Case Study: Lineage Logistics
Star Refrigeration, the UK’s leading industrial refrigeration engineering company, has completed the manufacture and installation of two packaged refrigeration systems at a new cold store facility for Lineage Logistics at their new site in Great Haddon, near Peterborough, England. The project consists of 15,000 pallet spaces of frozen warehouse capacity, supporting Lineage’s plan for growth and the industry’s need for consolidation. Lineage is the largest, most innovative temperature-controlled logistics provider in the world, with over 1.4 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. The company boasts an infrastructure of 200 facilities in seven countries across North America, Europe and Asia. The Peterborough development has seen the installation of a 75,000m3 cold store plant with a refrigeration capacity of 600kW. Results from recent energy performance data analysis for the site indicate that the Azanefreezer 2.0’s annual energy usage is one-third of that of the UK’s “best practice” guidelines, meaning Lineage is set to cut carbon emission by 453 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to the UK’s best practice guidelines.
The solution has delivered a number of different advantages, with the biggest draws being its efficiency, affordability and lower running costs. The modular, packaged ammonia freezer system uses a low-pressure receiver design that is unique to Star Refrigeration. Its design reduces the system’s ammonia refrigerant charge by more than 80% when compared to traditional pumped recirculation systems. It is assembled at Star’s manufacturing facilities and tested prior to dispatch, which reduces onsite installation times and expenses. It doesn’t require a plant room, eliminating third-party costs by dispensing with the need for a significant amount of supporting infrastructure. What is more, the plant has been designed to have no flanged or mechanical joints within the cold store itself, meaning there are no potential leakage points inside the store. Instead, all valves and mechanical joints are positioned on the exterior of the unit, at heights which make them easily accessible from a maintenance perspective. Star has offered Lineage an affordable, robust industrial refrigeration solution that delivers high efficiency and meets all the customer’s needs while exceeding expectations with regard to improved evaporator, condenser power and surface area.
Jonathan Baker, Executive Director of Lineage Logistics in the UK, said: “Star Refrigeration was able to respond to the most stringent requests for quality and efficiency, The solution they provided exceeded the technical requirements specified to satisfy the facility’s cooling needs. We are impressed with the advantages offered by Star’s solution and the smooth delivery of the project.” The successful installation demonstrates Star Refrigeration’s ability to satisfy the most challenging criteria and meet the demands of the largest company in the cold chain sector. It is a testament to the company’s ability to adapt and evolve according to the customer’s requirements, highlighting the versatility of the low-charge ammonia refrigeration solution to fit a variety of projects of different sizes, including new builds and retrofits. Star Refrigeration has a working relationship with Lineage that has spanned several decades, having undertaken both new-builds and extension projects for the company in the past.