By Eamonn Ryan
Turning cold storage waste heat into circular energy.
Cold storage and food processing facilities have long been defined by high electricity demand and heavy refrigeration loads. But a structural shift is underway. Increasingly, these facilities are being redesigned not just as energy consumers – but as energy recovery hubs.
On the Apple podcast, From The Cold Corner platform, Michael Levitt spoke with Marc Gieseking of Güntner about how industrial heat pumps and natural refrigerants are reshaping energy strategy across the cold chain. Their discussion highlights a broader transition: moving from linear energy consumption to circular energy systems built around heat recovery and integration.
At the centre of this evolution are natural refrigerants and the ability to convert waste heat into working energy.
The rise of natural refrigerants in industrial heat pumps
As global warming potential (GWP) regulations tighten, refrigerant selection has become a strategic investment decision rather than a technical afterthought.
Natural refrigerants in heat pumps – particularly CO₂ and ammonia – are now dominant in many industrial-scale installations.
CO₂ industrial heat pump systems offer:
- GWP of 1
- Strong regulatory alignment
- Expanding capacity ranges (exceeding 15MW in some markets)
- Ammonia heat pump systems remain widely used in large industrial applications due to:
- Excellent thermodynamic efficiency
- Scalability for very high capacities
- Established industrial expertise
- In several European markets, including Denmark, glycol-based refrigeration systems have increasingly been replaced by CO₂ and ammonia solutions. The transition reflects regulatory drivers – but also growing operator confidence in system reliability and performance.
Still, refrigerant choice is never universal. Factors influencing selection include:
- Required output temperature
- System size
- Local safety codes
- Site-specific regulations
- Available technical expertise
Industrial heat pump design requires comparison of multiple configurations before final selection.
Heat recovery in cold storage: from waste to resource
Cold storage facilities inherently generate large quantities of heat during refrigeration cycles. Historically, that energy was rejected to ambient air through dry coolers – effectively discarded.
Heat recovery in cold storage changes the equation.
Industrial heat pumps can capture low-grade waste heat from refrigeration systems and upgrade it into usable thermal energy for:
- Cleaning-in-place (CIP) systems
- Sanitation processes
- Process water heating
- Space heating
Instead of running a gas boiler while simultaneously rejecting refrigeration heat, operators can create a closed-loop system that improves total plant efficiency.
The concept is straightforward: reuse the heat already generated within the process.
For breweries, dairy facilities, meat processors and frozen food plants, this circular energy model reduces fossil fuel use, improves energy intensity metrics and supports corporate carbon reduction commitments.
Circular energy systems in the cold chain
The broader implication is structural.
Rather than operating as isolated refrigeration plants, cold storage facilities can become integrated thermal ecosystems. Cooling and heating are no longer separate systems – they are interdependent flows within a circular energy framework.
Industrial heat pumps, paired with natural refrigerants, form the backbone of this transformation.