What is Ammonia refrigeration?
Ammonia refrigeration is an industrial cooling system that uses ammonia, refrigerant R-717, to move heat. It is common in dairies, cold storage and food plants because it is thermodynamically efficient and has no ozone depletion potential, but it is toxic, so plants run it under strict safety codes and process safety programs.
What it is
An ammonia plant works on the vapor compression cycle. Compressors raise ammonia vapor to high pressure, condensers reject heat, usually through evaporative condensers or cooling towers, expansion valves drop the pressure, and evaporators absorb heat from the process, chilled water, glycol or ice bank.
Large plants run several screw or reciprocating compressors on a shared suction header, with controls that stage them to match load. Head pressure, suction pressure and condenser condition have a direct effect on how many kilowatts it takes to deliver each unit of cooling.
Ammonia is toxic and flammable at some concentrations, so these systems are governed by safety standards and local regulations, which vary by country. Operators should follow the code and process safety rules that apply to their site.
Who it applies to / where it is used
Ammonia refrigeration is used in dairies, ice cream plants, breweries, meat and poultry processing, cold storage warehouses and ice rinks. In a dairy it often serves chilled water, ice banks, cold rooms and product cooling at the same time.
How it is measured / what evidence it needs
The key evidence is energy per unit of cooling under comparable conditions, alongside pressures and temperatures that explain why it changed.
- Compressor electrical input and run hours by machine
- Suction and discharge pressures and temperatures
- Cooling delivered, from chilled water or glycol flow and temperature difference
- Condenser water flow, cooling tower condition and wet bulb temperature
- kW per TR or COP trend, including pump and fan energy
How Aqueduct helps
Aqueduct links compressor power to the cooling it delivers, so a rise in energy with similar output becomes an investigation, not a surprise on the bill.
- aQ EnergySmart reports kW per TR by plant and compressor group
- aQ PredictIQ flags rising discharge pressure that points to condenser or cooling tower issues
- aQ Assistant suggests checks, and the engineer approves the response
- Measured follow-up counts total system energy, including any added pumping