As industry worldwide replaces HFCs with lower GWP options a range of new solutions are entering the market. For example, substitutes for HFC-404A include HFC-407F and HFC-407A. Both have lower GWP values.
Australia is certainly on target to meet its phasedown timetable. In 1999, Australia imported more than 3,800 tonnes of HCFCs this was reduced to 2,100 tonnes in 2006, according to the Expert Group.
This declined to less than 1,200 tonnes in 2010, 766 tonnes in 2013 and Australia is now on target to reach 45.4 tonnes in 2016. While the bank overall continues to increase, the CO2-e value of Australia’s working bank rises until 2017 then decreases steadily as the second and third generation refrigerants retire and are replaced by nil and lower GWP working gases.
In the first and second generations of synthetic refrigerants the primary focus was on solutions that could provide effective cooling while being non-flammable and non-toxic.
A lot more is demanded of refrigerants today and a lot more options are available. Considerations range from safety (flammability and toxicity), thermodynamic properties (co-efficient of performance, capacity, glide, pressure and temperature operating envelopes) to life cycle carbon emissions (direct, indirect and end of life).
There are 50 new gases under development and information on the performance characteristics of these new refrigerants is available from the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) Alternative Refrigerants Evaluation Program.
The rate of success of commercialisation of alternative technologies that are currently under development is still uncertain.
The RAC industry is going to see a rapid increase in the number of refrigerant gases, and a rapid diversification in the types of refrigerant gases employed in the economy.
It is true that there are dozens of chemicals and gases supplied to the market now for all sorts of specialised applications. However the vast majority of refrigeration technicians and other players in the supply chain, only have to deal with three to five of the most common refrigerants on a daily basis, all of which are non-flammable.
The Expert Group report shows that within five years that number is expected to at least double, in terms of the day to day activities of most people employed in the field, and many of the future refrigerants expected to be commonly encountered will be at least mildly flammable, or flammable. This fact has some significant implications for industry.
Some of the new gases have real potential for rapid growth. The adoption of HFC-410A in the first decade of this century is an example of successful deployment of new technology, even though technical standards had to be revised and new job skills developed.
First introduced in Australia in 2003, by 2010 HFC-410A had effectively replaced HCFC-22 in 90 per cent of applications where previously HCFC-22 had been the refrigerant of choice.
Existing nil and low GWP refrigerants in early stages of deployment could deliver similar rates of growth while replacing gases that have been targeted for removal from the economy.
In recent years a new generation of HFCs, known as HFOs, have been developed. The first to be introduced to the market HFO1234yf, has a GWP of just 4.
Honeywell and DuPont are developing and trialling HFO blends that are potential replacements for HCFC-22 and HFC-410A.
Honeywell also has a product under commercial evaluation to compete in the HFC-32 space. This new HFO A2L blend known as HFC-447A has a slightly lower GWP than HFC-32.
A survey of natural refrigerant suppliers, conducted by the Expert Group, found more than 100 tonnes of hydrocarbons were supplied last year to charge equipment, or service equipment across most sectors.
It also revealed that 80 tonnes of Co2 was supplied to supermarket installations in 2013 and nearly 540 tonnes of ammonia was supplied almost exclusively to large cold store and industrial sites. Another option is ammonia, however, most chillers (98%) are charged by synthetic gases. Report at www.environment.gov.au
To see the full feature on R32 go to the August edition of Climate Control News Magazine, out this week.