Danish manufacturer Advansor has supplied six SteelXL CO2 (R744) racks ‒ with a 5.5MW total capacity, providing 2.4MW (682TR) of cooling, 700kW (199TR) of freezing and 2.4MW of heating ‒ to Danish shipping giant Maersk for a “sustainable” distribution center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Maersk aims to operate net zero by 2040, including its ocean fleet, marine containers and distribution centers.

The new 35,000m2 (375,740ft2) facility in the port of Rotterdam provides storage for over 34,000 pallets, with temperatures ranging in 16 cold rooms from −25 to 20°C (−13 to 68°F). The facility, which opened in February, stores temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, produce, meat and seafood. The Advansor system also provides domestic hot water and space heating/cooling.

“With the newest technology, transcritical CO2 is as efficient as ammonia [R717] or CO2/ammonia cascade systems,” Advansor told Naturalrefrigerants.com. “There is no safety risk management with CO2, and we can place it anywhere with a much shorter installation time.”

Efficiency statement

NaturalRefrigerants received the following response from Anders Mønsted, Business Development Manager for the Industrial Segment at Advansor, regarding the energy efficiency of CO2 systems versus ammonia in large applications.

“The refrigeration efficiency is based on a theoretical evaluation using our energy calculation tool. For the [Maersk] site, the consultant has made more specific energy calculation evaluations based on energy efficiency data for each 2K temperature difference. We did not evaluate the site for other refrigerants because other refrigerants were never an option.”

“What we do not calculate is the part load conditions, which is an important part of the energy efficiency equation, given that a distribution center will operate most of the year at part load. For an ammonia installation with large screw compressors and evaporative cooling towers, the part load conditions are not favourable. However, in a transcritical CO2 system with many compressors, the part load is the same even at very low load.”

System details: Two SteelXL units support freezer storage and four units, cold storage. System heat recovery is used for freezer area and cross-dock floor heating, domestic hot water, comfort heating and hot gas defrost.

The section providing −2°C (28.4°F) pharmaceutical storage operates with a SEPR (seasonal energy performance ratio) of 3.97, Advansor told NaturalRefrigerants.com, with a comfort cooling and heating SEPR of 6.16. The frozen section at −28°C (−18.4°F) has a SEPR of 2.29, with a comfort cooling and heating SEPR of 2.9. All compressors use permanent magnet motors.

Partnership: The collaboration between Advansor and Maersk extends globally, with the manufacturer supplying a similar system for a New Zealand distribution center near Hamilton that opened in 2023 and two new facilities in South Africa ‒ one in Cape Town and one near Durban ‒ with expected official launches by the end of 2025.

“We have proposed and agreed on a very energy-efficient design,” Advansor said, adding that it meets Maersk’s simultaneous requirements for freezing, cooling and heating.

New products: Advansor’s latest products include an upgraded SteelXL unit and a plug-and-play CO2 commercial heat pump.

In January, the manufacturer upgraded the piping and increased the size of its SteelXL unit to offer a cooling capacity of up to 2.7MW (767TR), 1.9MW (540TR) of freezing, up to 4MW (1,137TR) of heating and 0.5MW (142TR) of air-conditioning, all in one frame. At Chillventa 2024 in October, Advansor unveiled its ValueBox CO2 plug-and-play heat pump, which provides a simultaneous space heating capacity from 300 to 700kW (85 to 199TR) and space cooling from 200 to 400kW (57 to 114TR) in a single unit.

Quotable: “Our cold store significantly improves the speed and reliability in refrigerated supply chains,” said Ole Trumpfheller, Managing Director of Maersk Area North Europe Continent. “The proximity to the Rotterdam terminal allows us to offer more integrated and thus more resilient supply chain solutions.”

“With the newest technology, transcritical CO2 is as efficient as ammonia or CO2/ammonia cascade systems.”

Advansor