If you’ve worked around modern industrial ammonia refrigeration systems, you’ve likely encountered a plate-and-frame heat exchanger. While shell-and-tube exchangers have long been the workhorse of the industry, plate-and-frame units have become increasingly common where efficiency, tight temperature control, and space savings are priorities. Plate-and-frame heat exchangers are widely used in ammonia systems for ammonia-to-water or ammonia-to-glycol chillers, heat recovery app

If you’ve spent any time around industrial ammonia refrigeration, you’ve seen a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. It is one of the most common ways to transfer heat between two fluids without letting them mix, and it appears throughout ammonia systems. Shell-and-tube heat exchangers show up all over industrial ammonia refrigeration because they can serve many duties in one durable package. You may see them as water-cooled condensers, where hot, high-pressure ammonia vapor is con

I’ve been in a lot of facilities that technically have piping colors, but no visual legend to explain what those colors actually mean. Especially as a recent graduate getting started in the ammonia PSM industry, which turned machinery rooms into instant mazes instead of functional workspaces. You’d see blue, yellow, orange, and green everywhere—but without a key, none of it told a story. It was just paint on the pipe. In an ammonia machinery room, piping density is high, and

For facilities operating ammonia refrigeration systems, January 1, 2026, is more than a future date on the calendar. It represents a clear line between proactive compliance and regulatory exposure. By that date, existing ammonia refrigeration systems are expected to have completed a Minimum System Safety Evaluation (MSSE) in accordance with IIAR 9. This is not a theoretical expectation or an optional safety exercise. Failing to complete An MSSE is a compliance issue with real