Sainsbury’s is trialling a CO2 refrigerated trailer using technology developed by Carrier Transicold, to transport chilled and frozen foods.
Nick Davies, Sainsbury’s head of transport operations, said: “The new carbon dioxide technology has much less of an impact on climate change and we hope it will play a big part in helping us reduce our carbon emissions. We will be monitoring its performance closely and if successful, in line with our replacement plan, it could help us save over 70,000 tonnes of CO2 compared to the current refrigerated trailer fleet.”
The two companies will work together in a two-year pilot, using a modified version of Carrier Transicold’s NaturaLINE refrigeration system.
CO2, also known as R-744, has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of one compares to conventional refrigerants R-134a and R-404A, which have GWPs of 1,300 and 3,260, respectively. The GWP of CO2 is lower than other natural refrigerants, such as propane and ammonia.
“This is the very first time that our NaturaLINE system has been mounted to a box trailer anywhere in the world, said David Appel, president of Carrier Transicold.
In line with the new trailer, Sainsbury’s also hopes to convert its UK stores to natural refrigeration by 2030, having already implemented the system to 160 of its stores, it is on track to switch 250 of them to the system by 2014.
