The Natural Refrigeration Review is a quarterly publication that contains technical articles, regulatory and code updates, industry news and information about IIAR activities and publications. It is distributed by email to all IIAR Members and IIAR Contact lists.
SPRING 2026 NATURAL REFRIGERATION REVIEW
The Natural Refrigeration Review issues are available as a PDF downloads for both lIAR Members and Non-members, or as individual article posts below. Click the button below to view the full issue, or scroll through all the individual issue articles below.
IIAR Board of Directors
Bob Port, Lead Mechanical Engineer, Target, Co. has been elected to IIAR’s Executive Committee where he will serve as treasurer.
Read MoreSight Glass Taskforce Update
In other sections of this magazine, we’ve highlighted IIAR’s role as a standard setting organization and as an association that acts as the voice of the industrial refrigeration industry.
Read MoreARF Safety Relief Research Project
Pressure relief valves are engineered safety devices intended to protect pressure vessels and other pressurecontaining equipment from catastrophic failure as a result of excessive pressure excursions that may occur during operation or standby conditions.
Read MoreAmmonia Safety Alert: Transferring Ammonia
There are risks involved whenever anhydrous ammonia is transferred to or from an industrial refrigeration system.
Read MoreNew Ventilation Requirements for Machinery Rooms
Standard ANSI/IIAR 2-2008 is being updated soon. As most readers are aware, IIAR 2 is the ANSI/IIAR standard for equipment, design and installation for closed circuit ammonia refrigeration systems.
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2026 Tech Paper: Reducing Peak Energy Use with Adaptive Parabolic Control Algorithm in Your Refrigeration Loop
The Adaptive Parabolic Control Algorithm (APCA) is a PID replacement algorithm that performs well with nonlinear level controllers, noisy level indicators, and systems that require a rapid response to load changes but a slower response for unit optimization. The APCA reduced compressor amp standa...
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2026 Tech Paper: CO2 Heat Pumps: Main Differences from Refrigeration Systems and Real-World Applications
CO2 has gained significant momentum in the North American refrigeration and heat pump industry in recent years, particularly in transcritical applications. Even though CO2 refrigeration technology is already fully mature in terms of component availability, control strategies, and best practices, ...
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2026 White Paper: Superheat Control in Transcritical CO2 Systems: Addressing the Challenges During Part-Load and Full-Load Operations
CO2 has become a mainstream solution for numerous applications, including industrial and commercial refrigeration, heat pumps, and winter sport venues. Across all these applications, effective superheat control plays a key role in system efficiency and compressor reliability. Superheat varies sig...
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2026 Tech Paper: R-744 Heat Pumps with Ejectors: Key Performance Indicators and Control Strategies
This study experimentally investigates the use of ejectors in transcritical R-744 water-to-water heat pump systems, focusing on adjustable-nozzle control strategies to enhance energy efficiency and operational stability. Although R-744 systems offer several environmental and thermodynamic benefit...
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2026 Tech Paper: The Reverse Piston Design: Taking the Load Off High-Pressure Refrigeration and Sustainability Challenges
The industrial refrigeration and heating industries are increasingly affected by the transition to low–global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants and decarbonization initiatives. Consequently, industrial refrigeration and heating applications now often require high suction pressures due to their...
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2026 White Paper: Key Strategies to Maintain Food Manufacturing Operations During Facility Retrofits
This paper examines the growing demand for retrofitting in the food and beverage industry, driven by the introduction of new products to the market, regulatory shifts, sustainability goals, and operational modernization. It identifies the key challenges of retrofitting an active production facili...
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2026 White Paper: Forklift Safety in Refrigerated Facilities
Technological innovations have occurred in the movement of palletized goods into, out of, and within refrigerated facilities. Much recent attention has been on technologies such as AGVs (automated guided vehicles), automated pallet shuttles, high-density vertical storage...
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2026 White Paper: Absorbing the Future: Innovative Waste Heat Recovery for F&B and Data Center Cooling
The food and beverage industry is extremely energy-intensive, and there is significant potential in the waste thermal energy generated by its processes. This energy can be utilized to drive lithium bromide water absorption chillers, capable of producing low-temperature leaving evaporator fluids a...
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2026 White Paper: CO2 as a Refrigerant: A Reemerging Opportunity for U.S. HVAC Applications
The CO2 (R744) Simultaneous Chiller Heat Pump integrates cooling, heating, and domestic hot water production into a single, modular system using CO2, a natural refrigerant with an ozone depletion potential of 0 and a global warming potential of 1. By employing parallel VFD-driven compressors (20–...
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2026 White Paper: Vibration Failure Risk of Piping and Tubing
All compressors produce some vibration in the connected pipe and tubing, but how much is too much? Excessive vibration can lead to unexpected leaks that can cause hazardous situations and loss of cooling. In many food applications, loss of cooling results in significant product loss in addition ...
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2026 White Paper: Enhancing CO2 Refrigeration Reliability: The Role of 90-bar Evaporators in a Low-GWP Future
Carbon dioxide (CO2) has emerged as a leading natural refrigerant in commercial refrigeration applications due to its ultra-low global warming potential (GWP of 1), energy efficiency, and alignment with global regulatory phase-down mandates. However, system reliability, charge preservation due to...
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2026 White Paper: 2026 White Paper: Evaporators: Why Material Matters
The selection of materials in finned evaporator construction plays a critical role in determining the performance, durability, and overall efficiency of refrigeration systems. This white paper examines the importance of selecting the appropriate material for the construction of finned heat exchan...
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2025 Tech Paper: Decarbonizing With District Energy Systems: When an R744 (CO2) Heat Pump Is the Obvious Choice
R744 (CO2) industrial air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) can serve as cost-effective and scalable alternatives to conventional heating and cooling systems. Leveraging the unique thermodynamic properties of CO2, a natural refrigerant, these systems deliver high efficiency and flexibility for certain te...
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2025 Tech Paper: Measurement Device Platform Designed for the Performance Assessment of Low-Temperature Blast Freezing Systems
Air blast freezing systems are among the most widely used technologies for rapidly freezing both packaged and unpackaged foodstuffs. In many food processing facilities, freezing is a bottleneck in the continuous flow production, and thus techniques to assess and improve their thermal performance ...
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2025 Tech Paper: Sustainable Solutions for Agricultural Cold Storage: A Case Study
This paper explores the potential of integrating CO2 refrigeration systems with energy savings alternatives to maximize sustainability and energy efficiency in agricultural cold storage facilities. With growing concerns over environmental impact and energy consumption, the adoption of ecofriendly...
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