World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Sky is no limit for R1234ze

BELGIUM: Engie Axima chillers employing the low GWP HFO refrigerant R1234ze are playing a crucial role in air traffic management while making significant energy savings.

Two Quantum chillers with a total capacity of 5MW have been installed to prevent overheating at Eurocontrol’s headquarters and flight management and data centre facilities in Brussels. Eurocontrol is the intergovernmental organisation providing air traffic management for as many as 36,000 commercial flights per day within the European airspace.

The Eurocontrol headquarters in Brussels

The Quantum chillers are designed with oil-free, magnetic-bearing centrifugal compressors and employ remote condensers. The dual chiller configuration allows for redundancy, with both chillers operating on just 50% of their full load capacity. The system has also been incorporated into Eurocontrol’s existing building management system, giving facility managers a complete view of their infrastructure.

The chillers replace an older system running on R22.

Honeywell supplied the R1234ze, which it markets as Solstice ze. With a GWP of less than 1, Solstice ze is designed for medium pressure chillers to cool large buildings, infrastructure projects, process chillers in refrigeration applications, district cooling and heating, organic Rankine cycle, high-temperature heat pumps, and medium-temperature self-contained refrigeration cabinets.

“Cooling is a critical part of our infrastructure and protects the integrity of our systems,” said Luc De Backer, Eurocontrol’s project implementation manager. “By switching from an older, less efficient cooling system to this new Engie Axima-Honeywell solution, we have incorporated technology that is strategically designed to meet our needs over the next two decades and future-proofs us for performance, safety, efficiency and environmental impact.”

According to the data, the cooling system’s design will help achieve annual energy savings up to 1,500MWh and will reduce Eurocontrol’s total annual consumption by more than 12% – the equivalent of as much as €150,000 per year in energy costs. Payback will be achieved in less than 10 years.

Related stories:

Engie claims largest R1234ze installation27 March 2018
GERMANY: Engie Refrigeration has supplied what it claims is the world’s largest chiller installation using the low GWP HFO refrigerant R1234ze. Read more…

Latest News

29th August 2026

ICS and MTA combine operations in Germany

GERMANY: The German subsidiary of Italian chiller manufacturer MTA and the German branch of chiller hire company ICS Cool Energy are combining under the name MTA Deutschland GmbH.
29th August 2026

Solstice and Element Solutions cancel merger

USA: Solstice has announced that it is to terminate by mutual agreement its proposed $14.5bn acquisition of specialty chemical manufacturer and supplier Element Solutions.
28th August 2026

World Ventilation Day event takes on overheating

UK: BESA will mark this year’s World Ventilation Day with an event in London focused on overheating in the built environment.
28th August 2026

Wittwer appointed president Trane commercial HVAC Europe

IRELAND: Trane Technologies has appointed Adam Wittwer as president, commercial HVAC Europe, reporting to group president, EMEA and Asia, Jose La Loggia.
28th August 2026

Beijer Ref training academy open day

UK: Beijer Ref is to hold an open day at its training academy in Wetherby on October 1.
27th August 2026

Cellar coolers are refrigeration equipment

UK: The British Refrigeration Association has welcomed confirmation that restrictions on single-split air conditioning systems under the GB F-gas regulations do not apply to systems used solely for cooling products.