Straus Family Creamery, a California company producing organic ice cream, yogurt and other dairy products, is set to install an ANSWR CO₂ (R744) heat pump system for multiple cold storage sites in what it calls a “first-of-its-kind [use] at industrial commercial scale.”

According to the creamery, the unit ‒ produced by the U.S.-based OEM Flow Environmental Systems ‒ will be installed at its manufacturing facility in Rohnert Park as part of a pilot project funded by the California Energy Commission. The project is expected to last for two-and-a-half years.

“Straus’s use of ANSWR to satisfy multiple heating and cooling processes makes the technology an ideal application that maximizes efficiency and reduces peak demand, resulting in beneficial impacts on costs, grid congestion and the environment,” said Sean Jarvie, CTO of Flow.

Other partners working on the project include the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Alter Engineers, Avida Energy, DMG North and Prospect Silicon Valley (ProspectSV).

A unique project: “With a single power feed, the ANSWR heat pump can simultaneously heat and cool to operate as a cooler, freezer, chiller and boiler,” Straus said.

• The project aims to cut emissions from commercial industrial processes while addressing peak electrical load challenges.
• It will provide medium- and low-temperature refrigeration and reclaim waste heat from the refrigeration cycle to provide defrost ranging from low to no energy. ProspectSV told NaturalRefrigerants.com that the unit will support a freezer hardening room at −30°F (−34.4°C) and two storage coolers at 35°F (1.7°C).
• “As a decade-long leader in testing and applying emerging technology, we are so excited about the potential we see in ANSWR,” Doug Davenport, CEO & Executive Director of ProspectSV told NaturalRefrigerants.com. “This is going to make a big impact in the industry.”

Other awards/projects: Flow, headquartered in Rogers, Minnesota, manufactures air- and water-source heat pumps using standard off-the-shelf refrigeration components, with capacities ranging from 15‒120TR (53‒422kW).

• Flow’s heat pump was named a finalist for New York’s Empire Technology Prize in a competition to advance low-carbon heating in high-rise retrofits.
• In a different California project, Flow is working with LBNL, DMG North and ProspectSV to evaluate the efficiency of CO₂ heat pumps to provide simultaneous domestic hot water and space heating/cooling in large commercial buildings.

On the market: Numerous companies offer CO₂ heat pumps for commercial, industrial and residential applications for hot water production and comfort air control.

• Last year, Japanese OEM Mayekawa launched a 100kW air-source CO₂ commercial hot water heat pump for multi-family and mixed-use buildings in the U.S. market.
• Danish OEM Advansor has a CO₂ air-to-water plug-and-play heat pump with outlet temperatures up to 85°C (185°F) and a COP of up to 3.24 for hot water and space heating.
• Norwegian manufacturer Tequs offers a commercial plug-and-play water-to-water CO₂ heat pump with heating capacities up to 268kW (76.2TR) for outlet temperatures up to 90°C (194°F) and cooling capacities up to 210kW (59.7TR).

Quotable: “This project will drive impressive results at our creamery through reduced energy use, decreased climate emissions and the improvement of operational refrigeration performance,” Joseph Button, Vice President of Sustainability and Strategic Impact at Straus, told NaturalRefrigerants.com. “However, we are most excited that this project’s dynamic collaboration of partners will create a broader impact in the food manufacturing sector through shared learning and leadership.”