R744 Heating & Cooling Solutions for Thriving Now. And Forever.

Coolshift™ Heat Pump Solutions for Commercial, Industrial, Recreational, or District Energy Applications

Let's build an R744 heat pump that does exactly what you need, in the most efficient way possible.

For cooling or heating loads from 100 kW to MW-scale, Vitalis can supply a solution based on your specific application needs and project requirements. A wide range of configurations is possible thanks to the flexibility of our core Coolshift™ technologies and control systems.

We are the original equipment manufacturer (including vessels and pumps). We are also process experts, which allows for advanced customization.

All Coolshift™ heat pumps include a SCADA system for easy integration with industrial control platforms/building automation systems as well as continual process optimization for ultimate efficiency.

Applications:

• Recreational facility heating & cooling

• Community thermal network

• District energy loops

• Building thermal loops

• Industrial heat reclaim and transfer

• Geothermal heat pumps

• Commercial heat pumps

• Commercial refrigeration and cold storage

• Industrial cooling and freezing

• Blast freezing

• Freeze drying

• Pumped R744 cooling systems

• Pumped R744 freezing systems

Why R744 (CO2) heat pumps?

Carbon dioxide (CO2) heat pumps provide efficient heating and refrigeration options in one system. Properly designed and integrated applications can perform with COPs (coefficients of performance) much higher than synthetic-refrigerant systems. For every kilowatt of electrical energy put into the system, a Coolshift™ system can provide up to 12 times the amount of useful energy as heat or cooling.

Plus, R744 heat pumps don’t come with the environmental and health risks associated with conventional systems that use synthetic refrigerants, natural gas, or all-electric heating. 

As a refrigerant, R744 offers:

• Zero ozone depletion potential

• Low global warming potential

• No toxicity

• No flammability

• No corrosiveness

• No risk of regulatory bans

• Economical recharges

• High thermal conductivity

• Excellent flow and heat transfer performance

R744 heat pumps can be built and configured for a wide variety of commercial, industrial, and community applications like:

• Swimming pool heating

• Ice rink climate control

• Industrial process chilling and heating (such as in brewery or winery operations)

• District energy sharing systems (such as for residential developments or university campuses)

• Commercial cold storage

• Large residential space heating and cooling

• Shared residential hot water

• Data center climate control

• Blast freezing

• Freeze drying

Reduce potential health threats posed by synthetic refrigerant emissions

Some newer synthetic refrigerants, such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), are marketed as having low GWP values. For instance, HFO-1234yf has a 20-year GWP of 1 (the same as CO2). However, the production of HFOs results in significant greenhouse gas emissions. And when it comes to man-made refrigerants, GWP isn't the only major issue of concern.

In the atmosphere, HFOs can fully degrade to trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) due to photooxidation caused by sunlight. HFCs can also break down, partially, into TFA. That TFA then falls to the surface through precipitation and accumulates in water and soil, including sources of drinking water. TFA doesn't easily break down in the environment and may be impossible to remove once there.

We don't know all the long-term effects of TFA on ecosystems and human health at this time. However, TFA meets the OECD's definition of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are a group of human-made "forever chemicals" it has designated as posing concerns for the environment and human health (including cancer risks).

Canada's draft report on PFAS chemicals uses the OECD definition of PFAS, which could lead to designating the substances "toxic," following the path of other nations as well as some U.S. states. As Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said, "Only diamonds should be forever, not human-made substances that are polluting our environment." 

So the use of HFOs and "low-GWP" HFCs as replacement refrigerants is a major gamble. HFOs and TFA threaten our future.

Should we trust the reassurances of the F-gas industry? It's the same industry responsible for past denials about ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs) as well as toxic PFAS chemicals.

In the U.S., the EPA has proposed new regulations for PFAS in drinking water. And European countries are proposing extensive PFAS bans.

Let's not trade one crisis for another.

R744 and other natural refrigerants allow us to safely bypass these risks altogether. No gambling required.

Simplify and reduce your operating costs

R744 heat pump systems provide the flexibility to combine cooling and heating technologies in a way that saves space and maximizes efficiencies. You can replace multiple pieces of stand-alone equipment—like conventional chillers, boilers, and heaters—with a single R744 heat pump. Using the cooling and heating production of one R744 system empowers you to achieve major cost savings (in both energy and refrigerant recharges).

As the phase-down of F-gases progresses, the cost of recharging a system with synthetic refrigerants is rising exponentially. Even newer synthetics—like HFOs that aren't yet banned—tend to be much more expensive than R744 or other natural refrigerants. With HFC bans and phase-downs already taking hold, companies and communities should expect the prices of synthetic refrigerants to increase with greater frequency.

R744 systems help protect you from rising energy and refrigerant costs.

Why Vitalis?

Our mastery of application engineering serves as a foundation for our ability to develop innovative systems that take advantage of carbon dioxide's unique properties. That proficiency is validated in closed-loop Vitalis systems that:

• Use CO2 for the extraction of natural ingredients from biomass

• Employ CO2 as a heat transfer fluid (HTF)

• Utilize CO2 as a natural refrigerant

• Recover and recycle CO2 for repeated use

As a vertically integrated original equipment manufacturer (OEM), we manufacture all major components. And we leverage our wealth of R&D, design, engineering, production, and support experience to deliver reliable and responsible solutions across multiple industries. 

A clean world is possible, and business will help take us there. We're committing our proven expertise in CO2 handling to the cause of collective resilience and thriving. Vitalis technologies help sustain the lives of companies and communities as we co-create a decarbonized and detoxified future for all.