EDITOR’S NOTE: Hank Bonar, owner of Bonar Engineering and Construction (www.bonareng.com) of Jacksonville, Florida, provided the following as part of his response to a story on refrigeration trends in the Sept. 8, 2014 issue of The NEWS. A portion of this was used in that story; here, Bonar’s comments are presented in their entirety.
For the last 50 to 60 years, most refrigerated perishable food storage and processing facilities have been using ammonia as the refrigerant of choice. This was even more the case as the effect of CFCs and HCFCs on the ozone layer became apparent. In addition to being biodegradable, ammonia is more efficient than CFCs and HCFCs.