The world's first natural refrigirator

Sainsbury’s is working with Carrier Transicold in a two year trial of the new HFC-free cooling technology for road transport, using a modified version of Carrier’s NaturaLINE™ refrigeration system, which was initially developed for deep sea containers and completed a rigorous sea trial programme in 2012. For this trial with Sainsbury’s – the only one of its type in the world – a modified version of the Carrier NaturaLINE unit has been mounted to a 10.8m Gray & Adams urban distribution trailer which is operating from Sainsbury’s Elstree depot and serving stores across Greater London.

The natural refrigerant CO2, also known as R-744, is non-ozone depleting. Its Global Warming Potential (GWP) of one compares very favourably 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, so even in the event of a leak, the use of CO2 adds no new environmental risk.