Ammonia is an environmentally friendly refrigerant

At the end of the outgoing century, a significant date remained unnoticed - the 250th anniversary of the discovery of ammonia. Ammonia began to be used as a refrigerant in 1859, when F. Carré patented an absorption water-ammonia refrigeration machine. In 1872, David Boyle received a patent for the design of an ammonia compressor. The development of the ammonia compressor industry, however, is more associated with the name of Karl Linde. In 1876, his first ammonia compressor appeared, which worked in Trieste until 1908. By this period, ammonia was already widely used in the technique of artificial cold. Thus, out of 57 refrigerated ships that transported meat by sea to the UK, 14 used air refrigeration machines, 27 - carbon dioxide and 16 - ammonia.
In Russia, stationary refrigeration machines for industrial use began to be produced by the Felzer factories in Riga and Franz Krull in Reval. The Felzer plant in 1898 mastered the production of ammonia and carbon dioxide refrigeration machines. Since 1904, the Krull plant has been producing absorption refrigeration machines, and then switched to the production of ammonia and carbon dioxide compressor machines. Since 1912, the Felzer plant ceased production of refrigeration equipment, and the Krull plant was evacuated in 1917 to Moscow in connection with the war.
The equipment was unloaded near the plant "Kotloapparat", where since June 1920 (now the Moscow plant "Compressor") the production of ammonia refrigeration machines was revived. At the end of 1931, the plant produced the first Soviet ammonia compressor VP-230, developed by young designers V.P. Barmin and A.A. Gogolin.
In the 1930s, a new class of refrigerants appeared. They were synthesized from methane, ethane and other hydrocarbons by replacing hydrogen atoms with fluorine, chlorine and bromine. These compounds, known as freons, are odorless, non-toxic, fire and explosion-proof. In refrigeration technology, the areas of application of freons and ammonia are clearly divided.