Chemours Fluorochemicals' global business and market director, Diego Boeri, outlines the company's plans to meet the exponential growth in demand for HFOs. This is what he told CCN in an exclusive interview.
The world is moving away from high-global-warming potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and replacing them with solutions such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), which have dramatically lower global warming potential. HFOs also perform well in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam expansion and other applications, and in many cases they offer improved energy efficiency.
The recent announcement that Chemours will invest $230 million to construct the world’s largest facility for manufacturing HFOs supports that shift by ensuring there is enough supply to meet exponential growth in demand.
For example, last year Australia pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 per cent by 2030, with 2005 levels as a baseline. This was done as part of Australia’s Climate Pledge or Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
An options document has been drafted in Australia, targeting the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions related to high GWP HFCs. The document noted that a ban on the import and manufacture of new high-GWP mobile air conditioning equipment in passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles could reduce emissions by as much as 4.13 Mt CO2-e from 2016–2030.
The refrigerant HFO-1234yf, sold by Chemours as Opteon(tm) YF, was developed to enable compliance with the European Union's Mobile Air Conditioning (MAC) Directive. This refrigerant is increasingly being adopted in cars for sale in the United States to help automakers (incentives, compliance).
Several other countries, including Australia, are considering regulations to encourage the shift from HFC-134a to HFO-1234yf for automotive air conditioning.
Opteon YF has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) that is 99.9 per cent lower than HFC-134a, which makes a considerable contribution in lowering the greenhouse gas footprint of motor vecles. In addition, Chemours has commercialized HFO-1234yf blends, all sold under the Opteon brand, for use in stationary and transport refrigeration and chillers.
The company has a development pipeline of additional Opteon solutions for stationary air conditioning, foam blowing agents and waste heat recovery. The Opteon portfolio is a breakthrough line of solutions with very low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
Opteon products were developed in response to increasingly stringent environmental regulations, and in many cases they perform better than the products they replace, which is not always the case with more sustainable products.
Chemours products with low global warming potential are expected to eliminate an estimated 300 million tons CO2 equivalent by 2025 on a global basis, while also increasing energy efficiency in many applications.
Investing in expanded capacity for Opteon products will enable Chemours to meet customer needs in the face of exponential growth in demand. The company estimates that 40 million cars using HFO-1234yf will be on the road by end of 2017, growing to 140 million by end of 2020.
The company predicts that one thousand supermarket and commercial refrigeration systems worldwide will be using Opteon XP40 by end of 2016, growing to as many as 10,000 systems by end of 2020.
Chemours plans to invest $230 million in large-scale manufacturing to expand supply of its Opteon family of products. The new facility will be constructed at the Chemours Corpus Christi site in Ingleside, Texas, with start-up expected in third quarter of 2018.
This investment will triple the company’s capacity of Opteon products, enabling Chemours to support the shift away from HFCs far into the future.
The new site will use an innovative, patented process to manufacture HFO-1234yf for use in automotive air conditioning and in Opteon refrigerant blends for a range of applications.
This investment will create the world’s largest facility for manufacturing hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), and the location will allow Chemours to efficiently serve the growing market in North America and Europe, as well as the rest of the world.
Today Chemours is the global capacity leader for HFO-1234yf-based products, a position that will be maintained through this investment.