ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A range of refrigerants is gaining attention at the International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration’s Ammonia Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition March 16-19 at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The conference is designed to explore options to CFCs and HCFCs in a variety of technical presentations. The focus is not only on ammonia, but on various HFCs and CO2 as well.

One presentation will compare HFC-134a chillers and packaged ammonia chillers for air conditioning applications. The report will analyze ammonia’s competitiveness in the water-cooled screw chiller air conditioning market. Another presentation will focus on R-134a and ammonia, looking at case studies of two plants and how the fundamental thermodynamic properties of the two refrigerants affect the design of real-world refrigeration systems.

The ammonia industry has been looking at ammonia used in conjunction with CO2 in cascade systems, and a report at the conference will examine the quality control involved in installing and commissioning such a system. The methodology involves a Technical Installation Risk Analysis (TIRA) that helps the project manager ensure the quality of an installation while addressing practical installation issues.

A panel discussion will deal with marketing ammonia to such sectors as air conditioning, supermarkets, thermal storage, district cooling, and combustion turbine inlet cooling. In all, the conference will include 12 technical presentations, three forums, seven panels, and three speakers: motivational speaker Michael Broome, humorist Baxter Black, and safety expert J. S. Arendt.

Publication date: 03/17/2003