TABLE OF CONTENTS - Everything R744

In addition to its use in air conditioning, ammonia
refrigeration packages are also employed in gold mine
operations to condense and recover mercury vapor.
Winter sports
CO 2
: 2011 saw the installation of the world’s first 100%
CO 2
ice rink in the Marcel Dutil Arena of the town of
Les Coteaux, Québec. The company’s “Eco-2-System”
uses only CO 2
, replacing the use of both HCFC-22 and
ammonia, in a transcritical refrigeration cycle.
SPECIAL APPLICATIONS: BIOSPHERE
NH 3
/ H 2
O: Biosphere 2, constructed in 1991, is a unique
3.13 acre (1.27 ha) environmental research facility in
Oracle, Arizona. Designed to explore the complex
interactions within life systems, the almost airtight
structure houses different ecological systems. Two
mechanical ammonia chillers and one lithium bromide
chiller provide cooling to help maintain varying
temperatures in six biomes.
NH 3
: In the Utah Olympic Park, ammonia is used to
refrigerate the bobsled track over the winter months.
The Olympic Sports Complex in Lake Placid, USA,
whose track is nearly one mile long, is refrigerated using
ammonia. The pipes running throughout the track are
constantly pumped with ammonia, allowing them to
regulate the temperature of the concrete upon which the
track’s ice rests. The ammonia is stored in a refrigeration
plant, located on the premises. The temperature of the
ammonia can be raised and lowered, depending on the
weather, to ensure that the approximately inch and a half
thick ice sheet remains smooth.
28
The Vancouver Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
also featured an ammonia cooled bobsled track, in which
the heat waste from the refrigeration plant was captured
and reused.
Many ice rinks in the US and Canada rely on ammonia
refrigeration. In Montreal, ammonia-based systems are
being used to replace existing HCFC systems. In the US,
ammonia was used to create a temporary ice rink for the
National Hockey League in January 2009, at the National
Wrigley Field Stadium in Chicago.