July 11, 2014: Sprouts Farmers Market to Open Atlanta-Area Store with CO2 Refrigeration
Transcritical CO2 Refrigeration Systems Are Normally Limited to Colder Climates
ATLANTA — Sprouts Farmers Market announced that it is opening a new store in the metro-Atlanta area using CO2 refrigeration. According to the company, it will be the first CO2-based supermarket refrigeration system in a warm weather market in North America.
Sprouts’ new store opens on July 18 in Dunwoody, Georgia, and will run on a Hillphoenix Advansor transcritical CO2 booster system. The company noted that retailers and engineers in North America have widely questioned whether a CO2 transcritical system could be operated efficiently in areas where the ambient temperature climbs above 85°F. Transcritical CO2 refrigeration systems are normally limited to colder climates due to the limitations of air-cooled gas coolers. The key to Sprouts’ new system is a proprietary TrilliumSeries™ hybrid evaporative condenser designed for Hillphoenix by Baltimore Aircoil Co.