Sprouts Boosts Refrigeration Efficiency With New System

Sprouts Farmers Market has installed the first CO² booster system with ejector technology in North America at its Woodstock, Ga., store.

Manufactured by Conyers, Ga.-based commercial refrigeration company Hillphoenix, the technology, combined with parallel compression technology, can boost efficiencies and yield substantial savings in warmer climates. Testing in Hillphoenix's Conyers, Ga., lab revealed that while parallel compression alone increased peak energy efficiency of a standard booster system by 8 percent, using a Danfoss ejector configured as a gas ejector with parallel compression in the same test system increased peak savings to 11.3 percent when operated under nonoptimized conditions.

“When the system has been optimized – as revealed in tests carried out by our Advansor operation in Europe – savings for parallel compression alone and parallel compression combined with gas ejector technology can achieve peak energy reductions of 15 percent and 23 percent, respectively,” said Jeff Newel, director of refrigeration systems R&D at Hillphoenix.

Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market employs more than 25,000 team members and operates more than 260 stores in 15 states coast to coast.