Scottish ice cream brand goes ammonia

Mackie’s of Scotland, an Aberdeen-based Ice cream maker, will replace its cooling system based on HCFCs (high-GWP and ODP refrigerants) with an alternative that uses natural refrigerant ammonia.

The new ammonia refrigeration system will cost £4 million (€4.66m). Alongside other environmental technologies, it will reduce Mackie’s CO₂ equivalent emissions by 90% and reduce energy costs by 70-80%, the Scottish newspaper claims.

The family brand, which produces other food such as chocolate and crisps, will also combine biomass and absorption chilling.

“We’re very excited about this project as, the technologies involved are tried-and-tested methods but have not been commonly combined to produce a low-carbon, low-energy solution for cold store refrigeration,” said Gerry Stephens, Mackie’s finance director. 

Mackie’s will fund the installation via a Bank of Scotland loan and the Scottish government is also supporting it under the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. Work will begin in the summer.

The ice cream producer uses mostly renewable energy in the form of wind turbines and solar panels to make 10 million litres of ice cream a year.