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2009 Call for Papers
 You are invited to share your unique insight and perspective on a topic of interest to the industrial refrigeration industry. Abstracts are being sought for papers defining ideas and techniques that have successfully been used to advance the state of the art in refrigeration design, installation, operation and maintenance. The papers will be presented at the 2009 IIAR Industrial Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition in Dallas, Texas, March 22-25, 2009.
"This year the abstract submission deadline is being moved up to April 1, 2008 in order to consider a broad range of topics from authors all over the world. We expect the 2009 conference to have an excellent technical program to provide valuable information to our members," notes Peter Jordan, the 2009 IIAR conference chair. "With the expansion of the Condenser, members also have more opportunities to benefit the industry with their invaluable knowledge and insight."
To submit your abstracts online, visit the IIAR website at http://www.iiar.org/cfp/callforpaper.cfm or email Kirsten McNeil at kirsten_mcneil@iiar.org.
Wiencke Wins 2008 Andy Ammonia Award
 "The Andy Ammonia Award, created to recognize excellence in the IIAR annual meeting program, was presented to Bent Wiencke(left), Corporate Engineer for Nestlé USA, Inc. and Nestlé Canada, at the 2008 IIAR Ammonia Refrigeration Conference & exhibition. His presentation of a Technical Paper, A Case Study of Pipework Fracture due to Hydraulic Shock in an Ammonia System, received the highest score on the evaluations forms submitted by those who attended the sessions.
By all standards, this years Andy Ammonia Award winner stands head and shoulders above all of the other presentations," said Conference Program Chair Don Stroud (right). "The evaluation form comments included words like insightful, courageous, and eye-opening."
The paper was presented twice during the conference. The combined total attendance at both sessions was almost 400, which is about 40% of the total conference attendance.
"Bents presentation received an almost perfect score from attendees. Some even attempted to the presentation a six on a scale of 1-5. In our memory, that hasnt happened since the initial Andy Ammonia Award was presented to Milt garland in 1996," Stroud added.
Blasquez Elected to IIAR EXCOM
Adolfo Blasquez, President of A. Blasquez E. Refrigeracion Industrial has been elected to the IIAR Executive Committee. The election was held during the 2008 IIAR Ammonia Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition in Colorado Springs. 
Blasquez joins the Executive Committee as Treasurer of IIAR. The Executive Committee includes(l-r) Vice-chair Peter Jordan, Senior Principal Engineer for MBD Risk Management; Chair-elect Don Stroud, Kraft Foods Global; Chairman Brian Marriott, Frick/JCI; Blasquez; and Immediate Past-chair Jeff Welch, Freeze-Pro.
Blasquez has been a member of IIAR for 28 years. He obtained the title of professional engineer (P.E.) in Mexico in 1977 when he graduated from the Ibero-American University. He has served for three years on the IIAR Board of Directors and has been working since 2005 on the strategic plan objective to increase awareness of IIAR in Mexico and promote the benefits of implementing programs such as the ARM (Ammonia Refrigeration Management)program. He has also promoted IIAR standards and guidelines for the ammonia refrigeration industry in Mexico. Blasquez has also worked on several IIAR task forces and Committees.
IIAR Recognizes Members of the Year
IIAR recognized two industry leaders as Members of the Year at the recently concluded 2008 IIAR Ammonia refrigeration Conference & Exhibition. Zhao Lianjie (left) and Bob Shriver (below) were recognized for making outstanding contributions to the ammonia refrigeration industry through extroadinary service to IIAR during the course of the past year.
"These two men have been enthusiastic and active contributors to the success and groth of IIAR," said 2007-08 Chair Jeff Welch.
 Zhao Lianjie was recognized for the key role he has played in the /rapidly developing relationship between IIAR and the Chinese Association of Refrigeration (CAR).
"Linjie has been IIARs Ambassadore on the ground in China, organizing meetings, coordinating special seminars and successfully promoted the adoption of IIAR's standards by the CAR," Welch added.
Bob Shriver was recognized for his work as Chair of the IIAR Standards Review Committee (SRC).
Bob holds one of the most important positions in IIAR," said Welch. "As a technical organization, IIAR relies heavily on the work done by the SRC.  "As Chairman, he has lead a significant re-write of IIAR 2 which we expect to publish later this year. At the same time, he has lead the committee in the development of a suite of standards that will soon be released for public review."
