installed this year) and one in China. “Our most preferred technology/type is [transcritical] CO2 ejector plants,” said Olaf Schulze, director – energy, facility and resource management at METRO AG. “We believe that new [ejector] equipment can combine energy performance, customer added value and no (or low) emissions.”
In April, METRO AG opened its first CO2 transcritical store Dubrovnik, Croatia; this system includes two Danfoss multiejectors, a high-pressure lift gas ejector, and a liquid ejector, as well as parallel compressors from Dorin.
In May, the company opened two stores with transcritical ejector systems in Poland – one in Opole and one in Czestochowa. The latter system uses an ejector from Advansor and includes two booster racks for medium and low temperatures with a total cooling capacity of 184.3 kW (52.4 TR). The retailer now has eight stores in Poland that use transcritical CO2.
METRO AG has also installed transcritical ejector systems this year in Austria, France, Germany (one store each); Italy and Russia (two stores each); and in three stores in the Netherlands, according to René Krampen, energy controller.
Later this year, METRO AG plans to implement transcritical CO2 ejector systems at one store in Bulgaria (the second with ejectors), one store in Russia, seven in France and one in Belgium, according to Schulze.
In June, METRO China, which operates three transcritical stores, announced that it installed the country’s first transcritical CO2 ejector system at its Chongqing store, which is located in China’s Nan’an district.
Our most preferred technology/type is [transcritical] CO2 ejector plants.
Olaf Schulze, METRO AG
