Since it was established in 1970, Delzescaux, a family business, has specialised in the installation, maintenance and repair of refrigeration equipment for the food industry.

Over the years, the company has expanded in the South- West of France and become a major player in the design and manufacture of isothermal-panel cold rooms.

Today, Delzescaux offers a complete package for refrigeration, air conditioning and heating perfectly adapted to its customers (convenience stores, catering industry, arboriculture, abattoirs, warehouses, etc.).

This fast-growing SME (small / medium enterprise) is constantly recruiting to strengthen its teams, as responsiveness, customer prox­imity and flexibility are major assets that contribute to its success.

“We expect to double our turnover compared to 2019 and to reach 6 to 6.5 million euros by the end of the year,” notes Xavier Delzescaux, the company’s manager.

The environment: a generator of innovation in projects

The F-Gas regulation, which bans high GWP products, such as R-404A, the new technologies available and in­creased awareness of the need to fight against global warming, have enabled Delzescaux to put forward new and sustainable solutions in the design and implemen­tation of projects.

“A single objective: to offer a long-term ecological alternative to meet the needs of our customers in the food industry who work with these challenges on a daily basis (offering more and more organic products, reducing chemical fertilisers, improving the energy efficiency of pro­cesses, cutting CO2 emissions, etc.)” says Xavier Delzescaux.

After an in-depth study of the various solutions, Delzecaux chose the combination of Solstice® L40X and Greenway® Neo for the fruit-growing sector in 2020. Five refrigeration installations in the region will be built with these low-carbon fluids.

Solstice® L40X is appreciated for its ease of use

With a GWP of 146, R-455A offers many advantages:

• The refrigeration components are approved
• Electronic control devices incorporate this refrigerant and facilitate glide management
• Refrigeration engineers can work with R-455A as easily as with R-404A
• Implementation does not require any specific additional skills
• Energy performance is better than with R-404A

Focus on GAEC Sainte Marguerite

Established in 1997 as a collective farming
group (GAEC), the Delfau family specialises
in the production of apples, cherries and
plums. The 139-hectare farm mainly produces
1,400 tonnes of apples per year, all
varieties combined (Golden Delicious, Pink
Lady, Chanteclerc, Gala, etc.). Depending
on the type of apple, the crops are kept in
storage rooms for different periods of time,
but never more than three months.

GAEC Sainte Marguerite works directly with the
region’s brokers to sell its apples, which are
shipped mainly to South America, Asia and
the United Arab Emirates.

During the high season, it employs 25 people
for harvesting, storage, grading and packing the finished products.

As part of an extension project, the Delfau Frères called on Delzescaux, a company recognised for its expertise in the maintenance of refrigeration equipment on its site.

Installation of controlled-atmosphere cold rooms and replacement of the refrigeration unit

 
Refrigeration plays a vital role in meeting demand at GAEC Sainte Marguerite, expanding its storage area, having a sustainable solution and offering high-quality fruit to the end customer.

Delzescaux installed a new direct expansion unit with 300 kg of R-455A, consisting of five Bitzer compressors equipped with a Danfoss variable speed drives. The unit supplies the pre-grading cold room, the two new controlled-atmosphere cold rooms and the dispatch room.

The challenge is to regulate the humidity level in each of the rooms in order to preserve the apples by managing weight loss, wilting and ripening, if necessary (as in the case of Golden Delicious apples), and to provide a dry cold climate prior to shipping to avoid deterioration when the fruit is packed into cardboard crates.

The entire installation is monitored and controlled by Carel regulation and control devices. A SWEP plate heat exchanger installed on the discharge line recovers heat to heat the Greenway@ Neo used for defrosting the evaporators. “Heat recovery enables faster and more efficient hot-water defrosting than traditional defrosting. This reduces the negative impact of the temperature variations in the room and improves the quality of the product” says Pierre Delpech, head of the design department.

He goes on to confirm that there were no difficulties during the implementation process. “It is important to choose the right equipment beforehand, taking into account the temperature glide of R-455A, and to select the average temperature, not the dew point temperature, in the heat exchanger selection tools provided. Out in the field, our technicians compared R-455A with R-404A when developing the system. They saw no difference.”

Description of the installation:

• Direct expansion unit with 5 Bitzer 4FE-28Y-40P semi-hermetic piston compressors
• 4 cold rooms (600 t pre-grading room, two controlled-atmosphere rooms (200 t each)
• and a 200 t dispatch room).
• R-455A charge: 300 kg
• Greenway® Neo charge: 2,300 L
• Total cooling capacity: 283 kW
• Evaporating temperature: -5°C
• Condensing temperature: +45°C
• Güntner exchangers: air-cooled condensers
• and two-coil air evaporators
• SWEP plate heat exchanger
• Carel regulation and control devices

From left to right: Xavier Delzescaux, Manager of the company, Pierre Delpech, Head of the design department, Frédéric Derre, Key Account Manager at Climalife

PROJECT STAKEHOLDERS

Delzescaux:

Industrial and commercial refrigeration, Food processing, Refrigeration insulation, Air conditioning, Heating.

• Location: Caussade, France

• Year founded: 1970

• 65 employees

• Estimated turnover 2021: €6.5 million

• Web site: www.delzescaux.com

GAEC Sainte Marguerite:

Apple, cherry and plum grower

• Location: Castelsarrasin, France

• Year established: 1997

• 4 full-time employees