P&O Cruises opts for on-board CO₂ transcritical technology

P&O Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation & PLC which is the world’s largest commercial cruise ship operator, has installed a CO₂ transcritical system from German manufacturer GEA on board its 2,000-passenger ship Arcadia. The system serves all the ship’s food and beverage refrigeration units.

GEA group and P&O Cruises are in talks over installing additional units in its existing fleet and installing the technology directly in new ships as they are constructed.

“We are delighted to announce this major partnership for our groundbreaking transcritical CO₂ technology, with P&O Cruises,” said Marc Prinsen, head of Application Center Utilities Marine at GEA. “Having signed our partnership with P&O Cruises, we are also now in discussions with major international fishing fleets,” he added.

Traditionally, safely installing flexible CO₂ refrigeration systems has been challenging due to the constrained and constantly moving environment of ships. GEA states that its over a 100 years of expertise in designing and constructing industrial refrigeration plants ensured its success in developing the new transcritical CO₂ technology specifically for use on ships; and that its solutions can be tailored to just about any available on-board space, and are designed to be safe, robust and reliable, however rough the voyage.

The modular transcritical-type CO₂ plants operate using multiple GEA Bock compressors, which are ideally suited to the high pressures of CO₂ refrigeration systems. Redundancy is built in the plant, so that failure of one or even multiple compressors will not cause the system to stop working, according to GEA. Installation can be carried out while the ship is underway, without affecting continued use of the legacy system before the switchover takes place.

“Every sector of industry is working hard to protect the environment, and that includes saving energy, reducing emissions, and switching to natural refrigerants,” said Prinsen. “As one of the world’s leading technology developers and suppliers to a wide range of global industries, we recognise the key role that we can play by developing sustainable, green technologies, which can be used in challenging processes and settings,” he said.