Seafood processor sees bright future for natural refrigerant technologies such as Pascal Air in Korea

In an exclusive interview Dong Gyu Kim, Marketing Manager of Sea Sky Global, a leading Korean seafood processor, talks about his company’s experience of using Mayekawa’s Pascal Air refrigeration unit for ultra low temperature storage.

At ATMOsphere Asia 2015 Dong Gyu Kim presented the Pascal Air refrigeration installations at Sea Sky Global’s state-of-the-art tuna processing plant located in Busan, South Korea. Three Mayekawa Pascal Air units keep the company’s 2,500 tonnes of raw tuna and processed products fresh, at ultra-low storage temperatures.

R744.com: What is the reason why you decided to introduce Mayekawa’s Pascal Air at Sea Sky Global processing plants?

Dong Gyu Kim: There were many reasons but the most important was to be able to provide a high standard of quality assurance for our products. A second reason was to reduce labour costs, and a third was to increase space inside our warehouses. What is more, since this system uses air as the refrigerant, the technology has the advantage of being environmentally friendly, so it is adapted to a greener future.

R744.com: Why did you decided to adopt Pascal Air instead of an ammonia-only based system?

Dong Gyu Kim: Ammonia is a more hazardous refrigerant, which is a disadvantage. It also requires people to carefully manage it. In contrast, Pascal Air uses air as the refrigerant, so it doesn't pose any danger in case of release, and doesn’t require extra safety precautions to be taken.

R744.com: In order for Pascal Air to become a mainstream refrigeration technology in Korea, what is necessary, for instance with regards to policy or raising awareness among end users?

Dong Gyu Kim: In the case of Korea I think we need more government support in order to strengthen the market for natural refrigerants. The Korean Government has been focused on reducing carbon emissions and trying to promote environmentally friendly materials and technologies. Since the government places a high priority on environmental sustainability, what I think we need is to approach the government and gain its support for natural refrigerants.

R744.com: What do you think about the business and policy climate in Korea for the use of natural refrigerants? Are there regulations in place that support natural refrigerants, and do you think there is a market for CO₂, ammonia, hydrocarbons, water and air as refrigerants?

Dong Gyu Kim: In terms of market potential, yes, I believe that there is a market for natural refrigerants. However, since Sea Sky Global is the first company to have introduced Pascal Air the Korean government must first analyse the data we have collected and see how it compares to existing systems. But because the government lacks experience in doing so, I think it will take a lot of time to complete. Once such a comparative analysis is done, I believe there is a good market in Korea for this kind of system.

R744.com: You said in your ATMOsphere Asia 2015 presentation that the payback period for Pascal Air is five years. How does that compare to other technologies that Sea Sky Global is using?

Dong Gyu Kim: It is rather difficult to compare. The Pascal Air system is expensive but it offers many advantages such as lower energy and reduced labour costs as well as greater space efficiencies. Taking all of this into consideration, the payback period is five years. It is difficult to do a simple comparison with an HCFC22 system, for instance, because the calculation is more complex than looking simply at upfront costs.

R744.com: What did you think of Atmosphere Asia 2015?

Dong Gyu Kim: It was very impressive. In Korea, there have never been conferences focused on such a topic that bring people from different fields together to discuss how to change the market. At this event people from different countries have attended and exchanged experiences, so it was very helpful.

Thank you!