"Unfortunately, Bob Shriver was unable to attend the conference in Colorado Springs. We wish him well and look forward to seeing him next year in Dallas," said Welch.
IIAR Recognizes Honorary Life Member
 Honorary Life membership in IIAR was extended to Godan Nambudiripad (left) at the 2008 IIAR Ammonia Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition held in Colorado Springs at the Broadmoor Hotel.
"Honorary Life Membership in IIAR is an award extended to individuals whose services to the organization extend well beyond the traditional terms of office and who contributions exceed well beyond those expected of the most dedicated members," said 2007-08 IIAR Chairman Jeff Welch (right). "These awards are not made every year, but today I am very pleased to present honorary life membership to an individual who has made immeasurable contributions to the ammonia refrigeration industry."
Nambudiripad, a long time member of the IIAR Safety Committee, has been a tireless worker. He has authored several technical papers and championed IIAR, promoting membership in the organization both inside and outside the company he worked for.
Nambudiripad, who recently retired from his position with General Mills, also played a key roll in the organization of the first End User corporate engineering meeting ever held in conjunction with an annual IIAR meeting.
IIAR 2 Third Public Review Announcement
Final Proposed Revisions to ANSI/IIAR 2-1999 (Public Review #3 BSR/IIAR 2-200x) Available for Public Review April 4, 2008
Fire Destroys Meat Processing facility
A fire at the Cargill Meat Processing facility in Booneville, Arkansas has drawn a significant amount of media attention recently. Although there has been considerable news coverage of the incident, a lot of the coverage appears to be incomplete or misleading.
The final evaluation of the root cause of the fire will not be available for sometime, but reports from authorities on the scene and here in Washington indicate the fire started during welding or cutting activity, spreading to FRP insulated panels in the food process freezer. The fire then rapidly progressed through the rest of the facility, destroying it within an hour.
The fact that ammonia was present in the facility has been the focus of many of the headlines related to this incident. However, it appears this incident was nothing more than a large fire that happened to occur in a building that contained ammonia.
Reports that explosions occurred at the facility have not been confirmed and are apparently inaccurate. If they did occur, they did not involve ammonia. Preliminary reports indicate that only 10% of the total system charge of 89,000 lbs of ammonia escaped during the blaze. Apparently the ammonia vessels were still intact, indicating that the ammonia escaped from the system in a controlled manner through correctly functioning ammonia relief valves and was likely burned up in the flames, eliminating the hazard.
"At this time, it appears safe to say that this was essentially a large fire, with potential danger that was mitigated by effective system design," said IIAR President Bruce Badger. "On the other hand, it does appear the local first responders were not fully prepared to handle the situation or the ammonia in the plant which makes it a good example of the need for more first responder training."
IIAR has joined with the Ammonia Safety Training Institute (ASTI) and the IARW to hold a dozen Ammonia Safety Day training sessions in locations around the country during the next year.
May 2008 Condenser Issue Preview
The upcoming May issue of the Condenser will be full of useful articles to improve your business and understanding. As we expand the publication into a quarterly journal, you will have even more opportunities to gain from your membership in IIAR. The Condenser is designed to bring you the information you need, about the industry, about your organization, and about upcoming IIAR events. Look for this in the next issue.
The Condenser Expands to Quarterly Publication
 The new Condenser The Condenser begins a new era with the current issue which was mailed to IIAR members this week. For the past ten years, IIAR has published the Condenser in conjunction with annual IIAR Ammonia refrigeration Conference & Exhibition. Beginning with the current issue, the Condenser will be published and mailed to IIAR members on a quarterly basis, in February, May, August and November.
"Expansion of the Condenser is the second part of a two pronged effort to enhance IIAR's communication with our members," said IIAR Chairman Jeff Welch. "We took the first step last year with the development of an email and the on-line newsletter. During the past few months, this important new tool has been put to good use by providing our members with the timely updates about the Department of Homeland Security Chemical Security Regulation."
will be a hybrid publication -- part IIAR newsletter and part industry journal. It will include reports on new IIAR publications and initiatives, including a quarterly code update. It will also contain information about IIAR activities, such as the annual meeting, committee work and standards development. There will be articles that address design issues, maintenance topics and safety concerns. Technical articles will also include references to IIAR Technical Papers in the eLibrary that address similar topics. We are also looking for the results of lessons learned -- real life situations that identify a problem and present a solution.
