Future of HVAC in India is bright, says Magneto Clean Tech

New Delhi, India, 18 June 2019: The HVAC industry in India has immense potential but is heavily dependent on the economic activity around the building industry, said Himanshu Agarwal, CEO, and Founder, Magneto Clean Tech, while providing an overview on the HVAC market in India. In the last few years, heavy debt has propelled the industry to undergo a restructuring, which has led to excessive competition and a price war, he said. From a broad perspective, Agarwal said, air pollution in India is high and the awareness regarding the bad air quality is a subject that is given more attention every day. This he said, will lead to high demand for air systems.

Elaborating on Magneto Clean Tech, a New Delhi-based HVAC company, Agarwal said: “Magneto Clean Tech invents and popularises clean air technology for developing nations. We focus on making clean air accessible to everyone, whether in homes, in the office or in buildings.” By pushing the limits of engineering, he said, we are able to build the highest quality of products that exhibit performance. While providing an overview of the work done in the year 2018, he said, we delivered clean air to a total area of 2.5 million square feet. “The year 2019, Agarwal said, looks bright as the company’s projected growth rate is over 100%.

Magneto Clean Tech’s products, he said, have energy-saving benefits due to a very low-pressure drop in the air conditioner. They clean the air holistically, removing dust, micro-organisms and even harmful gases, he said. “We have successfully commercialised a proprietary way of purifying indoor air that is fundamentally superior to current methods,” he said. In addition, Agarwal highlighted that the company has a diverse range of air-purification products that deals with PM 2.5, along with infection control, which as a technology, is being received with an overwhelmingly positive response from users.

Single- and two-phase secondary refrigerants have much to contribute to sustainable cooling, says academic

Uttar Pradesh, India, 14 April 2019: Single-phase and two-phase secondary refrigerants have much to contribute to sustainable cooling, said Dr Jahar Sarkar, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi. Explaining in brief about the concept, he said, “Secondary refrigerants are heat-transfer fluids and are used for sub-ambient temperature cooling applications, which involve the transfer of heat from a conditioned space to the evaporator of the refrigeration system.” Elaborating, he said, as the working pressure is high within the refrigeration system, there is a chance that the primary refrigerant may leak with long-route evaporator applications. “To avoid the leakage,” he added, “the secondary refrigeration loop is used for a multiple cabinet cooling application.” The single-phase secondary refrigerant consists of an anti-freeze solution, corrosion inhibitor, and biocides, which generally remains in the liquid phase through the loop, whereas the two-phase secondary refrigerants take advantage of the high latent heat during the phase change process in the loop, turning it from liquid to solid to the gaseous state, he said.

Highlighting the extent to which secondary refrigerants such as single-phase and two-phase fluids are used in India, Sarkar added, “Single-phase fluids, such as water-based brines (aqueous fluid), containing glycols (e.g. ethylene and propylene glycols) or salts (e.g. magnesium and calcium chlorides) are widely used in many industries, including ice plant, food processing plant and in supermarkets.” However, non-aqueous single-phase fluids, he said, are also available in the international market.

India in top three fastest-growing District Cooling markets, says Engie

Dubai, UAE, 6 March 2019: India is in the top three fastest-growing District Cooling (DC) markets in the Asia Pacific region, said Frederic Claux, Head of Assets, Engie MESCAT and board member, Tabreed, highlighting the country’s position as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with 7-8% GDP annual growth forecast in the short-to-medium term. This he said, is largely owing to the rapid growth of real estate, creation of Smart and Green cities, increased purchasing power and ambitious plans for new developments.

Additionally, Claux said, the move to integrate energy efficiency as a core strategy in India’s development demonstrates the public sector’s commitment to address climate change and electricity disruption. He said: “Government stability and different measures taken to promote and enable energy-efficient solutions creates a positive context for the development of DC. Moreover UNEP, with whom Engie has established a close cooperation, is deeply involved in the promotion of DC, in the framework of the District Energy in Cities Initiative, in India.”

To underscore the growing acceptance of District Cooling in India, Claux pointed to the Amaravati District Cooling project, which, according to Engie, is Tabreed’s first project outside the GCC region and the first District Cooling project developed in PPP in India. The agreement between Tabreed and the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) is for a total capacity of 20,000 tonnes of refrigeration (TR) for over an area of one square km for government buildings. “In parallel with the great success of the Amaravati Capital City DC project that Tabreed has been awarded,” Claux said, “we are exploring a few other opportunities around the Mumbai area and in other areas in the Western regions. The potential for development of DC projects is very promising across the country.”

District Cooling, Claux stressed, is the backbone of smarter and sustainable cities and a way to improve resilience, pointing out that it is up to 50% more efficient than conventional stand-alone air conditioning solutions and produces 50% lower CO₂ emissions, allowing for more efficient integration with locally available renewable resources for cooling production. He said, “The new energy world is characterised by decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation, with modern District Energy systems at the heart of the energy revolution.”

Claux said, “Engie, together with its partners in different parts of the world, like Mubadala and Tabreed in the GCC region, believes that District Cooling will create tremendous value for customers and stakeholders and has identified it as a rapidly developing growth sector, which is significantly contributing to Engie’s transformation.” He added that with more than 1.3 million TR installed, and with the acquisition of 40% of Tabreed, “Engie has become the world’s independent leader in District Cooling”.

 

Food cold chain driving India’s refrigeration sector

Pune, India, 28 March 2019: The overall trend and future of the market of the Indian HVACR industry is very positive, said Arvind Surange, CMD, ACR Project Consultants, adding that the food cold chain has been the major driving force for the refrigeration industry and cold chain sector. “This is due to the fact that India is a major producer of perishable foods,” he said, sharing that India ranks No. 1 in milk production, No. 2 in fruits and vegetables production and is again one of top-ranking countries for meat, poultry and fisheries products. “The overall perishable food production in India is over 400 million metric tonnes (MMT),” he added.

Surange shared that current demand estimates show that the potential for growth in the cold storage capacity is about 10%. “However, in the food processing segment, there is a vast potential for the growth of the industry, as the current food processing capacity is less than six per cent of the production,” he said. Surange added that other applications of refrigeration showing great potential for growth include pharmaceutical and bulk drugs industry, beverages industry and the entertainment sector.