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

Lava stone insulation boosts fridge efficiency

GERMANY: Liebherr-Hausgeräte is set to introduce a series of domestic fridge freezers employing a vacuum and lava stones as an energy efficient, recyclable insulation.

Liebherr claims that its soon to be introduced BluRoX fridge freezer using finely ground lava stone – the raw material perlite – will be a quantum leap in energy efficiency, enabling models to achieve energy efficiency class A and B in accordance with EU legislation.

Due to its crystalline microstructure, perlite has a very low thermal conductivity, and the vacuum provides the best possible insulation in terms of energy, says Liebherr.

“For a family with a 350-litre freezer, the annual power consumption for the appliance could be reduced by up to 20%,” claims Liebherr-Hausgeräte MD Steffen Nagel.

In addition, the new insulation enables a very compact design. With the walls of a BluRoX freezer about one third thinner than the walls of a conventional foam insulated appliance, a 25% greater capacity is achieved compared to fridge freezers with the same external dimensions.

The lava stone perlite can also be easily removed and re-introduced into the manufacturing cycle, enabling it to be re-used in new equipment without significant processing. The BluRoX insulation is not bonded to the surrounding components, so the outer shell and inner container can easily be re-processed and re-used.

It is described as a naturally renewable raw material, as only a small area is required for mining, which can then be restored to its natural state. Liebherr sources perlite from Europe and then processes it at its production site in Ochsenhausen.

Latest News

18th March 2024

Joint venture adopts Epta brand

ITALY: All activities under the recently announced Epta and Viessmann Refrigeration joint venture are to operate under the Epta brand.
18th March 2024

Low carbon heat briefing

UK: The SIRACH network is hosting a half-day briefing at London’s iconic Shard to share the findings of the Lot-Net project. 
18th March 2024

UK heat pump uptake too slow

UK: The UK must achieve an eleven-fold increase in heat pump installations if it is to hit government targets of 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028.
18th March 2024

Refrigeration’s star engineer Forbes Pearson dies

UK: Stephen Forbes Pearson, co-founder of Star Refrigeration and one of the world's greatest refrigeration engineers, has died at the age of 92.
17th March 2024

132 Güntner dry coolers for Red Sea project

SAUDI ARABIA: German manufacturer Güntner has supplied 132 dry coolers, each with 18 fans, to a 32,500TR district cooling project in Saudi Arabia.
17th March 2024

NZ professor brings fridge workshops to UK

UK: Don Cleland, a professor of process engineering at Massey University in New Zealand, is hosting a series of refrigeration workshops in London this summer.