Japan manufacturer debuts new CO₂ condensing unit lineup

The announcement by Nihon Netsugen Systems (NNS) of its brand new 2018 lineup of transcritical CO₂ condensing units signals the entrance of another significant player in the rapidly growing CO₂ transcritical market in Japan. The manufacturer is one of the first Japanese companies to seriously push for CO₂ transcritical use in industrial applications.

The one-day event, titled 'Nihon Netsugen Systems Product Launch Event 2017', was organised by NNS and gathered around 250 participants who were eager to learn about the company’s latest technology developments.

The new line up of CO₂ transcritical condensing units, dubbed CO₂ Booster Super Green, consists of three main types.

For cold stores, logistics centres and other large industrial operations, NNS announced the F-type condensing unit.

The F-type unit has an operating temperature range of -20°C to -45°C and a refrigerating capacity of 34 kW. The F-type unit also comes in a higher capacity version with a refrigerating capacity of 68 kW.

According to NNS, this air-cooled F-type system, designed for industrial and cold store applications, saves more than 15% on energy costs compared to R404A.

NNS highlighted the significant amount of design work that also went into the development of these systems, which boast a very compact design and small footprint. Additionally, the pressure between the refrigeration system and the gas cooler is limited to 3.3 Mpa, increasing the overall safety of the unit.

The lineup for industrial and cold store applications also includes the C-type medium temperature condensing units which operate at a temperature range of 0°C to -10°C.

Finally, for convenience stores and supermarkets, NNS announced its S-type CO₂ transcritical condensing unit, with several versions ranging in capacities from 17 kW MT/2kW LT -- designed for convenience stores -- up to 49 kW MT/7 kW LT for supermarkets.

Growing CO₂ market in Japan

The announcement comes after several market changing developments for CO₂ use in Japan.

In July, the High Pressure Safety Institute of Japan (KHK) announced that CO₂ would be re-classified under Japan’s High Pressure Gas Safety Act — moving from the strictest level of Group 3 to the least restricted level of Group 1. The move opened the door for wider adoption of larger sized CO₂ systems in commercial and industrial applications.

Two months later, the Japanese Ministry of Environment announced the return of subsidies for natural refrigerant-based HVAC&R systems used in food retail and food manufacturing sectors for 2018. The subsidies were previously only available for cold stores.

Encouraged by this new wave of energy in the market, NNS announced ongoing projects using their new line up of CO₂ transcritical systems as well as ambitious investments in the future of this CO₂ product line.

NNS confirmed that, by the end of the 2017 fiscal year, it will have 40 units in operation, installed at eight different cold store end users. All of these installations were done with the assistance of the Japanese government’s natural refrigerant subsidies, which will be available continuing on into 2018.

The company also confirmed its plans to open a dedicated manufacturing facility in Japan’s Shiga prefecture, where it will be manufacturing a projected 100 CO₂ transcritical condensing units per year. The opening is slated for 1 December 2017.

Opportunities for businesses involved in CO₂

This announcement by NNS of its new lineup of CO₂ transcritical condensing units signifies not only large opportunities for cooperation within the domestic market, but for international suppliers as well.

The F and C-type systems use GEA compressors, while the S-type system uses Bitzer compressors. All three systems use Guentner CO₂ gas coolers and several other suppliers were visible at the event including CAREL, ESK Schultze, Toshiba, and others.

Additionally, NNS is a proud sponsor of ATMOsphere Japan 2018, which will be held in Tokyo on 13 February, where it will be providing the latest details on its CO₂ system installations.