R-455A innovation in refrigeration: Tecnifrío promotes sustainability in Seville

Herba Ricemills is part of the Ebro Foods group, one of the leading manufacturers of customer-branded ready meals distributed mainly in Spain to meet the needs of today’s consumers. This fast-food model continues to grow, so Herba Ricemills decided to expand its product offering. As part of its expansion plan, the company needed to increase its refrigerated storage capacity to store all its foodstuffs in optimum conditions before distribution. This challenge required a reliable, safe and efficient cooling system to handle large volumes of temperature-controlled (low and medium temperature) products.

Herba Ricemills sought advice from its trusted installer, Tecnifrío, with clearly defined objectives in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability and technology for the construction of four new cold rooms: two for deep freezing, one for medium-temperature and one cold room capable of operating low and medium temperature modes, depending on production and logistics flows. The project had to comply with new regulatory and environmental requirements and enable the optimisation of investment costs (CapEx) and operating costs (OpEx).

R-455A, the chosen solution

Tecnifrío, a company specialising in industrial refrigeration, in collaboration with PECOMARK, an equipment manufacturer and distributor, opted for a system using R-455A (Solstice® L40X), an A2L refrigerant with a low GWP (146), which was ideal for this application and met all the specification criteria.

“We presented several options, including CO₂. The customer ultimately opted for R-455A because of the balance between initial investment, tax reduction* and future viability,” explains Roque Jiménez (project manager at Tecnifrío).

Simple and efficient implementation

The Silent Pack developed by Pecomark was chosen, these enclosed and silent condensing units incorporate Bitzer compressors designed for A2L fluids. These units are equipped with a liquid receiver with safety valve, an electrical control panel with regulator for controlling EC-type air fans, an accumulator, an oil separator and HP/BP pressure switches.

Advanced safety measures were also installed in the four cold rooms, with non-return valves, remote management and leak detection systems that meet the requirements of EN378 and the RSIF**.

“Installing R-455A was easier than we thought, and the result is very satisfactory,” says Rafael Aznar from Tecnifrío’s technical department.​

The solution chosen will improve the plant’s operational efficiency, with a significant reduction in energy consumption costs and no tax on high GWP gases.

*IGEFI tax on fluorinated fluids in Spain.

**RSIF: Spanish Safety Regulations for Refrigeration Installations.

Description of the installation :

• Total cooling capacity: 166 kW.
• Room configuration :
  • 2 cold rooms for frozen products: 13.7 x 5.3 x 8 m each.
  • 1 cold room for storing refrigerated food: 8.6 x 5.3 x 8 m.
  • 1 double-temperature cold room: 8.6 x 5.3 x 8 m
  • 1 refrigerated loading bay.
  • 1 refrigerated corridor.
• “Silent Pack” outdoor units with Bitzer compressors.
• Eliwell A2L leak detectors
• Refrigerant: R-455A, total charge 260 kg.

Operating conditions:

• Evaporation temperature for frozen food : -26 °C.
• Evaporation temperature for refrigerated goods: -6 °C.
• Evaporation temperature for corridor and loading bay: +0 °C.
• Condensing temperature: +45°C.