Czech HVAC&R manufacturer Sinop has announced that its portfolio of beverage coolers now uses 100% natural refrigerants.
The company began converting its beverage cooler production line to hydrocarbons around 2016 and expanded its manufacturing capacity with a new facility for the units in 2023. Sinop now manufactures 18,000–20,000 propane (R290)- and isobutane (R600a)-based beverage coolers each year, noted Radek Hrabanek, Project Manager at Sinop, in a recent interview with ATMOsphere, publisher of NaturalRefrigerants.com.
The interview took place during a tour of Sinop’s new facility, located in Planá near České Budějovice, Czech Republic. The site is the company’s third production hall in the area, with a total of 24,000m2 (258,333ft2) in production, warehouse and office space.
Customized CO2 systems
Sinop’s journey with natural refrigerants began with CO2 (R744) in 2012. The company continues to make customized CO2 systems for a variety of applications. According to Hrabanek, Sinop has now produced CO2-based technologies for “almost every application possible,” including a 35kW (10TR)-capacity refrigeration system for a Norwegian hospital in 2022.
The company is currently manufacturing its third CO2 HVAC system for a passenger ferry operator in the Baltics. Each system consists of four racks that can operate in transcritical and subcritical mode and supply up to 400kW (113.7TR) of cooling capacity with a COP up to 5. The first two systems have been delivered to the ferry operator, with the first boat entering into service this spring.
Another example is a 100kW (28.4TR)-capacity transcritical CO2 unit for a tunnel freezer in Scandinavia that can supply temperatures down to −40°C (−40°F). The unit includes a heat recovery option that can deliver up to 140kW (39.8TR) in heating capacity, offering water temperatures of up to 60°C (140°F).
Sinop also manufactures R290- and CO2-based heat pumps, Hrabanek added.