The Condenser will also provide a forum for discussion by industry experts of the kind of practical operations and maintenance topics addressed during conference workshops along with code and regulatory updates, and coverage of industry trends. The Condenser will also be a vehicle for information about IIAR's new sister organization, the Ammonia Refrigeration Foundation (ARF) which I mentioned earlier. It will contain regular reports about Foundation activities and research projects.
"We are counting on member support to make the new Condenser a successful publication. We'll need members who are willing to take the time to write articles that share the knowledge they have gained over the years. The length of the articles can vary from short summaries to longer features. In either case, the goal is to make them informative and helpful to the industry," said Welch.
The Condenser will continue to accept advertising. While it will be published on a modest budget, advertiser support will be necessary to sustain the new publication schedule.
"As you glance through this issue, you'll see examples of the kind of articles that will be om the Condenser on a regular basis. Our goal is to make the Condenser the voice and forum for technical information that relates to the world of Industrial Refrigeration We hope that companies with a message to get out to our industry will add the Condenser to their year-round marketing strategy. It is that kind of member support that has fueled the success of the IIAR Ammonia Refrigeration Conference & Exhibition. We are counting on the same level of commitment to the new Condenser," Welch concluded.
ARM Program Now Available!
 Smaller facilities have plenty of incentive for operating a safe and efficient ammonia refrigeration system. Whether you have 900 lbs or 90,000 lbs of ammonia, the risks of something happening are similar. The severity of the potential problem could be less, but the risk is still there. You may not have the level of off-site consequences but you will certainly have on-site consequences, and you can't afford to have your company in the news.
Larger facilities with charges greater than 10,000 lbs have been required to comply with OSHA's Process Safety Management Program and EPA's Risk Management Program requirements since the 1990s. Since those regulations have been in effect, the most common misconception among smaller facilities has been that they are exempt from any compliance issues because the size of their charge is less than 10,000 lbs. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In addition to the safety and public relations considerations, there is a regulatory compliance issue for smaller facilities. The General Duty Clause (either from OSHA or EPA) covers every refrigeration facility, including those with less than 10,000 lbs of ammonia. These regulations can be found in 29 USC 654(a)(1) (OSHA) and the Clean Air Act Section 112(r)(1) (EPA). They set a minimum safety standard and place responsibility on employers to keep workers and neighbors safe from hazardous chemicals.
A new guidance document has been published by IIAR to assist smaller facilities in establishing a program that promotes the safe operation of ammonia refrigeration systems with less than 10,000 lbs. The Ammonia Refrigeration Management (ARM) Program is a streamlined version of the PSM/RMP compliance programs. The ARM Program addresses topics such as the management system, documentation, contractors, mechanical integrity, and emergency response, and simplifies the record keeping and program maintenance elements of the more complex PSM and RMP requirements.
IIAR members with numerous years of experience put a lot of work into the development of this new industry tool, and the end product demonstrates this knowledge. After an extensive and careful development process, the ARM Program is now available for purchase. Click Here to Order ARM Program
Training Guideline Now Available
 Everyone in the industry agrees that we need more, better trained operators. IIAR has teamed up with RETA and IARW to produce this Training Guideline in order to make training more comprehensive and consistent. Utilizing this guideline when producing your own training program will increase your success and you will soon reap the benefits of having better trained operators, namely, increased safety, better communication, and smoother operations. All of your employees will benefit from these improvements.
IIAR chairman Jeff Welch thanks the development task force for all of their hard work over the years. "This project really could not have happened without the diligent work of all the task force members, including RETA and IARW. The completion of this project is a testament to the leadership of Vern Karman, who dedicated himself to the completion of this Guideline. I hope it can serve as a roadmap for the industry and fill a void that has existed for some time." A complimentary copy of the Training Guideline has been mailed to all IIAR members. It is also available to members in the eLibrary. Non-members can purchase the Training Guideline in the IIAR Store.
IIR Call for Papers
Call for Papers: 8th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Working Fluids September 7-10, 2008 Copenhagen, Denmark The 8th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on Natural Working Fluids in refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump systems with the topic "Refrigeration and Energy - The Natural Choice" is the eighth IIR International Conference on the use of non-artificial refrigerants.  Prospective authors of papers for the 8th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference for Natural Working Fluids should send 150-200 word abstracts by ordinary mail or e-mail to the Organizers of the Conference. Please send the abstract along with the following basic information: Title and author name(s). Forms for Abstracts and Papers are available on the Homepage. Call for Papers Submit papers by February 15, 2008.
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