EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is planning a test of self-contained coffin freezer cases each using just 4.5 ounces of propane gas as the refrigerant, in a store expected to open in June.
Fresh & Easy, which operates 160 small-format stores, has since 2009 deployed self-contained coffin freezer cases (from AHT Cooling Systems, an Austrian company with US offices in Hanahan, S.C.) throughout the chain. Separated from the main refrigeration system, these horizontal plug-in cases function like home refrigerators, each employing only about nine ounces of refrigerant (R404A); they gain energy efficiencies by using sliding doors. Most Fresh & Easy stores have five of them. The propane test will also involve cases from AHT Cooling Systems.
Propane is reported to be more energy-efficient than refrigerants such as R-22, and has a global warming potential – the impact on global warming compared to carbon dioxide -- of only three, compared with R404A’s GWP of 3,500. And propane is only $2 per pound, vs. $10 per pound for R404A.
Though flammable, the total amount of propane used in five coffin cases – 22.5 ounces – represents no real danger in retail stores, said Steve Hagen, national director of procurement and engineering, Fresh & Easy. However, because of its flammability, additional steps must be taken in design, labeling, testing, and training, compared to refrigerants currently used in retail food refrigeration, noted said Margaret Sheppard, environmental scientist in the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Stratospheric Protection Division, Washington.
Last May, EPA proposed a rule to make propane acceptable under the SNAP program and a final rule, expected later this year, could increase the use of hydrocarbon appliances in the U.S., she noted. Given final EPA approval, Fresh & Easy could eventually use self-contained propane coffin cases in all new stores, Hagen said
