Harnessing the Cooling Power of Water Evaporation
The CleanCold Technologies process is based on atomizing water droplets into an aluminum cylinder housed in a vacuum chamber that undergoes vacuum induced vaporization driving cooling of the cylinder. This cooled cylinder sits within the system’s water based cooling circuit which transfers cooling to the desired space such as a commercial cold room or refrigerator. Unlike other natural refrigerants, our patented technology design fully supports retrofitting of commercial refrigeration systems, is non-toxic and has a global warming potential (GWP) of zero. The elimination of GWP refrigerants has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the refrigeration industry. CleanCold’s technology not only has a GWP of zero, but its technology also eliminates the safety hazards of traditional refrigerants such as HFCs, HCs, as well the potential health safety issues that arise from natural substance refrigerants such as ammonia, CO2, butane, isobutane or propane.
CleanCold’s Innovative Cooling System
CleanCold Technologies has developed a new cooling and refrigeration process based on vacuum-driven evaporation of water (US Patent 11,779,488). The process involves atomizing water droplets into an aluminum cylinder, vaporizing them to remove and thus cool the cylinder. Water is used in the refrigeration circuit and is cooled by transferring heat from the water to the cylinder. Subsequently the cooled water circulates to a cold storage structure where heat is moved back to the water thus cooling the cold storage area. The temperature of the cylinder and cold storage area is monitored to provide feedback to the control system. CleanCold has constructed a functional Proof-of-Concept unit in our Massachusetts facility which provided insights into the design and build of a Small Scale Prototype. The prototype will be utilized to confirm operational parameters for Pre-Production Units.
Commercial Opportunity
The development of a non-hydrofluorocarbon/hydrocarbon based (HFC/HC) refrigeration/cooling system with zero global warming potential is essential in today’s fight against climate change. HFC/HC refrigerants are high GWP gases (with typical GWP values over 1,000) that contribute at least 30% of greenhouse gases that drive global warming. The US EPA has initiated a phasedown of these HFCs over the next decade. However, low-GWP cooling systems currently in the market primarily use carbon dioxide or ammonia for their refrigerants. These gases have safety concerns and require complex piping making such systems impossible for use in retrofitting current cooling systems without major cooling system revisions. CleanCold’s natural refrigerant process offers high cooling performance without safety issues and can be used in new installations or retrofits. With the commercial and industrial cooling & refrigeration markets estimated to be worth $45.5 billion and $119.8 billion, respectively, the revenue potential for systems employing the CleanCold process is significant given its efficient refrigeration process and zero GWP refrigerant.