World’s largest aluminium rolling plant cooled with non-ozone-depleting DuPont™ ISCEON® MO29

By so doing, the company has made a timely response to new legislation, which will suspend the market availability of virgin HCFC refrigerants for service purposes as of 31 December 2009. The conversion, or ‘retrofit,’ was conducted by the Cologne branch of Johnson Controls Systems & Service GmbH, a company familiar with DuPont refrigerants from previous, smaller projects.

As an initial step, technicians converted one of the cooling circuits belonging to an air-cooled water chiller system. After checking the operating data, the second cooling circuit was changed to ISCEON® MO29, as well as further systems. “Before carrying out the conversion, we took detailed readings from all systems, which were then repeated after the change was made,” explains Bastian Sauermann, service salesman at Johnson Controls. “Following removal by suction of the refrigerant, we first replaced the springs, the working valves and the filter-drier. These steps were taken based on our own experience. Thereafter, the refrigeration circuit was evacuated and then recharged with ISCEON® MO29. For the water-cooled water chiller systems we exchanged the oil as a preventative measure. Overall the work was carried out without a hitch. The systems’ cooling performance is around the same as it was prior to the conversion.”

Alunorf operates three water chiller systems for cooling the hot and cold rolling mills: in the hot rolling mill there are two air-cooled York water chiller systems, each with two cooling circuits and one piston compressor per circuit (total output approx. 800 kW). The cold rolling mill is cooled by a water-cooled York water chiller system with one cooling circuit. Cooling output is 400 kW.

The company is the world's largest aluminium rolling and remelt plant and produces hot- and cold-rolled strips of aluminium for use in a range of applications including automotive body parts, drink cans, lids, screw closures, tinfoil or litho sheets. Alunorf has made it a public objective to align its manufacturing processes and products with its own environmental policy. Along with its health and safety programme, quality policy and corporate philosophy, the company’s environmental policy is amongst key guidelines for its operations.

Background – Ban of HCFCs:
The Montreal Protocol marked the beginning of the end for the use of ozone-depleting substances such as CFCs and HCFCs around the world. The EU regulation 2037/2000 sets a timetable for the phase-out of the most harmful refrigerants, according to which the market availability, the use (refilling) and the importation of HCFCs will be banned as from 31 December 2009. As of 1 January 2015, all HCFCs, including reclaimed material, will be banned. It is therefore advisable for a vast number of cooling and air-conditioning systems, which still use HCFCs (often in the form of R-22) to be replaced, refitted or converted to a non-ozone-depleting alternative. With its ISCEON® 9 series refrigerants, DuPont provides a comprehensive family of cost-effective, non-ozone-depleting HCFC retrofit refrigerants, suitable for the straightforward conversion of existing air-conditioning and cooling systems. Further information can be found at: http://www.wakeup2phaseout.com and http://isceon.com/uk.

Aluminium Norf GmbH was founded in April 1965 as a joint venture between former Alcan (today Novelis) and former VAW (today Hydro Aluminium). With its greatest expansion in the period between 1990 and 1994, Aluminium Norf GmbH – abbreviated Alunorf – became the world’s largest aluminium rolling and remelt plant. The company has 2,100 employees and produces hot- and cold-rolled strip in many different aluminum alloys for a wide range of applications. Most of this material is shipped as coil stock to the plants of both parent companies for further processing. Its annual sales volume is approximately 1.5 million tonnes.

Johnson Controls is the global leader that brings ingenuity to the places where people live, work and travel. By integrating technologies, products and services, it creates smart environments that redefine the relationships between people and their surroundings. Its team of 140,000 employees creates a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world through its products and services for more than 200 million vehicles, 12 million homes and one million commercial buildings. For complete and specific technical specifications and/or characteristics of the equipment, please visit www.johnsoncontrols.com.

DuPont Fluorochemicals is a leading global supplier of refrigerants, using science and technology, market knowledge and global reach to provide sustainable materials and solutions to enhance personal comfort, enable food preservation, improve industrial processing and reduce environmental footprints.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

The DuPont Oval logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science™ and ISCEON® are trademarks or registered trademarks of DuPont or one of its affiliates.

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This press release is based on information provided by:
Johnson Controls Building Efficiency
Deutz-Mühlheimer Str. 30, 50679 Cologne, Germany
Kontakt: Bastian Sauermann
Telephone: +49 (0) 22 1 / 4 98 75 29
Fax: +49 (0) 22 1 / 4 98 75 39
E-Mail: Bastian.Sauermann@jci.com