The Chemours Company (Chemours) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in Titanium Technologies, Thermal & Specialized Solutions, Advanced Performance Materials, and Chemical Solutions, was recently recognized for its donation to an innovative, sustainable refrigeration system installed in Gem City Market – a newly opened community co-op that supports the elimination of a food desert in downtown Dayton, Ohio.
Food deserts are defined as regions with a 20% or greater poverty rate and where a third or more of the residents live more than one mile from retail outlets selling healthy and affordable food. As part of the system architecture designed by Emerson at the Helix Innovation Center and built by Hussmann, Opteon™ XP10 (R-513A) was chosen as the refrigerant solution providing the best overall balance of performance, efficiency, safety, and cost.
Gem City Market was built, and is owned by, the Dayton community with member-owners and loyal customers being vital to the market’s success. Chemours, Emerson and Hussmann donated the refrigeration equipment as part of a collaborative effort to offer a sustainable solution for the community.
Opteon™ XP10 (R-513A) is a sustainable, low global warming potential (GWP), non-ozone depleting (ODP) refrigerant offering long-term environment benefits and system improvements over other refrigerant options such as R-404A, CO2(R-744), hydrocarbons, and R-134a. The non-flammable, low toxicity refrigerant has unique thermodynamic properties enabling high energy efficiency for both low (frozen food) and medium (produce, dairy, meat) temperature applications.
“The opportunity to support the Gem City Market co-op is a great example of our commitment to help address the issues affecting low income communities around the nation, while offering solutions that help reduce carbon emissions,” stated Joseph Martinko, Sr. Business Director, Americas, Thermal & Specialized Solutions
The store will utilize an innovative system architecture developed by Emerson known as the Copeland scroll booster. Donations to Gem City Market included assembly components and ten, low temperature booster systems from Emerson, an assembled refrigeration system from Hussmann, and low-GWP (AR4 631), Opteon™ XP10 refrigerant from Chemours.
Utilizing a single, low-GWP refrigerant throughout the entire store helps maintain a simple and more cost-effective system over its lifetime. Opteon™ XP10 offers an 85% reduction in GWP compared to R-404A, a legacy refrigerant that would typically be used for a food retail application like this.
“Eliminating food deserts and ensuring everyone has access to fresh high-quality food is a basic human right. Partnerships with companies like Emerson and Hussmann allow us to not only support the community but grant access to next generation technologies that will help the Gem City Market remain compliant and minimize operating costs long term,” said Charles Allgood, Refrigerants Technology Leader at Chemours.
Opteon™ XP10 offers an environmentally and economically sustainable solution for this new state-of-the-art architecture from Emerson and Hussmann enabling a highly efficient refrigeration system for Gem City Market. The reduced energy usage will pay dividends for decades to come in the form of lower electrical bills, which can represent a large percentage of a store’s overall operating costs.
