In August 2022, Japanese food retail chain Aeon opened its first frozen food store, @Frozen, inside the Aeon-Style Shin-Urayasu Mona outlet in Urayasu, using 55 of Daikin’s AHT-brand propane (R290) showcases in the horizontal Singapore model line.
The new 420m2 (4,521ft2) store offers 1,500 frozen food items inside plug-in display freezers kept around -20°C (-4°F).
The @Frozen store was Daikin’s first large-scale showcase delivery of AHT units since it began selling the brand in June 2021.
Aeon intends to keep using Daikin’s propane showcases in the future at its affiliated stores for three reasons, according to Masafumi Okuda, Environmental and Social Department at Aeon: the units use low-GWP natural refrigerant, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions; the plug-in feature requires “no installation work”; and the unit “saves space.”
The use of hydrocarbon cases in the Japanese commercial food retail sector is expected to expand over the next few years, according to the 2022 edition of the “ATMO Report: State of the Industry.” In March 2021, the Japanese Industrial Standard increased the maximum refrigerant charge to 13 times the lower flammability limit (LFL), which allows R290 cabinets to use up to 494g (17.4oz) of propane charge.
Referring to the @Frozen store, “We started the new business because we see potential in frozen foods,” said Takashi Nishino, Executive Director at Aeon Retail, in an Asahi Shimbun article.
NatRef installations
“We have been installing natural refrigerant-based refrigerating cases in every new store since 2015 and will gradually replace the cases in the approximately 3,500 existing stores,” says Aeon on its website.
As of February 2022, Aeon had installed natural refrigerant equipment, including condensers, showcases and freezers in 1,224 stores, Okuda said.
Initially, Aeon actively used CO2 (R744) refrigerant-based options, but the company is now adopting R290 plug-in cases. Decisions concerning the choice of CO2 or R290 in the future will be based on cost and the characteristics of the installation store.
In its new store, “Aeon style Tennocho,” in Yokohama, Japan, which opened in October 2022, the company adopted showcases connected to CO2 condensing units in the frozen section.
Aeon won “Best in Sector/Food Retail” at the 2020 Accelerate Japan awards at ATMOsphere Japan for its efforts to build and convert existing stores to natural refrigeration systems, with 635 stores operating with natural refrigerants at that time.
“Aeon will cooperate with the national government and manufacturers in promoting the use of natural refrigerants by formulating new construction standards, mitigating legal restrictions and reducing installation costs, and thereby contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions,” Aeon said.
Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, Daikin Industries is a multinational company supplying HAVC&R solutions for residential, commercial and industrial applications.
“We have been installing natural refrigerant-based refrigerating cases in every new store since 2015 and will gradually replace the cases in the approximately 3,500 existing stores.”
Aeon
