Refrigerated Trucks and Warehouses

Transport Refrigeration

The mobile refrigeration industry includes over-the-road semi-tractor refrigerated trailers, local refrigerated trucks, refrigerated rail cars and refrigerated shipping containers. For the purposes of this summary, only the over-the-road semi-tractor refrigerated trailers will be reviewed, as independent testing results are available for this branch of transport refrigeration. There are currently Five Hundred Thousand [500,000] over-the-road semi-tractor refrigerated trailers [reefers] in service in the United States. Reefer units are cooled with a refrigerated unit powered by diesel fuel. Independent tests done on reefer units treated with Cold-Plus® showed a decrease in fuel consumption between 8% and 18%. Depending on the price of diesel fuel and hours of service, this one-time treatment will provide fuel savings to a refrigerated trucking company of $1,500 to $3,500 per refrigerated trailer – annually. The average payback time to a refrigerated trucking company is six to nine months. Whether the refrigerated products move by road, rail or marine, Cold-Plus™ can improve fuel efficiency and increase compressor and unit life. 

Treating a refrigeration compressor with Cold-Plus™ will:

· Permanently remove the oil fouling that reduces heat transfer.

· Increase refrigerant flow which increases efficiency.

· Reduce friction in the compressor, which reduces noise & wear and extends life of compressor.

· Reach set points faster with improved heat transfer.

· Reduce compressor run time, thereby reducing the amount of fuel required.

· Reduce carbon emissions.

For each gallon of diesel fuel burned, 22.38 pounds of CO2 are produced [U.S. Energy Information Administration]. Mobile refrigeration units consume .75 to 1.0 gallons of diesel fuel per hour of operation, depending on the age of the unit. Using .875 gallons per hour as an average, and assuming 3,000 hours of run time yearly, annual diesel consumption is 2,625 gallons, which generates 58,748 pounds of CO2 - per refrigerated trailer. 

· A single mobile refrigerated trailer produces nearly 30 tons of CO2 annually!

Test results show an increase in fuel efficiency of 8% to 18%, which will produces a reduction in CO2 emissions of 2 ½ to 5 tons per year, per refrigerated trailer. Older and less sophisticated units will be at the high end of both fuel savings and carbon emission reductions, while newer more sophisticated units will perform at the low end. In either scenario, the installed cost of Cold-Plus® is normally recouped within 12 months, and in many instances the ROI is 1,000%, depending on the age of the refrigeration unit.

Installation is simple and takes an average of 15 minutes per compressor.