A propane (R290)-based refrigeration unit for light commercial vehicles has been installed alongside other hydrocarbon technologies at the Cold Chain Innovation Hub (CCI-Hub) in Taguig City, the Philippines.
According to the CCI-Hub, this is the first time the refrigerated transport unit – which is manufactured by Austrian technology start-up pbx – has been installed outside of Europe.
The unit was launched by pbx the IAA Transportation conference in September 2022 in Hanover, Germany.
Local contractor Cold Front Technologies Asia installed the pbx refrigeration unit on the truck’s insulated body, which was provided and assembled by Filipino manufacturer Centro Nippon Fruehauf Cooltech.
Cold Front also installed a R290-based waterloop system and refrigerated display cases from Austrian manufacturer AHT, which is part of Daikin.
The commercial refrigeration system also includes an outdoor dry pump station manufactured by Güntner, which removes excess heat from the system’s glycol solution.
The refrigeration unit, refrigerated truck, waterloop system and refrigerated display cases were showcased at the hub’s recent Future of the Industry Conference and will all be used for training and demonstration purposes.
In addition to the newly-installed R290-based equipment from pbx and AHT, the CCI-Hub also highlights several other hydrocarbon technologies, including Embraco’s Plug n’ Cool propane refrigeration unit, Vestfrost Solutions’ isobutane (R600a) solar-powered chest freezer and two plug-in refrigeration display cases from Epta.
“This is the first time in Southeast Asia that these technologies will be accessible in one place,” said Jan Dusek, Head of Global Partnership at the CCI-Hub and Co-Founder of ATMOsphere, publisher of hydrocarbons21.com.
“This is the first time in Southeast Asia that these technologies will be accessible in one place.”
Jan Dusek, CCI-Hub
Improving the Philippines’ cold chain
The CCI-Hub serves as the centralized knowledge-sharing platform of the Global Partnership for Improving the Food Cold Chain in the Philippines (FCC) project. The hub is responsible for sharing technical resources, training and knowledge and facilitating stakeholder collaboration.
The FCC project’s goal is to identify and encourage the development of low-carbon and energy-efficient refrigeration technologies and business practices throughout the Philippines’ food cold chain.
Through this work, it aims is to increase food safety and security across the country.
The FCC project is a collaboration between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Global Environment Fund, TESDA and ATMOsphere.
