The paper summarizes the developments initiated by Thermo King on cryogenic solutions over the last 15 years which reduce the carbon footprint of refrigerated vehicle fleets. The concept is based on the use of liquid CO_2 (R-744) to provide refrigeration effect in an open cycle system thus avoiding the need to use fossil fuels. CO_2 is available in massive quantities as a by-product of various industrial processes such as fertilizer and chemical production. The comparative impact of an open cycle CO_2 based cryogenic solution versus conventional diesel driven refrigeration units as well as nitrogen based solutions is also discussed. An analysis of the actual refrigerant consumption, and thus carbon footprint emission between the cryogenic refrigerated vehicle fleet and a diesel driven refrigerated vehicle fleet, based on a typical life of the units (such as 10 years), will be also presented.
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