IIAR moves forward on CO₂ safety standard

Efforts to create a safety standard for CO₂ by the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) have reached “pre-publication review,” said John Collins, head of IIAR’s CO₂ Committee and industrial sales manager for Zero Zone.

“We have an initial working draft, which consists of the first several chapters,” he said at Zero Zone’s booth at the IIAR’s Natural Refrigeration Conference & Expo, held this week in Colorado Springs, Colo.

He expects the remaining sections of the standard to be finished in the next few months, with a final public review to take place next year. “We expect a lot of comments that would take multiple stages,” with the final document possibly not ready for release until 2020.

A safety standard for CO₂ does not yet exist in the U.S., Collins said, adding that the standard under development will reflect the scope of IIAR’s safety standards for ammonia. The new standard is on record at ANSI (American National Standards Institute).

The CO₂ standard will encompass applications in both the industrial and commercial sectors, with contributions from companies in both, Collins said. “It’s a base-level standard covering the requirements to do CO₂ systems properly and in a safe manner.”

The CO₂ standard reflects the IIAR’s effort to branch out from its traditional focus on ammonia. The group has also announced it will also start work on a standard for propane.