More than 1,850 attendees participated in the International Institute of All-Natural Refrigeration’s Natural Refrigeration Conference & Heavy Equipment Expo in Phoenix, Arizona. The event provided the latest information on industry issues, technical knowledge and networking and as well as an opportunity to see new equipment for those involved in the natural refrigeration industry.

Sharing Knowledge and Industry Insights

The meeting featured several opportunities to learn about the industry, including educational sessions, technical paper presentations, panel discussions, and product showcases. “We improved our educational sessions both in content and quantity,” said Gary Schrift, president of IIAR.

This year’s meeting had almost double the number of sessions as those of past conferences and featured six educational tracks that Schrift said were well received among attendees. Tracks covered system design, system safety, decarbonization, facility management, heat pumps and an introduction to refrigeration/natural refrigerant basics.

Industry experts presented in-depth technical papers and workshop sessions that cover critical industry issues, including safety, efficiency and new technology. Eric Smith, IIAR’s vice president and technical director, said Bill Gruelich’s technical paper presentation about emergency ventilation rates was intriguing. 

Currently, ANSI/IIAR 2 Standard for Design of Safe Closed-Circuit Ammonia Refrigeration Systems (IIAR 2021) requires machinery room emergency mechanical ventilation systems to provide no less than 30 air changes per hour based on the gross machinery room volume. When this emergency ventilation rate is in place, the National Electrical Code (NFPA 2023), adopted by reference IIAR-2, allows for an ‘adequate ventilation’ exemption for spaces under the electrical hazardous area classification. The IIAR standard also requires de-energization of specified electrical equipment in the room when ammonia is detected at 40,000 ppm, one-fourth of the lower flammable limit (LFL).

“This study presents an overview, with calculations, of a simple integral dispersion model applied to the identification of a potential gas volume resulting from the release of anhydrous ammonia (R-717) deemed so small that significant injury or damage is not expected from ignition, referred to as a volume of negligible extent, Vz,” Smith explained.

Gruelich’s study also examines issues of ventilation and accidental release theory to elucidate the larger picture of indoor ammonia refrigeration system releases. “This work is intended to support the development of global safety standards and safe, practical design solutions by presenting assessment results for ammonia release jet flammable volume extents and rates, as well as the associated adequate mechanical ventilation rates for several room mixing
efficiencies, to limit room background concentrations to one-fourth LFL,” Smith said. “These results may assist in re-evaluating current requirements and offer a potential requirement format that comprehensively considers the specifics of ammonia and the size of machinery rooms.”

In addition to educational sessions, attendees could see some of the latest equipment available in the industry. IIAR’s annual conference now includes a heavy equipment expo each year, and 150 exhibitors showcased equipment during this year’s event.

Covering Critical Issues

As with any change in executive administrations, there are many uncertainties that accompany the change, and the conference provided an opportunity to review critical industry issues.

“The most prevalent issues that concern industrial refrigeration are potential changes to the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP),” Smith said. “Going back about a decade, the EPA, at the direction of the Obama administration, began making changes to the RMP rules as a reaction to the disaster at the West Texas fertilizer facility in 2013.”

Many of these rule changes were discarded during the first Trump administration. “When the Biden administration took over, some were reinstated, and now, with a second Trump administration, there is a possibility that we may see yet another swing,” Smith said.

A similar oscillation may occur regarding the AIM Act—legislation that gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to limit high global warming refrigerants. “At the conference, there was a fair amount of speculation that EPA’s initiatives on regulating high GWP refrigerants will hold because synthetic refrigerant manufacturers support the change, even though it will require new investment by synthetic system owners at some point,” Smith said.

Promoting Partnerships

IIAR signed two memorandums of understanding—MoUs—during the meeting. Eurammon and IIAR renewed their MoU, reinforcubg their ongoing collaboration to support the global adoption of natural refrigerants. With the renewed MoU, eurammon and IIAR plan to expand their cooperation through coordinated activities. These will include knowledge sharing, advocacy efforts, and joint initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pump technologies.
The two organizations have a long-standing partnership and see the MoU as a framework to drive forward the use of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient refrigerants. Eurammon stated that it is looking forward to continuing its close cooperation with IIAR in the years ahead. Schrift added that Eurammon just changed their secretariat—the company that was doing the administrative work for their organization. “With the framework of this new MoU and the help of a new secretariat, we have already begun detailed discussions on some concrete joint initiatives of sharing each group’s informational materials, which will assist IIAR in expanding our recognition in Europe,” he said.

The other MoU was with Atmosphere. Schrift said it put several initiatives that were already
place in writing, including inviting each other to respective conferences with free booths and free registration. “It also sets the stage for future collaboration,” Schrift said.

Building a Network

The 2025 conference welcomed students and provided opportunities for university and technical college students to engage with industry leaders and learn more about career paths in natural refrigeration. All NRF Scholarship recipients and student attendees were able to attend the full event, free of charge.

There were several networking events that provided an opportunity for attendees to get to know each other and build their network. Additionally, the IIAR Connection Center was a key place for attendees to come together to discuss and collaborate on critical industry issues.