In June, a multinational research team – which includes colleagues from Norway’s SINTEF Energy Research, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras presented India’s first Carbone Dioxide (CO2) transcritical system at the Gustav Lorentzen conference in Valencia. This system puts CO2 in a transcritical cycle, meaning CO2 is made to undergo different phases with varying pressures and temperatures.
Professor Dr. Prakash Maiya from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Institute said, “It’s a multi-faceted system with all the modes of operation, including supermarket, air conditioning and heat recovery. It’s the first of its kind in India, and it’s operating successfully in very high ambient temperatures of up to 113°F such as are common in India.”
The researchers tweaked the system by adding a liquid ejector and flooding the evaporator in the system. This resulted in an improvement of the CO2 cooling stability and an overall reduction in power. The Indian government is supportive of natural refrigerant technologies. This ultimately could result in applications such as mass cooling, like in supermarkets and cold boxes, typically used in catering and medical storage fields with a green value to it.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
