GEA takes CO2 technology onboard
31st July 2018
GERMANY: GEA has installed a CO2 refrigeration system on the P&O cruise ship Arcadia, with discussions ongoing to introduce the technology throughout P&O’s fleet.
The 84,000 tonne Arcadia was built in Italy, launched in 2004 and acquired by P&O Cruises, part of Carnival Corporation & PLC, in 2005.
While CO2 refrigeration is being widely introduced in the retail sector, developing flexible CO2 refrigeration systems that can be installed safely in the constrained, constantly moving environment of sea-going ships has up to the present been challenging.
GEA says it has harnessed more than 100 years of expertise in the design and construction of industrial refrigeration plants to develop the new transcritical CO2 technology specifically for use on ships. On the Arcadia it will provide cooling for all of the ship’s food and beverage refrigeration units.
The modular transcritical-type CO2 plants operate using multiple GEA Bock compressors, specifically designed for the high pressures of CO2 refrigeration systems. Redundancy is built into the plant, so that failure of one or even multiple compressors will not cause the system to stop working. Installation can be carried out while the ship is underway, without affecting continued use of the legacy system before switchover takes place.
Discussions between GEA and P&O Cruises are ongoing with a view to rolling out the state-of-the-art transcritical CO2 refrigeration plants to additional cruise ships in the existing fleet, and installing the technology directly in new P&O Cruises ships as they are constructed.
“We are delighted to announce this major partnership for our groundbreaking transcritical CO2 technology, with P&O Cruises,” commented Marc Prinsen, head of application centre utilities marine at GEA.
“Having signed our partnership with P&O Cruises, we are also now in discussions with major international fishing fleets,” he added.
