Ammonia provides climate-neutral cooling and heating for Greenfood's new logistics center

13 Oct 2022

When Skanska develops Greenfood's new logistics center, it is the Norrköping-based company SLS that delivers the climate-neutral cooling system. The refrigeration machines use ammonia (NH3) as a refrigerant and are customized by SLS to provide Greenfood with energy-efficient and environmentally friendly cooling and heating. Ammonia has a GWP value of 0, meaning it is climate-neutral.

SLS's goal is to install a climate-neutral cooling system, where heat recovery is returned to the property in the form of heating and hot water. It is economical, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly, and based on proven technology.

SLS started the project planning in 2020, construction and manufacturing of refrigeration machines in the fall of 2021, installation phase in early 2022, and commissioning and handover will take place in 2023. The new logistics center outside Helsingborg covers an area of 44,000 square meters and, when completed, will house procurement, product development, processing, production, packaging, as well as storage and distribution.

It is the largest logistics facility that Skanska has developed in the Nordic region.

Greenfood can recycle more than 11,000,000 kWh per year

The refrigeration system designed, built, and installed by SLS is expected to yield fantastic results. The plant's cooling capacity is 3900 kW, sufficient to create ice in approximately 13 ice rinks. The heat recovery is a total of 1300 kW or 11,000,000 kWh per year. Of this, 300 kW will go to hot water (+60°C), 800 kW to the heating system (+50°C), and 200 kW are low-temperature (+23-30°C) and will be used for underfloor heating, floor heating, and preheating hot water.

In summary, the recovered heat would be enough to heat 550 houses of standard size (according to SCB).

"SLS has contributed to the project with great experience and expertise. This is my second project with SLS, and I am satisfied. They are cooperative, self-sufficient, and know what they are doing. With modern technology, communication has worked excellently even though we are in Helsingborg and they are in Norrköping. I feel confident in their company and would gladly work with them again," says Patrik Orvallius, Production Manager at Skanska Sweden.

"We are involved in the project from the construction and manufacturing of the cooling system to delivery, installation, and commissioning. My biggest challenge so far has been delivery times due to the pandemic. Sometimes we have had to rethink and find other solutions, and it has worked well. The collaboration with Skanska is constructive and smooth. We both want to move forward and help each other along the way. They are communicative and fundamentally have a good structure that makes this project successful," says Frida Lundgren, Project Manager at SLS.

SLS, part of the Nordic Climate Group, is Sweden's largest and most comprehensive manufacturer of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient refrigeration machines and heat pumps, both using ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) as refrigerants. Ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are two natural refrigerants that have in common being climate-neutral and have fantastic properties for energy transfer.