Food Lion Opens Store With CO2 Refrigeration System

MICHAEL GARRY

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., is opening a store here today that is the chain’s first—and the second in the U.S.—to use a carbon dioxide-based cascade refrigeration system.

The system, provided by Kysor Warren, Columbus, Ga., will service both low-temperature and medium- temperature cases. The system is designed to limit the usage of HFC refrigerant, which is a potent greenhouse gas; the store here will utilizes about 450 pounds of HFC refrigerant R-507, far less than in conventional DX systems.

Food Lion also runs secondary loop systems in two Virginia stores that use CO2 as a secondary refrigerant, and plans to open a second store with a cascade system in December in Columbia, S.C.; those systems are from Hill Phoenix, Conyers, Ga. With a back-up generator, the cascade system is running about $300,000 higher than a conventional system, said Wayne Rosa, energy & maintenance manager for Food Lion, but he expects the cascade system to offset its higher cost by yielding a significant energy savings compared to conventional and even secondary systems.

“We’re hoping it uses less energy than the low-temperature secondary-loop systems,” which have been found to consume up to 3% less than a conventional system.

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